Mauricio Pochettino has called for Tottenham to be awarded Chelsea’s 2016-17 Premier League title after the Blues were punished for historical breaches of competition rules.
Pochettino’s Tottenham finished seven points behind Antonio Conte’s champions that season, despite producing one of the finest league campaigns in the club’s history.
Now the former Spurs boss believes the record books should be changed.
“We should win one title, one Premier League. We should have been awarded it,” Pochettino said.
“They were punished, they admitted, so that's it? The title should be for the team that was second.”
Chelsea were fined a total of £10.75million by the Premier League in March following investigations into historical breaches between 2011 and 2018. The club were also handed an immediate nine-month academy transfer ban, while a one-year first-team transfer ban was suspended for two years.
The investigation established that undisclosed payments had been made by third parties associated with Chelsea to players, unregistered agents and others. Chelsea’s current ownership voluntarily reported the potential breaches after taking control in 2022.
Pochettino believes that meant Tottenham were competing on unequal terms.
“It’s true that we didn’t compete with the same rules,” he said.
“Maybe with the same rules, if we apply the same things, maybe we could’ve signed some players that would have made the team better or scored more goals.
“It’s not me complaining. It’s the truth. If they admitted they broke the rules, the Premier League title was for the second-best team.”
The numbers underline just how close Spurs came.
Tottenham finished the 2016-17 campaign with 86 points, winning 26 of their 38 matches and losing only four. They actually scored more goals than Chelsea, 86 to 85, while conceding a league-low 26 compared with Chelsea’s 33.
Spurs were also unbeaten at White Hart Lane, winning 17 of 19 home league matches, while Harry Kane claimed the Golden Boot with 29 goals and Dele Alli scored another 18.
Chelsea ultimately finished on 93 points after winning 30 games.
Pochettino, however, believes the punishment should have gone considerably further.
“I’m not scared to say the truth,” he added.
“The Chelsea fans will be upset with me because I’m saying this, but if we were at Tottenham and broke the rules, I’d admit the same.”
