Mauricio Pochettino calls for ‘take Premier League title off Chelsea and provides it to Tottenham’
Mauricio Pochettino has sensationally claimed Chelsea should be stripped of their 2017 Premier League title and the trophy handed to Tottenham.
The Argentine boss – who managed Spurs then later went on to take the hotseat at Stamford Bridge – believes Tottenham should be awarded the championship for the 2016/17 campaign because the Blues “broke the rules”. Chelsea were hit with a fine and handed a suspended transfer ban by both the Premier League and the Football Association after acknowledging breaches of transfer regulations between 2011 and 2018 during Roman Abramovich’s ownership.
They confessed to making £47m in unlawful payments to agents – including during the acquisition of star player Eden Hazard – but the Premier League stated in their ruling they had shown mercy because new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital reported the matter themselves after their 2022 takeover, reports the Mirror.
Chelsea lift the Premier League trophy in 2017(Image: Getty Images)
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Nevertheless, Pochettino – now head coach of the United States – maintains Tottenham are the ones who have genuinely suffered injustice throughout the entire saga.
Pochettino 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.
Chelsea’s Eden Hazard was pivotal to their 2016/17 Premier League title win(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
“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,
“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.”
(Image: ISI Photos via Getty Images)
Pochettino, who was in charge of Chelsea between 2023 and 2024, concluded his five-year tenure at Spurs empty-handed and that plainly irritates him.
The United States manager says he acknowledges the work Antonio Conte accomplished when Chelsea edged out Spurs for the crown in 2017, but believes the Premier League should have taken firmer action.
Pochettino added: “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.’
Pochettino managed Tottenham(Image: Getty Images)
And then Chelsea(Image: Getty Images)
“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.”
