Not my problem! Mancini defends City despite the guilty verdict

Roberto Mancini has broken his silence on Manchester City's guilty verdict, and his message is defiant: he does not believe the club is guilty at all.

Details: Speaking to Calciomercato, the Italy coach said: "I don't think Manchester City were found guilty, quite the opposite. It's not a problem that concerns me, and it isn't anything new." On the alleged double contract from his own years at the Etihad, he added: "Man City are not guilty, and on the double contract it isn't my problem, theirs if anything."

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Mancini is far from a neutral voice in this story. Appointed by City in 2009, the very year the alleged financial wrongdoing began, he delivered the club's first league title in 44 years in 2012, during the period covered by the charges. Reports have alleged he held two contracts at the time, one of them worth 1.75 million pounds a year for consultancy work with an Abu Dhabi club also owned by Sheikh Mansour. Small wonder he prefers to distance himself. His comments came days after a bruising 0-2 home defeat to Belgium on his Italy return, so the veteran coach is currently fighting fires on two fronts.

It's worth noting that with City preparing an appeal, expect more figures from the club's golden era to be asked the same uncomfortable question. Mancini has chosen his side clearly: loyalty to the badge that made him a legend in Manchester, and a wall between himself and the scandal.

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