Pochettino says Tottenham deserve 2016-17 Premier League title after Chelsea financial breaches

The title claim

Former Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino stated that Chelsea should be stripped of the 2016-17 Premier League title and that the honour belongs to his former side. Tottenham finished runners-up that season with 86 points, seven behind Chelsea. Pochettino, who currently coaches the United States men's national team, argued that financial rule breaches by Chelsea altered the competitive balance between the clubs.

We should win one Premier League, we should have been awarded it.

Pochettino managed Tottenham from 2014 to 2019 and later coached Chelsea during the 2023-24 season. He acknowledged that Chelsea supporters might react negatively to his comments but maintained that rule violations require title reallocation. He noted that Tottenham would have deserved the same outcome had they broken regulations during his tenure.

Investigation and financial penalties

Chelsea received a £10.75 million fine in March after an investigation established that the club made undisclosed illicit payments between 2011 and 2018 under former owner Roman Abramovich. The payments, totaling up to £47 million, went to unregistered agents, players, and third parties to complete transfer agreements. New owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital discovered the irregularities during their 2022 takeover and voluntarily reported 74 rule breaches to football authorities.

The sanctions included a suspended one-year first-team transfer ban and an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban. Chelsea avoided points deductions and retrospective title stripping after accepting the penalties and cooperating with investigators. Other Premier League clubs, such as Everton and Nottingham Forest, received points deductions in recent seasons for profit and sustainability breaches.

Squad impact on the 2016-17 race

The Premier League investigation named several transfers completed using illicit third-party payments, including Eden Hazard, Samuel Eto'o, Willian, Ramires, David Luiz, Andre Schurrle, and Nemanja Matic. Four of those players, Hazard, Willian, Luiz, and Matic, formed the core of Antonio Conte's 2016-17 title-winning squad. Hazard recorded 16 goals and five assists during that league campaign.

Tottenham produced a club-record 86 points in 2016-17, recording the fewest defeats, the most goals scored, and the fewest conceded in the division. Pochettino argued that spending restrictions prevented Tottenham from recruiting the additional talent needed to bridge the seven-point gap.

Maybe with the same rules, we could have signed some players that would have made the team better or scored more goals.

Wider competition effects

During the 2011 to 2018 period covered by the investigation, Chelsea collected six trophies, including two Premier League titles, two FA Cups, the League Cup, and the Europa League. Tottenham also finished runners-up to Chelsea in the 2014-15 League Cup final at Wembley Stadium.

If that was true, then we deserve to be champions that year, for sure. They were punished, they admitted it? So that's it. The title should be for the team that was second.

Pochettino clarified that his comments did not question the coaching work of Conte or Chelsea's performances on the pitch. Instead, he argued that competitive integrity requires strict enforcement when clubs admit to regulatory breaches.