Pochettino Demands Tottenham Be Handed 2016–17 Title After Chelsea's Rule-Breaking Scandal

"The Chelsea supporters won't be happy with me for saying this," Mauricio Pochettino acknowledged before expressing his view that his former club should be stripped of their 2016–17 Premier League title due to financial rule violations.

Pochettino believes that the Tottenham Hotspur squad he coached at the time should be declared champions instead, as they finished that campaign in second place. Chelsea were handed a £10 million ($13.6 million at current exchange rates) fine and a suspended transfer ban after being found guilty of breaching 74 regulations related to agent dealings between 2011 and 2018, though notably escaped any sporting sanctions.

"I've said that we should have won a title, one Premier League," Pochettino told reporters. "We should have been given it. If that was true, and it actually happened, then we absolutely deserve to be called champions for that season. Because we were the second-best team."

Tottenham suffered only four defeats that season, accumulating 86 points to finish well clear of Manchester City and Liverpool in third and fourth place respectively. Harry Kane and Dele Alli were the driving forces behind Spurs' campaign, combining for 47 goals as Kane claimed the Golden Boot.