Jamie Carragher has now disagreed with Gary Neville about his view on Manchester City and their 115 financial charges.
Ever since Manchester City won the Premier League, it seems like the attention on the club’s alleged financial breaches has risen.
The world is waiting for a verdict about whether City are innocent or guilty.
Carragher disagrees with Neville on Man City amid 115 charges
However, only time will tell whether Manchester City will be cleared of the allegations or be punished.
Jurgen Klopp recently claimed that despite the charges being a relevant topic of discussion, he feels only Pep Guardiola could have achieved what he has at Manchester City.
During the latest episode of The Overlap’s Stick To Football, the punditry panel were ranking the five best Premier League managers in history.
While speaking about Pep Guardiola and Manchester City, Gary Neville mentioned the 115 financial charges but Jamie Carragher disagreed with him.
Neville said: “But what I’m saying to you is now I’m likely to go with Sir Alex [Ferguson over Pep Guardiola] anyway, aren’t I, just generally being honest with you. I certainly don’t want to mention the 115 charges.”
“Until that’s cleared, I think we do have to just have a little bit of a but, a little bit of a but. But if that’s cleared, as City say they’ll defend those charges and win, then…”
Carragher butted in: “No, no, no, I disagree with that. I think the 115 charges are against the club. Pep Guardiola as a manager and the job he’s done…”
Neville said: “You’re measuring him being the best on his success. His success will have been built on foundations that are rule-breaking if they were found guilty.”
Carragher said: “Yeah, before he was there.”
Jamie Carragher feels that Gary Neville, who played for Manchester United for years saw Sir Alex Ferguson spend a fortune and in that respect, Manchester City are similar to them, despite the 115 financial charges.
“I get that but in terms of money spent, Man United always spent the most, Roy [Keane] broke the transfer record, Jaap Staam did, whoever else.”
Carragher seems to feel that Guardiola has spent only as much as any top team would and succeeded throughout at City.
Neville replied: “It sounds daft because if you said to me, who’s the biggest influence on football in this generation, I’d probably say Pep Guardiola. Just generally across Europe, Bayern Munich, obviously, Barcelona and he produced the greatest team of all time.”
“So, if someone said Pep Guardiola is the greatest manager of all time above Sir Alex Ferguson, I would never argue with them because I think you couldn’t even deny it. He is amazing! I think what he’s done is unbelievable. But at City, in the Premier League…”
Carragher said: “I’m not shy in saying that but I wanted my team to win the league, you’re there [Ian Wright] now, it feels like Arsenal fans are getting more involved in this 115 charges because you speak of that maybe cost us.”
“But in terms of Pep, he still spent the same as Man United in the seven years he’s been there or Chelsea. The charges, you know it, I totally agree with that but I don’t think it affects Pep so much in terms of judging him as a manager.”
Gary Neville replied: “The charges do relate to the first two years when he was here.”
Carragher said: “I know but what I’m saying is in terms of him, you’re judging him…Sir Alex Ferguson spent more money than anybody else as a manager.”
Gary Neville drove home his point about how if Manchester City have breached the financial rules, where he disagrees with Jamie Carragher is that it put them in an advantageous position in the first place.
“I get it, it’s not on Pep and the players but the foundations of Manchester City, if they were to be found guilty, a significant amount of those charges will have been built on a rule-breaking foundation. That can never be denied so if they’re not found guilty of those charges, which City are adamant that they’re not.”
“I’m not a fan of FFP [now PSR], by the way. My view is in the first place that they should be allowed to spend the money. That’s my real view. But obviously, every other team was abiding by the rules and maybe or maybe not, we don’t know whether they were or not.”
Jamie Carragher is spot on and there is a wider problem at play
In our view, as Jamie Carragher stated, Gary Neville and other critics must be able to separate Pep Guardiola and his success at Manchester City from the 115 charges.
The same applies to the players, who have been simply extraordinary in terms of their consistency and desire to win.
If City are deemed guilty, they would have broken the Premier League’s financial rules.
But simultaneously, there seems to be no system in place for clubs who are not at the top to become elite sides.
Unless they have a miracle of a campaign, such clubs tend to fade away.
Leicester City, for instance.
After winning the league in 2016, just seven years later, they were relegated.
It is key for there to be a setup which allows every team to have a route to sustainable success in the future as from the inception of the Premier League, only a few clubs have consistently won trophies.
The Sky Blues have simply broken the mould, which needs to be encouraged across European football.
By having regulations that curb teams from spending, the English top-flight would be encouraging anti-competitiveness, in our view.
As Jamie Carragher claimed, Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City players are unrelated to the charges in place.
Guardiola and his City side continue to push the envelope and make history.
This legendary Sky Blues side should be given the respect they deserve and until they are deemed guilty, it would be unfair to place an asterisk next to their achievements.