Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham Hotspur should be retrospectively awarded the 2016–17 Premier League title after Chelsea were sanctioned for historical rule breaches. Pochettino’s Spurs finished second that season with a club-record 86 points, seven behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea, but the former Tottenham manager argues that the competition was not conducted on equal terms.
Chelsea were fined a total of £10.75 million by the Premier League in March following an investigation into historical breaches relating to financial reporting, third-party investment and youth development. The club accepted a £10 million fine and a suspended one-year first-team transfer ban, while a separate agreement imposed a £750,000 fine and an immediate nine-month restriction on registering certain academy players from Premier League and EFL clubs.
The Premier League investigation found that, between 2011 and 2018, third parties associated with Chelsea made undisclosed payments to players, unregistered agents and other third parties. Chelsea’s current owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital, reported potential irregularities after completing their takeover in 2022 and subsequently cooperated with the investigation.
The league reassessed Chelsea’s historical financial submissions after the undisclosed payments were identified. It concluded that Chelsea would not have breached profitability and sustainability rules had the payments been disclosed correctly at the time, meaning a retrospective points deduction was not considered an appropriate sanction. The original £20 million financial penalty was reduced by half in recognition of Chelsea’s self-reporting and cooperation.
A separate Football Association case involved 74 breaches of regulations covering agents, intermediaries and third-party investment. Chelsea were initially handed a suspended six-point deduction and a £10 million fine, but an appeal board later removed the points sanction and replaced it with a suspended two-window registration ban. The £10 million FA fine remained in place.
Pochettino, who managed Tottenham between 2014 and 2019, said his former side should have received the title instead.
“We should win one title, one Premier League,” Pochettino said. “We should have been awarded it. They were punished, they admitted, so that’s it? The title should be for the team that was second.”
The current United States men’s national team head coach argued that Tottenham and Chelsea did not begin the campaign “with the same card.” He suggested Spurs might have strengthened their squad further had the clubs operated under the same conditions, potentially changing the outcome of the title race.
Pochettino guided Tottenham to their highest Premier League points total in 2016–17 and later took the club to the 2019 Champions League final. Despite the progress made during his five-year tenure, Spurs did not win a trophy under the Argentine, making the Chelsea title debate especially resonant for supporters of a club whose last top-flight title came in 1960–61.
