'Angry' Pep Guardiola offers Man City future update after £210m 'vote of confidence'

After a busy couple of weeks for Manchester City, tomorrow's Premier League clash with Fulham is their last of seven games inside 22 days before the October international break.

City have made an unbeaten start to the Premier League and the Champions League and are through to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, but they will be keen to head off into the international break with a vital win at the Etihad Stadium.

Pep Guardiola's side head into the clash one point behind league leaders Liverpool and while there is plenty happening on the pitch, there is also lots going on off the field too.

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Guardiola is in the final year of his contract and City fans are desperately waiting for a substantial update on his future. The club's fight against 115 FFP charges from the Premier League is also ongoing and fans are nervously awaiting the outcome of that decision, too.

With all that in mind, here is a wrap up of the latest Man City headlines on Friday, October 4.

Pep offers update on City future

Pep Guardiola refused to answer the question of Manchester City fans who are set to ask him to stay at the club this weekend. But the manager offered another tantalising insight into his plans for his own future, especially in relation to the elephant in the room of their 115 charges by the Premier League.

City fans have raised over £1000 to create a banner that will read: 'Pep Guardiola, we want you to stay' in his native Catalan tongue. The boss wouldn't offer a direct answer, and offered to reimburse the fans for their outlay, but did discuss his affinity with City and what will influence his decision - including the charges.

In short, Guardiola said he has complete trust in City's hierarchy and will not abandon his loyalty depending on 'consequences' that may happen during the rest of the season.

"I fell in love [with the fans] since the first day here. What's going to happen is going to happen," he said. "I am part of this club. It is deep inside my bones."

Read the full story, here.

£210m move could be a vote of confidence in CFG and City

Manchester City owners City Football Group have raised £210m worth of capital after issuing new preference shares.

A filing made with Companies House at the end of August detailed that CFG had issued 23,788,002 preference shares priced at £8.83 each on June 30, a move which took the total number of CFG shares to 620,527,018, valuing the group at around £5.5bn.

The filing does not identify the party to whom the shares were issued, but there are presently only two groups who hold preference shares in CFG, the Abu Dhabi Investment Group (ADIG), and US private equity firm Silver Lake Capital, who initially acquired a 10% shareholding in CFG back in 2019 for a $500m sum.

In late 2022, Silver Lake increased its shareholding in CFG to 18.15% after it moved to acquire most of the shares that had previously been held by China Media Capital.

It is a common move for companies to issue preference shares to raise capital, allowing them to do so without giving up control of the company. Those who hold preference shares are higher up the chain and receive dividends before common shareholders.

Read the full story, here.

Angry Pep fumes at FIFA

Pep Guardiola tore apart a new FIFA rule ahead of the Club World Cup next summer with one simple question: 'What makes a 'strongest' team'?

FIFA have implemented a series of rule changes ahead of the summer 2025 Club World Cup, of which Manchester City will be one of the star attractions. One such rule reportedly states that clubs must play their strongest teams in order to ensure the world's best players like Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane are present at the tournament in the USA.

Guardiola is already unimpressed by the scheduling of the Club World Cup - adding an extra month on to a season that could potentially last a full year between the start of pre-season and its final game. He says he wants to manage City in the expanded tournament despite his contract expiring midway through, but took exception to the idea that anybody else would influence his selection plans for any game.

"What is the strongest players? Which ones?" he asked. "If you tell me for them which players are stronger than the other ones? I don't understand. We go all the squad there, we don't go for one game. Right? I don't know the competition itself right now, but we don't go for 11 players. We go for the whole squad.

"I don't understand for the selection which player is stronger than the other one. I know. Strong means form? Maybe the strongest player for them is in a really bad condition for many reasons. Professional, physical, injuries, niggles. And I'm going to play other ones. I'm not going to [have them] say before the game which player to play. I will decide."

Read the full story, here.

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