Sports10 September, 20263 min read
Mauricio Pochettino Says Tottenham Should Be Awarded 2016-17 Premier League Title After Chelsea Breaches
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Chelsea fined £10m by FA and £10.75m by Premier League for financial rule breaches. Pochettino advocates stripping Chelsea and retroactively awarding 2016-17 title to Tottenham.
Pochettino’s Title Demand
Mauricio Pochettino said Tottenham Hotspur should be awarded the 2016-17 Premier League title after Chelsea were fined £10million by the FA and given a suspended transfer ban for breaching agent regulations during the Roman Abramovich era.
Pochettino, who managed Tottenham to a second-placed finish behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea in 2016-17, argued that “We should have been awarded it. If that was true, and that happened, for sure we deserve to be champions for that year.”
The New York Times account tied Chelsea’s case to “Chelsea’s 74 breaches of financial rules,” including payments made to unregistered agents in connection with signings between 2011 and 2018.
Sports Illustrated reported that Tottenham finished the season with 86 points and lost just four games, while Chelsea finished seven points ahead on 93 points.
Pochettino also framed the issue as one of competitive parity, saying “We didn’t compete with the same rules,” in the context of Chelsea’s admitted rule breaches and the absence of an on-field sporting sanction.
Quotes, Pushback, and Framing
Pochettino told reporters that “They were punished, they admitted (it), so that’s it,” and insisted “The title should be for the team that was second,” while arguing that different rule environments undermined the fairness of the title race.
The BBC reported that Chelsea owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital self-reported 74 breaches of Football Association rules when they purchased the club in 2022, and said the club admitted making £47m in secret payments to unregistered agents and third-parties over transfers between 2011 and 2018.
talkSPORT quoted Chelsea fan Rory Jennings calling Pochettino’s stance “loser mentality,” saying “Pochettino is demonstrating loser mentality,” and adding “Give us something on a technicality that we didn’t really earn.”
talkSPORT also cited former Tottenham striker Alan Brazil dismissing the idea, saying “It doesn’t work like that. It’s gone now,” as the debate played out on the show.
In the same dispute, Pochettino emphasized that he was not attacking players or Conte, telling reporters “I don’t say that they did not play well. Conte, the coach, was great,” while maintaining that rule-breaking should have triggered a different outcome.
What’s at Stake Next
The dispute centers on what punishment should have followed Chelsea’s admitted financial breaches, with Pochettino arguing that “What is being promoted and incentivised is to break the rules,” unless sanctions match the wrongdoing. The BBC described how the Premier League assessed recalculations of Chelsea’s historical financial submissions after previously undisclosed payments were taken into account, concluding that Chelsea would not have breached profitability and sustainability rules had the payments been registered at the time. Because of that conclusion, the BBC said “It therefore deemed that a points deduction would not be an appropriate punishment,” leaving the £10m FA fine and the March £750,000 fine as the main penalties described.
The Guardian added that Chelsea were fined £10m by the Football Association in July and given a suspended two-window transfer ban, and said the club were also fined £10.75m by the Premier League in March. Pochettino’s call for retroactive change also tied to his own career narrative, with the BBC quoting him saying “I lost my job [at Spurs] because we didn’t win the title,” as he argued that the lack of title-stripping risked encouraging future violations.