Pep Guardiola expects Newcastle United to try to follow the Manchester City model of success after the Saudi-backed takeover earlier this season.
The Magpies have escaped relegation after spending £ 90 million through the January transfer window following a takeover by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). They travel to the Etihad on Sunday for what is now the richest match in world football, and Guardiola expects additional investment from the owners of Newcastle to try to accelerate their breakthrough to the top of the league.
This will be followed by control of Newcastle and their owners, but Guardiola has always defended the owners of the City of Abu Dhabi during his rule.
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City were originally banned from the Champions League in February 2020 after UEFA’s financial control body found them guilty of a “serious breach” of financial fair play rules, but following an appeal overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport ( CAS).
Guardiola revealed that his defense of the club is based on the trust of the owners, but he also told them that he would leave if they ever lied to him.
“I am the spokesperson for this club and I am here every few days [in a press conference]. Every word I said at all my press conferences, even if people don’t believe me, is because I really, really believe. Why did I protect the club and the people? That’s because I’m working with them, “Guardiola said.
“When they accuse them of something, I ask them to ‘tell me about it,'” they explain, and I believe them. I told them, “If you lie to me, I’m not here the next day.” I will go out and I will no longer be your friend.
“I believe in you because I trust you 100% from day one and I defend the club for that. When you put something here [sponsor on a shirt] it is overpaid, but different [clubs] the money comes from the US, but the money is accurate, even if it is higher. We have to deal with this, we have to fight this. “
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City won its appeal to the CAS in July 2020, but there have been talks before that they will ask for the ban to be postponed until they go through the process of taking the case to court.
Nine Premier League clubs have written to the CAS and opposed City with a request to “postpone the execution” – Arsenal, Burnley, Chelsea, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle, Tottenham and the Wolves – and Guardiola has not forgotten their identities.
“What CAS said means a lot to all of us, it ultimately shatters all suspicions. I can’t forget the nine teams in the Premier League that want to fire Manchester City from the league and the European competitions, these nine teams insist and I know here [in my head] who are they. I like it when CAS said at this point that we did it right.
“This is a situation in 2012 or 2013, I was still in Barcelona, most of the people running away who are not here now, but of course I would not like to, what I love is to represent a club that do things right. [and] Well, it’s not about winning the Champions League and the Premier League, we want to do well for our people and our fans. “
Newcastle may accept similar criticism during its spending over the next few years, and success is clearly the goal of a club that is now the richest in the world.
“I think that’s the intention. “Without Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Mansour, these amazing facilities, the CEO getting resources and sponsors, we are where we are,” Guardiola said.
“I haven’t talked to the owners of Newcastle, but I think they will try to do that, whether they do or not, I don’t know, no one knows.
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