Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola reacts to scouting hack: 'There are not secrets anymore'
City's scouting database was compromised in 2013
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Your support makes all the difference.Pep Guardiola has claimed that there is no such thing as a secret in the modern world after it emerged that Manchester City's digital scouting system was compromised six years ago.
A report in The Times on Saturday claimed that City reached a £1m settlement with Liverpool in 2013 after their private database on the Scout7 system was accessed from outside the club.
In a statement, a Liverpool spokesperson said: “Liverpool Football Club does not provide any comment on any allegations relating to legal agreements it may or may not have entered into with any other club, organisation or individual.”
Guardiola was reluctant to address the matter in his post-match press conference after City’s record-breaking 8-0 Premier League win over Watford, having only joined the club in 2016.
“Well, 2013 I think it was, so I was away,” he said. “I don’t know what happened, I think the club has to speak for itself. Honestly I was not here, I was [at Bayern] Munich I think.
“What happened in Liverpool I don’t know, you have to ask them. I am not there, I don’t know. It was 2013, I was not there. I prefer not to do any comment and not use the internet the next time.”
But following the high-profile ‘Spygate’ scandal involving Leeds United and Derby County last season, and with the subject of digital security a topical subject outside of football, Guardiola believes it is impossible to keep sensitive information wholly private.
“I know what happened with [Leeds manager] Marcelo Bielsa last season, quite similar things, how was being destroyed. Now I know it, what happened last season. Sorry I was not here,” he said.
“Today there are not secrets anymore,” he said. “Look what happened in the big governments in the United States and Russia, and everywhere everyone knows it.
“No secrets anymore. You want to keep a secret? Don’t tell to a friend, on devices or the internet, mobile phone. Today anything can happen.”
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