Manager laments club’s £3m fines for late second halves
Burna Boy pre-show ‘made Champions League final late’
Pep Guardiola has lamented the Premier League’s strict rules that have led to Manchester City being fined more than £3m for 30 late second-half restarts in the past three seasons, jokingly bemoaning that Burna Boy did not suffer a similar fate after delaying the kick-off in the 2023 Champions League final.
City play at Newcastle on Saturday evening, beginning a hectic schedule in which they will play twice a week until mid-January. They travelled to the north-east on Friday afternoon, leading to a change in routine at the Etihad Campus and an early pre-match press conference in order to comply with Premier League rules and avoid another punitive fee.
Asked how many fines he has previously received, Guardiola said: “A lot. Sometimes I arrive one minute later but the rules are the rules. We are training later and if we train at 12 until 1.30, I cannot be here [at the press conference] in time. The Premier League don’t allow me at 2pm. The club said if I don’t start by 2pm they will fine me or fine the club.
