Mauricio Pochettino, who managed Tottenham Hotspur from 2014 to 2019, has stated that his former club should have been awarded the 2016-17 Premier League title. His comments come after Chelsea were fined for historical breaches of competition rules.
Chelsea were charged by the Premier League for financial rule violations and admitted making approximately £47 million in secret payments to unregistered agents and third parties between 2011 and 2018. The club's owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, self-reported 74 breaches of Football Association rules upon their purchase of the club in 2022. A potential six-point deduction for Chelsea was 'set aside' on appeal.
In the 2016-17 season, Antonio Conte's Chelsea team finished seven points ahead of Pochettino's Tottenham, securing the league title. Pochettino argued that the playing field was not level.
"We should win one title, one Premier League. We should have been awarded it," Pochettino said. "[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, who also managed Chelsea in the 2023-24 season, suggested that if Tottenham had operated under the same rules or benefited from similar undisclosed payments, they might have acquired better players.
"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," he added. "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."
During Pochettino's tenure at Tottenham, the club reached the 2019 Champions League final and achieved a second-place finish in the Premier League in 2017, but did not win a trophy.