Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham should have been retrospectively awarded the 2016-17 Premier League title after Chelsea were punished for financial rule breaches dating back to the Roman Abramovich era.
Chelsea were fined £10 million by the Football Association in July and handed a suspended two-window transfer ban after being found to have breached regulations involving transfers and agents. The club were also fined £10.75 million by the Premier League in March.
The breaches covered Chelsea’s activities between 2009 and 2022, with the club’s ownership under BlueCo self-reporting the issues after taking over from Abramovich in 2022. Chelsea avoided a points deduction as part of the sanctions.
Mauricio Pochettino. Photocredit: Getty Images
The Argentine, who managed Tottenham during the 2016-17 campaign and later took charge of Chelsea, argued that Spurs should have inherited the title because they finished second, seven points behind Antonio Conte’s champions.
“We should win one Premier League, we should have been awarded it,” Pochettino said.
“If that [Chelsea’s rule-break] 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.”
Several players whose transfers were among those found to have breached regulations were important to Chelsea’s title-winning campaign, including Eden Hazard, Willian, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic.
Hazard, in particular, played a significant role, scoring 16 Premier League goals as Chelsea finished top of the table.
Pochettino acknowledged Chelsea’s quality under Conte but argued that the playing field had not been level if one club had broken the rules while others had operated within them.
“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.”
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The former Tottenham manager also rejected the suggestion that his comments were an attempt to diminish Conte’s achievement or Chelsea’s performances that season.
“Maybe yes,” Pochettino replied when asked whether Hazard’s contribution had made a difference.
“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.”
Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham should have been awarded Chelsea’s 2016-17 Premier League title after Chelsea were punished for financial rule breaches.
Pochettino went further by questioning what message the punishment sends to clubs if titles and sporting achievements remain untouched after serious regulatory breaches.
“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.”
Tottenham’s 2016-17 campaign remains Pochettino’s best Premier League finish with the club. Spurs finished runners-up behind Chelsea, but the title slipped away despite a club record points tally of 86.
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Pochettino believes the subsequent revelation of Chelsea’s breaches has reopened the question of whether that season should be viewed differently.
“What is being promoted and incentivised is to break the rules. If you don’t punish in the way that you need to punish, I say: ‘Yeah … I lost my job [at Spurs] because we didn’t win a title.’”
