Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham should be recognised as Premier League champions for 2016-17 if Chelsea are found to have broken rules that affected the club’s Abramovich-era operations.
Pochettino says Tottenham should inherit 2016-17 title if Chelsea breaches warrant it
SEO title: Pochettino calls for Tottenham to be recognised as 2016-17 champions
SEO description: Mauricio Pochettino says Tottenham should be awarded the 2016-17 Premier League title if Chelsea’s rule breaches lead to the championship being removed.
Chelsea finished that season with 93 points under Antonio Conte, seven clear of Pochettino’s Spurs, but the campaign has returned to view following punishments linked to financial and transfer-related conduct under former owner Roman Abramovich.
Pochettino’s position is plain: if Chelsea failed to follow the regulations, the club should not retain the prize. Tottenham, runners-up after a season in which they pushed Conte’s side hardest, would be the obvious beneficiaries of any decision to strip Chelsea of the championship.
“If Chelsea broke the rules, Tottenham should be recognised as champions,” Pochettino said.
74 admitted FA breaches
Chelsea admitted 74 Football Association breaches concerning agents, intermediaries and player-related deals. The investigation examined payments and transactions that had not been properly reported to the authorities during the Abramovich period.
The FA imposed a £10 million fine, while the Premier League conducted a separate inquiry and also established breaches. Deals involving Eden Hazard, Willian, David Luiz and Nemanja Matic were among those brought into focus — hardly peripheral figures in Chelsea’s title-winning side of that era.
Yet the punishment has not altered the 2016-17 table. Chelsea have not been docked points and their 93-point total remains in place.
Authorities have not concluded that the infringements merited a points deduction, nor that the payments under examination allowed Chelsea to exceed financial limits in a way that would have changed the sporting outcome. That distinction leaves the title where it has always been, even if the old campaign now comes with a sizeable asterisk in the debate around it.
A question of sporting consequence
Pochettino’s argument is as much about competitive fairness as it is about silverware. If one club breaks the rules while rivals operate within them, he believes the competition cannot be regarded as having been played on equal terms.
The Argentine knows both sides of the argument. Tottenham were Chelsea’s nearest challengers in 2016-17, while Chelsea was his final club job before he took charge of the United States national team.
For now, however, there is no regulation requiring the second-placed team to become champions whenever a winner is sanctioned years later. Unless a penalty removes Chelsea’s points or formally vacates the title, Tottenham’s 2016-17 finish remains second — however strongly Pochettino feels the history should be revisited.
