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Pep Guardiola held an early morning press conference at Manchester City on Friday - and he brought it forward to avoid being fined by the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola changed the time of his Manchester City press conference on Friday to avoid being hit in the pocket by the Premier League, having previously been on the receiving end of the governing body's strict sanctions.
The City boss has held his last two press conferences at 2pm on a Friday, but this falls 30 minutes after the league's cut-off, which mandates that all 20 clubs should have started their media conference by 1.30pm on Friday, regardless of which day of the weekend their game takes place.
The Blues received dispensation from the league to push back those press conferences ahead of games against Bournemouth and Liverpool, but with Guardiola arranging training for midday on Friday, he was keen to start at 2pm once again, only to be warned off the idea.
City and Guardiola feared a fine if they made it three late starts in a row, so instead the 54-year-old opted for a 9am start, and walked into the grand media auditorium at the City Football Academy at 8.57am with a spring in his step.
The Catalan cut a relaxed figure in front of the media, joking with journalists that the early start was the fault of the Premier League and that he didn't want to risk being slapped with another fine.
"We are training later and if we train at 12 until 1.30, I cannot be here (at the press conference) in time," Guardiola said. "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."
City know how punitive the Premier League can be, having been fined £3.17million in the last two seasons for coming out late at the start of games and after half-time.
In the 2023/24 season, the Blues were hit with a fine of just over £2million for delaying kick-off 22 times across their 38 matches. Last season, they were docked just over £1million after doing so on nine occasions.
Most of the offences relate to City coming out late after half-time, but Guardiola joked that City's 2023 Champions League final was delayed by a pre-game show featuring Burna Boy and Anitta, and that the pop stars didn't receive a fine.
"We paid a lot of money as I’m late at half-time," he said. "Sometimes I arrive one minute later but the rules are the rules and Premier League is impeccable for that, right?
"When we played in the Champions League final they had a show before the game and they are always late. They have to fine the singers!
"That is why I decided 9am and the journalists have had their breakfast and will need to take a coffee."
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