Man City chief breaks silence over UEFA ban

City Chief Executive Ferran Soriano. [Courtesy]

Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has spoken publicly for the first time since the club was handed a two-year ban by UEFA, and insists all allegations against them are false.

He insists claims from European football's governing body that City committed "serious breaches" of UEFA's club licensing and financial fair play regulations are "simply not true".

City are set to appeal against the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and speaking to the club's official website Soriano appeared confident City will be cleared of any wrongdoing.

Soriano said: "The fans can be sure of two things. The first one is that the allegations are false.

"And the second is that we will do everything that can be done to prove so.”

"We know the fans are supporting us. We can feel it. MCFC fans have gone through challenges over the decades. This is just another challenge. We will stick together, we will go through it and we will not let the fans down."

Soriano is insistent that everything the club have done is legal, and is hopeful that their appeal against the ruling will be successful.

Manchester City have been banned from Europe for two years. [Courtesy]

He continued: "The owner has not put money in this club that has not been properly declared. We are a sustainable football club, we are profitable, we don't have debt, our accounts have been scrutinised many times, by auditors, by regulators, by investors and this is perfectly clear.

"We are looking for an early resolution obviously through a thorough process and a fair process so my best hope is that this will be finished before the beginning of the summer and until then for us, it is business as usual."

Some have questioned whether manager Pep Guardiola will continue at the club if the European ban is upheld, but Soriano is sure the Catalan will stay committed.

He added: "Obviously, [Pep] has been kept informed about this process but this is not something for him to respond to.

"He is focused on the football, he is focusing on the game, the game at hand, the game today, tomorrow and the next weeks.

"As well as the players. They are calm, they are focused and this matter is more a business matter, a legal matter than a football matter."