For those who have followed football closely over the past 20 years or so, the name Luciano Moggi is one you’ll remember well.
Despite being banned from operating in football for life, the 83-year-old still comments on the sport for Libero, where this week’s topic was the whole Super League fiasco, which Manchester City were involved in.
Pep Guardiola was a staunch critic of the suggested competition, which led to his club pulling out soon after.
Moggi was asked about all this on Monday, and his replies weren’t the friendliest, especially when it came to Manchester City’s Spanish manager.
He said, relayed by Calcio Napoli 24: “Hypocrisy has become a part of the world of football. Think of the Super League case. The first to contest their club were the Liverpool players and their manager, and now Guardiola too. He criticised his club with the cry that ‘football belongs to the fans and I follow them’. Undoubtedly beautiful words, full of romanticism that takes hold, but only words.
“In our opinion, Pep is more in love with the €30m/year he receives, the rest is poetry. In fact, despite knowing that the wages of players and managers weight on 70% of the company’s revenue, he had the courage to criticise the owners because they go in search of greater income to meet greater expenses.
“Maybe it might be time to a salary cap in place to prevent people like him from falling madly in love with this sport just because it now allows them to take home figures that were previously unimagined”.
Make of all that what you will, but Moggi isn’t the first to call Guardiola out for his comments, with others in Spain taking a dig at the Manchester City manager.
It tends to be those who were in favour of the Super League who have come out all guns blazing, and if Moggi’s past is anything to go by, it wouldn’t be surprising if he approved the idea of the competition.
