Ex-Man City boss forced to sell £21m star to Chelsea in order to stop club going completely ‘bust’
Former Man City boss Stuart Pearce has revealed that he was told Shaun Wright-Phillips had to be “sold” to stop the Premier League club going “bust”.
The Citizens kept Pearce on in a coaching role under Kevin Keegan when he hung his boots in 2002 after one season at Maine Road.
Three years after taking on a coaching role, Pearce was handed his opportunity in the dugout with the former England international in charge of Man City from March 2005 until May 2007.
Despite their modern-day riches, Man City were in financial disarray in Pearce’s time in the hotseat and he’s explained how he was told that the club must sell Shaun Wright-Phillips to Chelsea or face financial oblivion.
“When I was Manchester City manager I managed nine matches at the end of a season,” Pearce told talkSPORT. “I was acutely aware of the financial situation of the football club as in, it was bust, to be quite honest.
“Two weeks before the season started the chief executive called me in on the Friday and said look we’ve had an offer of £21million. It will be paid in cash on Monday morning from Chelsea and if you don’t sell him we’ll go bust as a football club.”
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Pearce added: “I knew before we had that conversation that if put in this situation, the club comes before me or the chief executive or anybody.
“The important thing for me was to get the message out there of the expectation. Tell the supporters ‘look, this is where we’re at at the moment, we have no money as a football club’.
“We’ve had to sell [Nicolas] Anelka six months ago, we’re selling Shaun Wright-Phillips now but the club has to remain standing and has to remain a Premier League club.”
Current Man City manager Pep Guardiola takes his side to face Newcastle United at St James’ Park on Saturday and he had an update on the availability of Jack Grealish, Erling Haaland and John Stones.
Guardiola said at a press conference on Friday: “Jack has been sick. Hopefully today he’s back. Erling is out and John is out.”
Kevin de Bruyne said last week he expected to be on the bench at Newcastle, but asked if he could start, Guardiola said: “Yes. What I saw yesterday he looks really good and dynamic.
“The minutes he played were really good, better than the training sessions before the Huddersfield game when he was a little bit not what he is.
“But that’s normal when you come from five months of injury. He had highs and lows in the training sessions, but that is completely normal. The important thing is he is getting better.”
