Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino has claimed that Chelsea should be stripped of their 2016/17 Premier League title and that Tottenham should have been declared champions instead.
Pochettino, who guided Tottenham to a second-place finish that season, believes his side deserved the title because Chelsea were later punished for rule violations.
Chelsea won the Premier League in the 2016/17 campaign after finishing seven points ahead of Tottenham. The Blues recorded 30 wins from 38 matches under Antonio Conte and lifted the trophy for the second time in three seasons.
However, Pochettino has argued that Chelsea’s punishment should have affected their title.
“For sure, we deserve to be champions for that year because we were second best. We should have been awarded it. We should win one title, one Premier League,” he said.
Chelsea F.C. was charged and fined for making secret, undisclosed off-book payments to unregistered agents and third parties during transfers between 2011 and 2018 under former owner Roman Abramovich.
This disclosure came after the new owners’ group, Blueco, self-reported these historical discrepancies after purchasing the club in 2022.
The Argentine manager insisted that his comments were not simply a complaint but what he considers to be a matter of fairness.
“They [Chelsea] were punished, they admitted it, so that’s it. The [2017 Premier League] title should be for the team that was second. It’s not me complaining, it’s the truth. We didn’t compete with the same rules,” Pochettino added.
He also acknowledged that Chelsea supporters may not agree with his position.
According to Pochettino, however, the same principle would apply if Tottenham had been found guilty of breaking the rules.
“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,’” he said.
