Manchester City Women manager says preparations are ‘business as usual’ after verdict

Manchester City Women manager Andree Jeglertz said on Wednesday, 30 September, that preparations were ‘business as usual’ ahead of the team’s Champions League match against Real Madrid, despite the Premier League’s findings against the club. Speaking at a media conference, he said training had continued normally. The effect of the ruling on the women’s team remains unknown.

The comments are the clearest account yet of how the women’s side is approaching its next match after the Premier League confirmed the financial rules verdict. City defender Jade Rose also spoke at the conference. Neither described a change to the players’ routine or preparations, according to BBC Sport’s report of their remarks.

What Andree Jeglertz said about Manchester City Women

Asked whether he had been assured the women’s team would not be affected, Jeglertz did not give an assurance. ‘I don’t want to comment more around that,’ he said. He described the situation as ‘business as usual’, while saying the team had continued its normal work ahead of Thursday’s game.

Jeglertz said the attention surrounding the club had not made match preparation more challenging. ‘We have been training like normal and doing the work we can do to affect the game,’ he said. ‘We haven’t changed anything, we have just kept on doing everything we normally do.’ His account concerned the team’s current preparations; it did not settle whether the case could have a later effect.

What Jade Rose said about the players

Rose said the women’s players had received ‘the same messaging the public has’ from the club. When asked whether the charges had raised concerns among players, she said: ‘I’m just here to talk about the football. That’s what we’re focusing on.’ She did not describe a separate briefing to the squad or offer a view on possible consequences for the team.

The BBC said its reporter saw no apparent change in the team’s routine or behaviour at an open training session on Wednesday morning. That observation is consistent with Jeglertz’s account of preparations, but it offers only a view of that session. BBC Sport also reported that Therese Sjogran, City’s director of women’s football, attended training as she often does.

How the Premier League ruling relates to the women’s team

The Premier League said on 29 September that an independent commission had found Manchester City guilty of all charges concerning serious financial rule breaches across the 2009-10 to 2017-18 seasons, as well as most charges concerning failure to cooperate with its investigation. The commission found arrangements that inflated revenue and reduced costs by more than £900 million, according to the league. City continues to deny wrongdoing, BBC Sport reported.

The verdict itself was covered in NewsJaws’ earlier report on Manchester City’s Premier League charges. What has changed since then is that representatives of the women’s team have answered questions publicly about its preparations. The ruling concerns Premier League rules, which BBC Sport said differ from the women’s league’s financial regulations. The WSL was governed by the Football Association during the period examined by the commission.

BBC Sport said it understood that WSL Football had no active investigation into the matter. It reported no established effect of the Premier League case on the women’s team. The cited accounts do not establish that the women’s side breached its own league’s rules, or that any change to its competition status is under consideration.

City’s Real Madrid match and the unresolved case

City are scheduled to play Real Madrid on Thursday at 20:00 BST in their second Women’s Champions League league-phase match. They drew their opener against Bayern Munich the previous week. At the time of the BBC’s report, the defending Women’s Super League champions led the table with 12 points from four matches. Those fixtures and results provide the immediate setting for Jeglertz’s emphasis on the team’s work on the pitch.

The Premier League said any sanction over its findings would be decided at a separate, private commission hearing. Its rules allow measures including fines and points deductions, but no penalty had been announced in the statement. The league said City had until Friday, 2 October, to appeal the findings. An appeal outcome, a sanction and any consequences for the women’s team therefore remain unresolved in the published accounts.