“The Chelsea fans will be upset with me because I’m saying this,” Mauricio Pochettino admitted before stating his belief that his former employers should be stripped of their 2016–17 Premier League title win because of breaching financial rules.

Pochettino is of the opinion that the Tottenham Hotspur side he was managing should be named as winners instead, having finished that season as runners-up. Chelsea were fined £10 million ($13.6 million at current market rate) and given a suspended transfer ban after breaching 74 rules relating to agent regulations between 2011 and 2018, but crucially received no on-field sanctions.

“I’ve said that we should win one title, one Premier League,” Pochettino said to reporters. “We should have been awarded it. If that was true, and that happened, for sure we deserve to be champions for that year. Because we were the second best.”

Tottenham lost just four games that season, picking up 86 points to finish comfortably ahead of Manchester City and Liverpool in third and fourth. Harry Kane and Dele Alli held the keys to Spurs’ success, scoring 47 goals between them as Kane picked up the Golden Boot award.

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Chelsea, meanwhile, finished seven points ahead on 93, winning the title in Antonio Conte’s first season in charge after the Italian switched to a back three after a desperately disappointing defeat at rivals Arsenal.

“They were punished, they admitted (it), so that’s it,” Pochettino continued of the charges Chelsea admitted to. “The title should be for the team that was second. We didn’t compete with the same rules. OK, now we can say that they scored goals, they won games. But it’s completely fair to say that we didn’t compete before the start of the season with the same card.

“Maybe with the same rules, if we apply the same things, maybe we could have signed some players that would have made the team better, or scored more goals. It’s not me complaining. It’s the truth.”

Pochettino’s View if Tottenham Had Been the Rule Breakers

Pochettino made clear that his viewpoint was in no way intended to take anything away from Chelsea’s performances on the pitch, nor Conte, who he proclaimed a “great coach”. But he added that “if you don’t punish the way that you need to punish” then “what is being promoted and incentivized is to break the rules.”

“If we were at Tottenham and broke the rules, I would admit the same and say, ‘Look, we don’t deserve the title because we broke the rules’.” he added. “It’s impossible if only some clubs play with offside and another plays with no offside. Or one plays with VAR and another plays with no VAR. No. For everyone, it needs to be the same rules, and the capacity to create the best team.”

Pochettino would not a win trophy with Tottenham before being sacked in November 2019, though he did reach the final of the Champions League with the Lilywhites—a competition the club have failed to qualify for regularly since his departure from north London.

‘It’s Different’—Return to Tottenham Not Out of the Question

Pochettino would go on to manage Chelsea for a season before parting ways—the move was poorly received by both sets of supporters—but did admit that Tottenham had been in contact over a potential return in the summer, though nothing came to pass because of his commitments with the United States men’s national team.

“They called all the coaches! Free and not free!” Pochettino said. “The problem was that the timings were never the best. When I was free, I never received a contact and then when I was working, I received a contact, but I cannot make the decision to come back. It was a little bit unlucky. But maybe one day the stars will align and it can happen. If I was free, of course, I would come. But I wasn’t free. I was preparing for the World Cup.”

Pochettino recently signed a new long-term contract with the USMNT, taking him through to the end of the 2030 World Cup, but the 54-year-old stated this particular deal “is different” because either party can choose to end the relationship early if things don’t go well at the Copa América or Gold Cup. He added that his team are “excited” about what’s ahead with the national team and “are thinking of spending four years until the next World Cup.”