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Pep Guardiola has revealed he was warned Manchester City risk more fines from the Premier League, with his late team talks having cost the club over £3million.
Man City were fined over £1m by the Premier League after kick offs and restarts were repeatedly delayed last season.
Nine of Man City's matches last season saw matches start or restart late.
The Manchester derby in December 2024 had the longest delay, with the match having resumed two minutes and 24 seconds later than scheduled.
Man City had been leading 1-0 at half-time in a match they would go on to lose 2-1, as Man United staged a dramatic late fightback.
The previous year had seen the club hit with a £2.09m fine, after 22 breaches of rules, following delays to 14 of their Premier League matches across the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons.
Pep Guardiola admitted Man City have been fined 'a lot' due to his team talks overrunning
Man City were fined £1m by the Premier League last season for delays to matches, with the longest coming in the Manchester derby in December 2024
After an initial warning, fines grew with each individual breach of the rules ranging from £10,000 to £200,000.
The latter came after the 14th breach of the rules, with kick-off having been delayed by 2 minutes and 46 seconds prior to their match against West Ham in May 2024.
The match was the final day of the season - when all 10 Premier League matches kick off at the same time - with Man City going on to beat the Hammers to clinch a fourth straight Premier League title.
Man City had apologised for the breaches and said at the time it had reminded club management and players of their responsibilities.
Guardiola, speaking at press conference on Friday, admitted they had been fined 'a lot'.
It followed Guardiola bringing forward his press conference to 9am, after being warned by the club they risked being fined for missing a 1.30pm due to when he had scheduled their final training session before facing Newcastle on Saturday afternoon.
'We are training later and if we train at 12 until 1.30, I cannot be here in time,' Guardiola said.
'At 2pm, the Premier League do not allow me. The club said if I don't start by 2pm they will fine me or fine the club.
The club were hit with a fine of over £2m the previous year for 14 delays to matches, including ahead of the final game of the 2023-24 season against West Ham when they clinched the title
'We paid a lot of money as I'm late at half-time, because we have to be the right time for the timings.
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.
'Sometimes I arrive one minute later but the rules are the rules. The Premier League is impeccable for that.'
Rules around kick offs and restarts have been in place to ensure matches run to the broadcast schedules.
