Former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has described the Manchester City financial breaches case as a “period of deception” and said no punishment can turn back time. His comments came after an independent panel found City guilty of a wide range of financial rule breaches, with The Athletic reporting on Friday that 114 of the 115 charges against the club have been upheld. Sanctions are yet to be announced, and City plan to appeal against the decision. The charges relate to a period from 2009-10 to 2017-18, and City were also accused of failing to co-operate with Premier League investigations between December 2018 and February 2023.
Pochettino, now manager of the United States, managed three Premier League clubs during that time. The 54-year-old spent 15 months at Southampton, five years at Tottenham and a single season at Chelsea. “Whatever punishment [they choose], it’s impossible to turn back time,” he said. “It’s done a lot of damage. 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 is a huge sadness. 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. 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 questioned the level of oversight around the case. “Where were the controls?” he said. “That’s what gets my attention. Where were the controls?” He contrasted the treatment of City with his own experience at Tottenham, where he said the club went 18 months without being able to make a transfer while building the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. “I think we were the only team in the history of the Premier League with 18 months without [making a transfer],” he said. “Tottenham was fighting for titles with those above us and every year in the top four, getting to the semi-finals of the 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.”
The case has wider consequences for the Premier League. Earlier this month, Pochettino said Chelsea should be stripped of the 2016-17 Premier League title after being found guilty of historical rule breaches and that it should be awarded to his Tottenham side, who finished runners-up. Sources have told BBC Sport that other top-flight clubs are seeking legal advice over possible compensation claims following the decision against City. City were charged by the Premier League in February 2023 following a four-year investigation and were referred to an independent commission. A behind-closed-doors hearing began in September 2024 and ran for about 12 weeks.