Mauricio Pochettino has looked beyond the eventual punishment in Manchester City’s long-running Premier League case, arguing that no fine, points deduction or sporting sanction can neatly settle what previous seasons may have meant for the clubs involved.
The United States manager, formerly of Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur, said the harder question was not simply what penalty City might receive, but whether the competition could ever put right the consequences for teams and supporters who competed during the period under scrutiny.
In the dressing room
Pochettino said it was difficult to identify a sanction proportionate to the scale of the case. A financial penalty or a deduction of league points are among the possible outcomes he mentioned, but he believes neither would erase the impact already felt elsewhere in the division.
“It is very hard to know what the punishment should be,” he said. “Whatever they decide, you cannot turn the clock back. A lot of damage has been done.”
| Season | Club | League finish |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | Chelsea | Champions |
| 2016-17 | Tottenham Hotspur | Second |
The Argentine’s concern is rooted in the contrast, as he sees it, between clubs required to operate tightly within the regulations and those accused of falling short of them. He questioned how the situation was allowed to develop and whether the controls were strong enough in the first place.
“A lot of clubs followed the rules and others did not,” Pochettino said. “Perhaps they believed a punishment would never come. It is fair now to ask where the checks were, for the rules to be broken in that way. That is what surprises me most.”
The cost of playing by the book
Pochettino also drew a comparison with Chelsea, who were hit with transfer restrictions after breaches of regulations, and recalled his own Tottenham side finishing runners-up to the Blues in 2016-17.
He said Spurs had regularly challenged at the top end of the table, reached a Champions League semi-final and had to go 18 months without bringing in a player while adapting to Premier League financial controls. In his view, the treatment felt severe for some clubs and markedly more forgiving for others.
“We were very strictly controlled, while others were treated with much more flexibility,” he said, describing the wider picture as “very strange”.
For Pochettino, the issue reaches beyond whichever punishment is ultimately imposed on City. He believes the episode has left a mark on the league’s credibility and on those who spent years competing within it.
“It is sad, enormously sad,” he said. “We lived through a period without sporting fairness. How do you repair what was harmed?”
That is the awkward business awaiting the game in the weeks ahead. The eventual decision may determine City’s sanction, but Pochettino’s point is that the Premier League must also confront what any verdict means for the clubs, league positions and supporters already left behind in the record books.
