Pochettino Wants Tottenham Awarded Premier League Title Nine Years Late

Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham should be awarded Chelsea’s 2016–17 Premier League title, providing his former club with a possible route to becoming champions nine years after the season ended.

Chelsea finished seven points above Spurs during Antonio Conte’s first campaign at Stamford Bridge, collecting 93 points while Pochettino’s side recorded a club-record total of 86.

The result appeared reasonably conclusive at the time.

Chelsea have since been punished for historical rule breaches involving undisclosed payments to players, unregistered agents and other third parties during the Roman Abramovich era.

The Premier League fined the club a record £10.75 million in March, while the Football Association subsequently imposed a separate £10 million fine and suspended transfer ban after Chelsea admitted 74 breaches of its regulations.

Pochettino believes financial penalties are insufficient and that the consequences should extend to a league table last updated in May 2017.

“We should have been awarded it,” he said. “The title should be for the team that was second.”

The Argentine acknowledged that Chelsea played well and won their matches but argued that the two clubs had not entered the season operating under the same conditions.

Tottenham’s route to the title would therefore involve replacing the traditional requirement of finishing first with a retrospective regulatory assessment conducted almost a decade later.

It would give Spurs their first top-flight championship since 1961 and allow several former players to become Premier League winners without needing to return to the club, play another match or remain in professional football.

Pochettino later managed Chelsea during the 2023–24 season, placing him in the unusual position of requesting that one former employer surrender a trophy to another.

Neither the Premier League nor the FA has indicated that Chelsea’s title will be withdrawn. The club accepted the financial punishments, and the official 2016–17 table remains unchanged.

Pochettino spent more than five years attempting to win a trophy with Tottenham on the pitch. He has now identified another possibility involving several investigations and a significant amount of patience.