Mauricio Pochettino believes Tottenham Hotspur should have been awarded the 2016-17 title after Chelsea were punished for rule breaches covering that period from the Roman Abramovich era – and that the White Hart Lane club deserve more respect for what they did over that time.
The USA coach similarly added that Spurs are the one club he would manage in the Championship – or “whatever division” – and that he was contacted last season about a return, but that the timing was wrong.
The Argentine meanwhile said Daniel Levy now “knows the feeling” of what it was like for Pochettino to be sacked by Spurs, given that the former chairman was forced out last year, but that they have stayed in touch and talked about the experience.
The last few years may have been completely different, though, had Spurs taken the Pochettino project to fruition by winning their first title since 1961, with the manager even alluding to the idea he might have kept his job in 2019 had he been a champion.
That 2016-17 campaign saw them claim a club record 86 points, partly through an unbeaten home record in the last season of the old White Hart Lane, to finish seven points behind Antonio Conte’s Chelsea.
Eden Hazard was one of the season’s star players, and his 2012 transfer from Lille had come under investigation over illegal payment to agents, that ultimately saw Chelsea given a fine but not stripped of titles. That result was largely down to the new ownership self-reporting the breaches on buying the club in 2022, but Pochettino feels the record should still be different.
“I’ve said that, that we should win one title, one Premier League. We should have been awarded it.
“They were punished, they admitted, so that’s it. The title should be for the team that was second… for sure, we deserve to be champions for that year, because we were the second best.”
While keen to point out his admiration for how Conte actually coached what he had, Pochettino elaborated that he ultimately feels “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.
“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.”
Asked whether Hazard was the difference in that season, Pochettino said: “Maybe yes. Maybe yes. I have no doubt and I’m not scared to say the truth.
“The Chelsea fans will be upset with me because I’m saying this. But if we were at Tottenham and broke the rules I’d admit the same and say ‘look, we don’t deserve the title because we broke the rules’. 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 then the capacity to create the best team. I don’t say that they didn’t play well, that was [Antonio] Conte, the coach was great, and everything. I don’t say that. And I don’t want this message is twisted.
“But if you broke the rules, in the moment, then ‘ciao’ – you need to give it to another team. I don’t know what didn’t happen [with the FA/PL)]
“If you don’t punish in the way that you need to punish, I say ‘yeah – but I lost my job because we didn’t win a title’.
“And we were fighting with this club, eh … [who work] in a completely different way to us. But I think we deserve more … I think we don’t get … well, no, we get the respect for what we were doing. We operated in a different way.”
Had Pochettino earned the profile of being a title-winning manager, it is of course possible that Levy wouldn’t have sacked him when they eventually encountered difficulty from the start of the 2019-20 season. That naturally afforded an “empathy” when Levy was forced out of Spurs last year.
“I think he feels like [I did] when I was sacked!” Pochettino said. “Now he knows the feeling.
“I keep in touch with him. I never made the situation personal. When that happens [to Levy], you are more empathetic with people now. Because you can sack a coach. But in the way that I felt in this moment, that we felt … all the coaching staff … it’s like you receive the letter, you are sacked, pick up your things and you can never come back and say goodbye to the people; maybe 200, 300 people that were your family.
“You cannot say goodbye, you cannot send a text, you cannot do nothing. And that was really really tough for me. I was talking with him about that. Of course I am not happy that now he feels the same. Because I am not a person who has bad feelings.
“Yes, it’s difficult because for him, 25 years, building his house, his club, and what happened after, for sure, was tough for him, for his family and of course I am so sorry for him and for everyone.”
Pochettino hopes he can eventually return to Spurs, as he admitted he was one of many coaches they spoke to during the difficulties of last season – but that he had committed to the World Cup.
“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 say … 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 but the problem was that when we wanted and we were free, we didn’t receive the approach. When we were working, we received the approach.”
Pochettino says the approach came in February.
“Yeah but in this moment they called everyone, they called all the coaches! Free and not free!”
Asked would he have taken the job if Spurs had been relegated, Pochettino says: “Yes, of course. Tottenham? Yes, of course. It’s the only club that always I am open to help.
“Whatever division. Another club, no. But Tottenham, yes.”
