Football lived through ‘period of deception’: Pochettino

Mauricio Pochettino has questioned the fairness of Manchester City’s era of dominance after reports that the club were found guilty of the vast majority of the Premier League’s financial charges against them.

The former Tottenham and Chelsea manager told The Guardian the findings had left him questioning why financial controls appeared to have been applied differently across clubs. City have maintained their innocence and are expected to appeal.

“Where were the controls?” Pochettino was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

He recalled his time at Tottenham, where the club went 18 months without making a signing while financing their new stadium but still challenged near the top of the Premier League and reached the latter stages of the Champions League.

“They were so strict with us but also so lenient with others,” he said.

Pochettino said deciding how City should now be punished was difficult because no sanction could undo what had already happened.

“Whatever punishment [they choose], it’s impossible to turn back time,” he said, adding that clubs which followed the rules had potentially been competing under unequal conditions.

He said the situation had left him deeply disappointed and questioned how the damage to sporting fairness could now be repaired.

"At the end of the day, we went through something where sporting fairness didn’t exist. So, how do you repair everything that was damaged because of that, if it’s true all of the 114 rules that were broken, we’ve lived through a period of deception.”

Pochettino also drew a parallel with Chelsea, who were punished earlier this year over historical financial breaches on a much smaller scale.

Tottenham finished second to Chelsea in the 2016-17 Premier League under Pochettino. Earlier this month, he argued Spurs should be awarded that title because the two clubs had not competed under the same financial rules.

City were charged by the Premier League in 2023 over alleged financial breaches spanning several seasons. Reports last week said an independent commission had found the club guilty of the vast majority of those charges, although the detailed judgment has not yet been made public.

City deny wrongdoing and have vowed to fight the verdict, with an appeal expected once the sanctions process has run its course.