Mauricio Pochettino has claimed Tottenham should have been awarded the 2016 17 Premier League title after Chelsea admitted historical breaches of competition rules.
Pochettino managed Tottenham during that campaign as Spurs finished second behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea. The Blues ended the season seven points ahead of their London rivals.
Chelsea received a £10.75m fine in March after the Premier League charged the club over historical breaches of its competition rules. The club also faced a six point deduction, although the punishment was later “set aside” following an appeal.
Chelsea’s owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, self reported 74 breaches of Football Association rules after completing their purchase of the club in 2022.
The club admitted making £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third parties during transfers between 2011 and 2018.
Those revelations have now prompted Pochettino to revisit Tottenham’s title challenge from 2016 17. The former Spurs manager believes the punishment should have changed the outcome of that season.
Pochettino, who managed Tottenham from 2014 to 2019, said: “We should win one title, one Premier League. We should have been awarded it.
“[Chelsea] were punished, they admitted, so that’s it? The title should be for the team that was second.
“It’s true that we didn’t compete with the same rules. It’s completely fair to say that we didn’t compete before the start of the season with the same card.”
Pochettino Stands by Tottenham Title Claim
Pochettino guided Tottenham to their best Premier League finish during his five year spell at the club. Spurs finished second in 2017, although they ended the campaign without a trophy.
The Argentine also led Tottenham to the 2019 Champions League final. However, the club lost to Liverpool and Pochettino eventually left his position later that year.
He later returned to London as Chelsea manager for the 2023 24 season. That experience has not stopped him from defending Tottenham’s position in the 2016 17 title race.
Pochettino argued that Tottenham could have strengthened their squad if they had competed under the same conditions as Chelsea.
“Maybe with the same rules, if we apply the same things, maybe we could’ve signed some players that would have made the team better or scored more goals,” added the Argentine, who later became Chelsea boss for the 2023-24 season.
“It’s not me complaining – it’s the truth. If they admitted they broke the rules, the Premier League title was for the second-best team.
“I’m not scared to say the truth. The Chelsea fans will be upset with me because I’m saying this, but if we were at Tottenham and broke the rules I’d admit the same.”
Chelsea previously said that it “treated these matters with the utmost seriousness, providing full cooperation to all relevant regulators”.
The Premier League investigation later found that third party payments linked to Chelsea went to players, unregistered agents and other third parties. The club had not disclosed those payments to the relevant regulatory authorities at the time.
The league’s report identified several transfers connected to the payments. Those deals included Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto’o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle and Nemanja Matic.
There was no suggestion that any of those players committed wrongdoing. Several of them, including Hazard, Willian, Matic and David Luiz, played for Chelsea during the 2016 17 season.
The Premier League also reviewed Chelsea’s historical financial submissions. It recalculated the club’s figures after taking the previously undisclosed payments into account.
Despite the breaches, the league concluded that Chelsea would not have broken its profitability and sustainability rules if the payments had been properly registered at the time.
That finding adds another layer to the debate surrounding Pochettino’s claim. While Chelsea received punishment for the historical breaches, the Premier League’s assessment did not establish that the club would have breached its profitability and sustainability rules.
Pochettino, however, remains convinced that Tottenham deserved recognition for finishing second in a season he believes did not provide an equal starting point for both clubs.
