Mauricio Pochettino has expressed dismay at the news that Manchester City were found guilty of widespread financial improprieties, saying fans “lived through a period of deception” because of the club’s rule breaches. The US men’s national team head coach asked: “Where were the controls?” when asked for his thoughts on the verdicts. “That’s what gets my attention,” he said in Spanish. “Where were the controls?”
Manchester City were found guilty by the Premier League of violating the vast majority of 115 charges concerning financial rules between 2009 and 2018. Pochettino’s view is shaped by his time managing Southampton from 2013 to 2014, Tottenham Hotspur for five seasons from 2014 to 2019, and Chelsea for a single season in 2023-24, a period in which City rose to the Premier League elite. He recalled the constraints he worked under at Tottenham, including building the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and not having the economic possibility of a transfer for 18 months. “I think we were the only team in the history of the Premier League with 18 months without [making a transfer],” he said.
Pochettino added: “If a team like us, Tottenham, was fighting for titles with those above us and every year in the top four, getting to the semi-finals of Champions League without being able to do a transfer for 18 months, all because we needed to get used to the [Premier League financial controls]? They were so strict with us but also so lenient with others. Because of that, that’s why I say: it’s all very strange.”
City’s problems began with a 2018 investigation by German newspaper Der Spiegel, which cited leaked internal documents and outlined potential violations over a 10-year span between 2008 and 2018. City have always denied the allegations. They were subsequently charged by the Premier League in 2023 with falsifying details of their finances, with some issues centering on payments to players and coaches. They have also been accused of violating Uefa’s financial fair play regulations and the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules. Uefa attempted to discipline City in 2020, banning the club from Uefa-sanctioned competition such as the Champions League and fining them €30m. That punishment was later overturned by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which said some violations occurred too long ago to be punished and others were not adequately proven. City are widely expected to appeal against the Premier League’s verdicts in the next two weeks, and the ensuing legal proceedings could drag out for an extended period.
Asked what punishment he feels should follow, Pochettino returned to his disappointment at the wider situation. “Whatever punishment [they choose], it’s impossible to turn back time,” he said. “It’s done a lot of damage, more than anything the guidelines. At the end of the day many clubs followed the rules and some didn’t. Maybe they thought that the punishment [wouldn’t come for a lot of years] – what are they going to do? An economic punishment? Docking points? It’s really hard.” He added: “It’s sad. It is a huge sadness. At the end of the day we get into a situation where what got celebrated wasn’t that real, what seemed good maybe wasn’t so good, what didn’t look good maybe was good but couldn’t be good because of what happened. 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 had already spoken last week about the punishment handed to Chelsea, who were found guilty of similar violations on a much smaller scale. Chelsea were Premier League champions in 2016-17, with Pochettino’s Tottenham finishing second. The club was later fined heavily by the Premier League for undisclosed payments to players, coaches and other involved parties, and was also hit with a nine-month academy transfer ban. “We should win one title, one Premier League,” Pochettino said. “They were punished, they admitted, so that’s it? The title should be for the team that was second … It’s true that we didn’t compete with the same rules. OK, now we can say that they scored goals, they won games, and like this. OK, that’s it, but it’s completely fair to say that we didn’t compete before the start of the season with the same card.” He added: “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.”
After the match with Chile, the US will face Mexico on 3 October and Canada on 6 October in Phoenix, Arizona and St Paul, Minnesota, respectively.