Thomas Tuchel left with ‘bad conscience’ over how he treated Man City players

England manager Thomas Tuchel says he was left with a ‘bad conscience’ after not speaking to his Manchester City players about the ongoing financial scandal.

The fate of Manchester City is still to be decided but severe punishment seems certain after the club was found guilty of a huge number of Premier League financial rules between 2009 and 2018.

The Premier League has confirmed that Manchester City has been found guilty of all charges related to serious breaches of financial rules by an independent commission.

Sanctions ‘will be addressed separately in a further hearing’ but the club continues to maintain its innocence and an appeal process is yet to be carried out.

Assuming the guilty verdict stands, Manchester City could face a huge points deduction, transfer bans, a fine or possibly even relegation from the Premier League.

The club’s players will understandably be unnerved by the situation, including those who were on England duty when the news broke of City’s guilt.

Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly and Elliot Anderson are the three City representatives in the current England squad, but Tuchel says he did not feel the need to address the situation with them.

‘I did not. I have a bad conscience now,’ Tuchel told the BBC on whether he had to look after his Manchester City players during this international break.

‘I did not actually because I’m just focused on everything what we have to deal with here and to prepare the team, so I did not talk to them about the issue and I will not comment on it.’

Tuchel did praise his Manchester City stars after Tuesday’s 2-0 win in Prague over Czech Republic, which Guehi and Anderson started.

‘I think Marc today was absolutely excellent after a tough match against Spain,’ said the German.

‘The reaction was on the highest level. He was absolutely excellent and Elliot Anderson had a very good match as well.’

England captain Harry Kane acknowledged the serious nature of the controversy, but offered little by way of comment on it.

‘It’s not for me to comment on right now,’ said the Bayern Munich superstar. ‘I need to obviously understand more of the information, but I understand it’s a big topic right now and you can’t shy away from it.

‘But, as I always say, when I’m with England, when we are with England, it’s about England and that’s what we focus on. It’s Croatia on Saturday now.’

During the 2009-18 period in question, Manchester City won three Premier League titles, the FA Cup and three League Cups and Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher thinks they should be stripped of these achievements.

‘I do think Manchester City’s titles they’ve won in this time, or trophies, should be taken off their list,’ Carragher said on Sky Sports.

‘Whether other clubs should get them is slightly different. But what Man City have done is, they’ve not just hurt their own players in terms of no one looks at their trophies and medals now in the same way…

‘I’ve been very lucky to win a few medals. I never look at the medal years later. But my mind goes back to a moment, I get a feeling in my stomach. I remember the referee blowing a final whistle of a big game.

‘Those players will never get that feeling and it was robbed by Manchester City. That’s what they haven’t got. I don’t think any player will care if you go and give them a medal, and he puts it in the house, in his trophy room, he’ll never look at it.

‘It’s not about medals, it’s about feelings, and that’s what Manchester City have robbed.’

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