Former Tottenham Manager Reopens Old Wounds After Chelsea Sanctions: "That Title Should Have Been Ours"

The English FA fined Chelsea £10 million (approximately €11.76 million) at the end of July and imposed a two-transfer-window conditional ban. The penalties stemmed from alleged breaches related to agents, dealings with intermediaries, and third-party investments in players.

These infractions reportedly occurred primarily between 2011 and 2018 and were reported by the club's new ownership in 2022, when they acquired the club from Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. However, no sporting sanctions were imposed on the team, and according to Pochettino, the title should have been awarded to another team.

"We should have won a title, a Premier League. If it's true that such things were happening, we definitely deserve to be champions because we were the second-best," the Argentine coach stated in an interview with The Guardian. Tottenham finished that season with the fewest losses, scored the most goals, and conceded the fewest.

Ultimately, however, they finished seven points behind the champions. The case involves multi-million-pound payments made to unregistered agents in connection with the transfers of Eden Hazard, David Luiz, and Nemanja Matić. All three were part of the championship-winning squad.

"They were punished, and they admitted it. It's completely natural to say that we didn't have the same conditions before the season. With the same opportunities, we could have signed players who would have improved our team even further. It's not a complaint. It's simply the truth," Pochettino continued.

After his stint at PSG, the Argentine managed Chelsea in the 2023/2024 season. "Chelsea fans will be angry with me, but I don't blame the players or the coaches. They were great. But if our club had done something similar, I would admit that we didn't deserve it," the 54-year-old coach remarked.

In English football, authorities traditionally shy away from stripping titles in cases of rule breaches. According to Pochettino, this sends the worst possible signal. In the interview, he also spoke about his excitement for his new contract with the US national team and mentioned that, had circumstances been different, he might have returned to Tottenham last season.