US national team coach Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham should have been awarded the Premier League title for the 2016/17 season. The Argentinian led Spurs to second place behind Chelsea in that campaign, with Antonio Conte's side finishing seven points clear.
"We should have won a title, a Premier League championship. It should have been awarded to us," Pochettino complained in a UK media round. "They were punished, they admitted it – and that was it? The title should go to the team who finished second."
At the heart of his argument is Chelsea's breach of rules on financial reporting, third-party investments and youth development, which the Premier League deemed proven and punished with a heavy fine of 12.5 million euros and a two-year suspended transfer ban.
Chelsea themselves reported possible rule breaches to the league and effectively admitted them. The case relates to the period from 2011 to 2018. At the time, the club was still owned by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, which, according to Pochettino, made the 2017 title illegitimate.
Pochettino on Chelsea: "Did not play by the same rules"
"It is true that we did not play by the same rules. Okay, now we can say that they scored goals, won games and so on. Okay, but it is completely fair to say that before the season started, we were not competing under the same conditions," raged the 54-year-old, who had, intriguingly, managed Chelsea in the 2023/24 season.
Spurs, perhaps, "under the same rules, if we apply the same standards, could have signed some players who would have improved the team, or scored more goals."
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Pochettino insisted he did "not want to complain, but it is the truth. If they admitted that they broke the rules, then the Premier League title should have belonged to the second-best team," he concluded.
He added: "I am not afraid to tell the truth. The Chelsea fans will be angry with me for saying this, but if we were at Tottenham and had broken the rules, I would admit that too."