Pep Guardiola always counted the Community Shield as a trophy and for that there was only one reason. It’s legacy. His legacy in English football. His legacy at Manchester City.There will be mounting questions and debate about what that means and looks like now, in the wake of the extraordinary verdict handed down by an independent commission.For a large majority, City’s defeat in their case with the Premier League means more than just an asterisk next to any achievement over a nine-year period from 2009. It will mean that the trophies simply are not recognised, whether City are ultimately stripped of them or not.And it doesn’t stop there. While the charges cover up to 2018, the wider argument is that Guardiola’s dominance was built on cheating. Cheating he will not have been privy to but a financial leg-up of attracting better players under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini that in turn accelerated the football club and allowed the Catalan to prosper. Without the early trophies, the 2012 title, it’s arguable whether even Txiki Begiristain could have convinced Guardiola to join.So the whole lot will be lumped in. The six Guardiola league titles, the Champions League, three FA Cups, five Carabaos, a Club World Cup, a Super Cup and yes, those three Community Shields. Pep Guardiola won the lot with Manchester City – but his achievements will now forever be tarnished Guardiola has always publicly insisted City’s innocence, based on conversations with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak That is irrespective of the appeal that City will launch and its end result. City and Guardiola’s success has always been muddy in the court of public opinion and Friday’s news only solidifies that further. Whatever happens from here, there is no coming back from the entrenched viewpoints, no grey area. The success will be forever tarnished for those who always believed in their guilt.Guardiola’s next move will be fascinating, in what he says and where he’s spotted. There is a stand named after him at the Etihad Stadium, a statue on its way. He is a City Football Group ambassador and one who has always publicly insisted their innocence. Insisted it based on conversations with chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano – the latter’s family are understood to have moved back to Spain earlier this year.These are people he likes, people he trusts. People who convinced him to stay in Manchester far longer than initially planned. In an ironic twist, the charges actually helped in that regard, elongating their partnership.The battles with the Premier League and before that, UEFA, had Guardiola subscribing to the world according to City and produced moments that spoke to that – like in February 2023, when the charges dropped, quoting Julius Caesar to underline what he felt was a betrayal by other top-flight clubs and claiming that the club had already been condemned.He fumed at the assumption of guilt, he name-checked Daniel Levy, he sarcastically said they’d bring Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee out of retirement when relegated.‘It’s the same as with UEFA,’ Guardiola said. ‘The same articles, the same accusations. You need to go to League One. No, no, League One is too much. League Two. Or maybe the Conference. We were in Maine Road, we are not with a history of lots of titles. We’ve been in those divisions, we will be back there.’Listening to Guardiola in those moments was like listening to any executive at City. And he’s not one to toe the party line if he doesn’t believe in it – as evidenced amid fan protests against ticket prices in recent years. While the developments had no bearing on his players, he used this sense of perceived injustice to motivate himself to reel in Arsenal to win that title, to do the Treble. He fumed at the assumption of guilt, he name-checked Daniel Levy, he sarcastically said they’d bring Paul Dickov and Mike Summerbee out of retirement when relegated‘I’m not moving from this seat,’ he said – almost chillingly – that afternoon. ‘I… can… assure… you. More than ever I want to stay.’Eventually he did, claiming a lack of energy and the realisation that City needed fresh ideas. In fairness to him, he had remained in situ waiting for an outcome for more than long enough. He will believe that nothing happening away from the pitch should impact the glory constructed by his players, by Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva and Vincent Kompany and Erling Haaland but equally he knows that it must.Guardiola initially insisted that he would walk if it transpired that City’s hierarchy had lied to him but behind the scenes he had quickly become convinced that they would have little to answer in front of legal experts. What the brushes did was bind Guardiola and City even tighter.It formed a militance within Guardiola, who had been incandescent on the day of their 2019 FA Cup final victory at a question effectively alleging that he had received off-the-book payments from his employers.This is a guy who once privately told his players that Europe’s referees were all against them in the Champions League to provoke a response, so the idea he used the boardroom pitchforks as motivation to slowly raise a big middle finger is only logical.City certainly do not rewrite history in lifting four consecutive league titles without Guardiola. They likely do not complete the Treble without Guardiola. He would not have stayed to see out a decade, either. City certainly do not rewrite history in lifting four consecutive league titles without Guardiola. They likely do not complete the Treble without Guardiola No manager who coaches footballers to play in the way City did for so many years ought to be at the centre of such murk. And yet, here they areBut he will have questions of those he has formed bonds with within the hierarchy, whose own reputations will be sullied by this affair. Even as recently as last week, those right at the top, led by Al Mubarak and Soriano, were projecting an air of calm.‘Once we have a ruling, believe me, we’re going to have a wonderful sit down together and I’ll say everything I’ve wanted to say for the last three years,’ Al Mubarak said in an interview at the end of last season. Not exactly the words of a man worried for the immediate future.There will be awkward conversations going on about the last 10 years. It’s leaving supporters in a state of flux and should have the most decorated manager in their history feeling conflicted too. No manager who coaches footballers to play in the way City did for so many years ought to be at the centre of such murk. And yet, here they are.