Suppose it detracts from the clubs current form .

https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/p...n-city-2143061


The future was lunch, then after that, Aston Villa. Defiant, deluded, obdurate, obtuse, righteous, outraged – whichever adjective you wish to apply to Pep Guardiola’s performance in the media suite ahead of Sunday’s fixture – his allegiance and his loyalty to Manchester City is absolute. Guardiola is going down with this ship, or not, as the case may be.

Guilt is already presumed according to Guardiola. It was, he said, the same with the Uefa crime sheet, and look what happened there. He is committed to the idea that truth is on the side of City, that the assurances he has been given by the owners and the evidence presented by City’s lawyers to Uefa will deliver the same outcome in the conflict with the Premier League.

Before the Uefa ruling he promised to walk away were it proven that the Abu Dhabi ownership had lied to him. That possibility has been removed, so convinced is Guardiola of City’s virtue and so bonded is he to the ownership, board, players and fans. To part is impossible for him now. The club, he said, would accept any ruling handed down by the commission. If this means banishment to game’s nether regions, so be it. It will not break the yoke that binds him to them.