Mauricio Pochettino on accusations against Man City: ‘We lived through a period of deception’

Former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino said ‘we lived through a period of deception’ after Manchester City found guilty to break down the majority of accusations made against them by the Premier League.

Independent panel found City guilty of wide range of financial rule breaches, The Athletic, external reporting Friday that 114 of the 115 charges against them have been upheld.

Sanctions have not yet been announced, but the city plans to appeal the decision.

The charges relate to a period from 2009-10 to 2017-18, when they were accused of failing to cooperate with Premier League investigations between December 2018 and February 2023.

American manager Pochettino has managed three Premier League clubs during that time, with the 54-year-old spending 15 months at Southampton, five years at Tottenham and just one season at Chelsea.

“Whatever punishment (they choose), it is impossible to turn back time,” Pochettino said.

“It caused a lot of damage. Many clubs followed the rules and some didn’t.

“Maybe they thought the punishment (wouldn’t come for many years): what are they going to do? Economic punishment? Mooring points? It’s really hard.

“It’s a huge sadness. We find ourselves in a situation where what was celebrated wasn’t so real, what seemed good maybe wasn’t, what didn’t seem right maybe was okay but couldn’t be because of what happened.

“We experienced something where sporting fairness did not exist. So how do we repair everything that was damaged because of that, if it’s true, all 114 rules that were broken, we experienced a period of deception.”