They could have gone bust.

Manchester City would have gone bust if they hadn’t sold one of their players.

Abu Dhabi’s riches and Pep Guardiola’s guidance have seen City become among the most successful clubs of the modern era, having won an FA Cup, Champions League and Premier League treble in the 2022/23 season.

But things at the club were significantly different before Sheikh Mansour’s 2008 takeover.

Stuart Pearce took over as City boss back in 2005 after impressing as caretaker manager, but his two-year spell came with several off-the-field issues.

The club were in such disarray that Pearce claimed that had they not sold Shaun Wright-Phillips at the time City may not have survived.

Pearce told talKSPORT: “When I was Manchester City manager I managed nine matches at the end of a season.

“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.”

Pearce sanctioned Wright-Phillips’ departure to Chelsea and added that transparency was key to getting the club out of their precarious situation.

“I knew before we had that conversation that if put in this situation, the club comes before me or the chief executive or anybody,” he said.

“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.”