Roberto Mancini has appeared to acknowledge that he had a “double contract” during his time as City manager while insisting his former club are “not guilty” of breaching Premier League rules.
The Italian’s comments are significant because allegations concerning manager remuneration form part of the long-running financial case against Man City, which the club continues to contest.
Mancini, who managed City between 2009 and 2013, was questioned about the issue at a news conference in Turkey ahead of Monday’s Nations League fixture.
Mancini addresses Man City ‘double contract’
“It’s not a problem that concerns me,” Mancini said. According to The Guardian’s report of Mancini’s comments, the former City manager said the subject wasn’t new because it resurfaced every four or five years.
“Manchester City is not guilty and the fact of having a double contract isn’t my problem but theirs, probably,” he added. The wording is notable because Mancini referred directly to “having a double contract” rather than disputing the existence of a second agreement.
It doesn’t, by itself, establish that City breached Premier League rules. It does provide a rare public comment from the manager whose remuneration arrangements feature in the allegations against the club.
What was Mancini’s second agreement?
The issue dates back well before the Premier League brought its charges against City in February 2023. Der Spiegel reported in 2018 that Mancini received additional money for advisory work with Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira alongside his Manchester City salary.
The latest Guardian account says the arrangement doubled Mancini’s £1.45m base salary at City. Among the allegations brought by the Premier League is a failure to provide accurate details concerning player and manager remuneration between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons. City have consistently denied wrongdoing. The Guardian
Mancini’s spell at the Etihad falls within that period. He took charge in December 2009 and remained manager until May 2013, winning the FA Cup in 2011 and City’s first Premier League title in 44 years the following season.
Mancini insists Man City are ‘not guilty’
Mancini’s comments come days after reports that an independent commission found against City on almost all of the charges it considered. City responded on Friday by saying the process remained “ongoing”, while chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak reiterated the club’s position in a letter to supporters on Saturday.
“The Premier League process still has a long way to run, and our confidence and intent in proving the club’s innocence is just as strong as when this began,” Al Mubarak wrote.
Mancini has now offered his own defence of his former club while also bringing renewed attention to one of the specific financial arrangements examined during the case.
His reference to a “double contract” doesn’t establish whether City’s reporting of the arrangement complied with Premier League rules. Nor does it tell us what the independent commission concluded specifically about Mancini’s remuneration.
Those details will require the commission’s findings to become public. For now, Mancini has spoken unusually openly about an arrangement first reported years ago and made his own position equally clear: he believes Manchester City are “not guilty”.
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