Pochettino: Tottenham Should Have Been Awarded Chelsea’s 2017 Title

Mauricio Pochettino has called for Chelsea to be stripped of their 2016-17 Premier League title following the club’s admission of financial rule breaches, arguing that Tottenham should have been awarded the championship.

Chelsea were fined £10 million ($13.4 million) in July and received a suspended two-window transfer ban after being found to have breached Premier League rules during Roman Abramovich’s ownership.

The club admitted to 74 breaches of FA regulations involving agents, intermediaries and third-party investment in players.

The violations were reported to football authorities by Chelsea’s current owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, in 2022 as they negotiated the purchase of the club from Abramovich.

Among the deals connected to the breaches were the transfers of Eden Hazard, Willian, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic. The quartet were important members of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea side that won the Premier League title in the 2016-17 season.

Tottenham, managed by Pochettino at the time, finished second, seven points behind Chelsea.

Pochettino believes the sanctions against Chelsea should have gone further and that Tottenham deserved to inherit the title.

“We should win one Premier League, we should have been awarded it,” he told reporters.

“If that was true, then we deserve to be champions that year, for sure. They were punished, they admitted it? So that’s it. The title should be for the team that was second.”

Pochettino argued that Tottenham had competed under different circumstances because of Chelsea’s alleged rule breaches.

“We can say that they scored goals, they won games. OK. But it’s completely fair to say that we didn’t compete before the start of the season with the same card.

“Maybe with the same rules, we could’ve signed some players that would have made the team better or scored more goals.”

The Argentine, who went on to manage Chelsea in the 2023-24 campaign and currently coaches the USA national team, said he would make the same argument if Tottenham had been the club found guilty of breaking the rules.

“I have no doubt and I’m not scared to say the truth. The Chelsea fans will be upset with me but if we were at Tottenham and broke the rules, I’d admit the same: ‘We don’t deserve the title because we broke the rules.’

“It’s impossible if only some clubs play with offside and another plays with no offside. Or one plays with VAR and another plays with no VAR.

“For everyone it needs to be the same rules. And then you have the capacity to create the best team.”

Pochettino stressed that his comments were not intended to diminish Chelsea’s performances or Conte’s managerial achievements.

“I don’t say that Chelsea didn’t play well, that Conte was not great. I don’t say that. I don’t want the message to be twisted.

“But if you broke the rules then ciao, you need to give it to another team. I don’t know why that didn’t happen.

“What is being promoted and incentivised is to break the rules.”

Pochettino led the USA at the World Cup and signed a contract extension last month that will keep him as head coach through the 2030 World Cup.

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