Ferran Soriano refused to deny serious claims made by Rob Harris, reporter for Sky Sports. The Manchester City CEO would not explain the charge over an alleged breach of the Premier League's financial rules.
"The Premier League confirm today that you have cheated for almost ten years. Do you apologise to football supporters?" Harris asks the Manchester City executive. "I have nothing to say, thank you," is Soriano's brief reply.
Harris then asks whether Soriano is confident Manchester City can win an appeal procedure. "The Premier League talk about 'sham contracts'. Is this a 'sham club'? Do you have nothing to say to the football world? You have cheated for so long." Soriano again says "thank you" and then walks away.
Before arriving at City, Soriano was vice-president of FC Barcelona between 2003 and 2008. The experienced executive from Spain has been Manchester City's CEO since 2012, and the club therefore appear to be in serious trouble.
On Tuesday, the Premier League's website revealed that Manchester City broke the competition's financial rules for nine years. It had already emerged that the English giants were found guilty of no fewer than 114 breaches of the financial rules.
For the first time, the Premier League have now issued a statement. Manchester City are accused, among other things, of signing fake contracts with commercial partners in which agreements between all parties were incorrectly represented. That allowed the club to reduce costs on paper and increase revenues.
By breaking the rules, Manchester City were able to keep €1.05 billion in costs out of sight of regulators. In addition, the financial situation was judged to be more favourable than was actually the case, as a result of which consequences were avoided for years.