Roberto Mancini’s reference to a “double contract” has brought an allegation first reported in 2018 back into focus at Manchester City.
The former City manager addressed the issue this week, saying it wasn’t his concern and maintaining that the club was not guilty.
His comments haven’t established the details of the alleged arrangement, however. Those claims date back to reporting based on material obtained by Football Leaks.
What was alleged about Mancini’s Man City pay?
In November 2018, German magazine Der Spiegel reported that Mancini had two separate agreements after becoming Man City manager in 2009. One was his City contract, which was reported to include a basic annual salary of £1.45m plus bonuses and incentives.
The second was alleged to have been a consultancy agreement with Al Jazira in Abu Dhabi, reported to be worth £1.75m a year. The Guardian reported the allegations at the time, including claims concerning the route by which the consultancy payments were made.
Crucially, the newspaper also said it hadn’t seen or been able to verify the Football Leaks documents on which Der Spiegel’s report was based. City did not comment specifically on the Mancini allegations at the time. The club had described the wider Football Leaks reporting as an attempt to damage its reputation.
Why is the alleged arrangement relevant again?
Mancini was asked about the subject this week following renewed attention on City’s long-running Premier League disciplinary case. Reuters reported that he described the alleged dual-contract issue as something which didn’t concern him and said it was a matter for City.
His choice of words has attracted attention, but it would be unsafe to treat them as confirmation of every detail contained in the original 2018 reporting. There is, however, a separate established connection between Mancini’s time at City and the Premier League proceedings.
When the League announced its charges in February 2023, it alleged breaches of rules requiring City to include full details of manager remuneration in the relevant contracts with its manager for each season from 2009/10 to 2012/13.
Those four seasons fall within Mancini’s period as City manager. The Premier League’s charge statement does not, by itself, establish that those alleged breaches concern the specific Al Jazira arrangement reported by Der Spiegel.
City maintain their position
Media reports last week claimed an independent Commission had found the vast majority of the alleged breaches against City to have been proven. The detailed findings have not been published publicly.
City subsequently said the Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements still to be completed, and remains subject to strict confidentiality. Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has also reiterated the club’s confidence in proving its innocence.
That leaves Mancini’s comments interesting without making them conclusive. The alleged consultancy arrangement has been in the public domain since 2018. His reference to a “double contract” has brought it back into the conversation, but it doesn’t establish precisely what arrangements existed, how they operated or whether any rules were breached.
Those are questions for the disciplinary process and its evidence, rather than conclusions that can safely be drawn from a press-conference answer.
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