Mauricio Pochettino believes Chelsea should be stripped of the 2016-17 Premier League title and it should be handed to Tottenham Hotspur.
The Argentine, who went on to manage Chelsea, was in charge of Spurs at the time as they finished second, seven points adrift of Antonio Conte’s Blues.
Conte’s side finished with 93 points, led by Diego Costa up front and a fabulous season from Eden Hazard behind him, while the likes of N’Golo Kante, Gary Cahill and David Luiz all made the PFA Team of the Year.
However, it has since been tainted as Chelsea’s owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, self-reported 74 breaches of FA rules related to secret payments to unregistered agents after they purchased the club from Roman Abramovich in 2022.
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Chelsea admitted to making £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and intermediaries between 2011 and 2018.
Deals for the likes of Hazard, Luiz, Willian and Nemanja Matic were all found to have broken rules.
After an initial punishment included a points deduction, on appeal Chelsea were fined £10 million and given a suspended two-window transfer ban by the Football Association over the summer.
Pochettino feels that the punishment should extend beyond this and Chelsea should not be considered champions in 2017 as they broke rules to win the Premier League. Instead, his Tottenham team should be awarded the title.
‘We should win one Premier League, we should have been awarded it,’ said Pochettino. ‘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.
‘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.’
While the Blues had plenty of world class players at the time, it was suggested to Pochettino that Hazard made a particular difference.
‘Maybe yes,’ said the USA manager. ‘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.
‘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. 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.”’
Pochettino was in charge of Spurs from May 2014-November 2019 and went on to manage Chelsea for one season in 2023/24.
FA statement on Chelsea punishment
An FA statement in July read: ‘A financial sanction of £10m and a suspended two-window registration ban have been imposed on Chelsea FC for breaches of the Football Association Football Agent Regulations, Regulations on Working with Intermediaries and Third Party Investment in Players Regulations. The FA charged Chelsea FC with 74 breaches of FA Rule E1.2 after its current ownership self-reported misconduct upon its purchase of the club. The FA is continuing to investigate individual misconduct arising out of this case.
‘Chelsea FC admitted to the 74 breaches of FA Rule E1.2 prior to a hearing and an independent Regulatory Commission imposed a six-point deduction, which was to be suspended until June 30, 2027, and a £10m fine.
‘The club appealed against the suspended points deduction and an independent Appeal Board allowed the appeal and set aside this sanction following a further hearing.
‘In its place, the Appeal Board imposed a registration ban for two complete and consecutive transfer windows which is suspended until 30 June 2027.’