Mauricio Pochettino has insisted Chelsea should be stripped of their 2017 Premier League title, arguing Tottenham should be recognised as champions for the 2016/17 season because the Blues “broke the rules.”
Chelsea were fined and given a suspended transfer ban by both the Premier League and the Football Association after admitting violations of transfer rules between 2011 and 2018 during the Roman Abramovich era. They admitted making £47m in illegal payments to agents, including on the signing of Eden Hazard, but the Premier League said in their judgement they had been lenient because new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital self-reported the issue after taking over in 2022.
Pochettino's case for Spurs
The former Spurs boss, who later managed Chelsea, insists Tottenham have been unfairly punished by the episode. He said: “I've said that, that we should win one title, one Premier League. We should have been awarded it. If that was true and that happened, for sure, we deserve to be champions for that year, because we were the second best.”
“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. 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.”
No complaint, just truth
Pochettino 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. We were fighting with this club (who worked) in a completely different way to us. But I think we deserve more. We (should) get the respect for what we were doing. We operated in a different way.”
Pochettino, who managed Chelsea between 2023 and 2024, finished his five years in charge of Spurs without a trophy. He said he respects the job Antonio Conte did when Chelsea pipped Spurs to the title in 2017, but the Premier League should have been stronger.
“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 and say 'look, 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.”
“No. For everyone it needs to be the same rules. And then the capacity to create the best team. I don't say that they didn't play well, that was Conte, the coach was great, and everything. I don't say that. And I don't want this message is twisted. But if you broke the rules, in the moment, then 'ciao' - you need to give it to another team. I don't know what didn't happen.”
