United States men’s national team head coach Mauricio Pochettino expressed dismay Monday at news that Manchester City had been found guilty of widespread financial irregularities, saying fans “experienced a period of deception” due to City’s rule violations.
The Guardian and other media outlets have reported that Manchester City have been found guilty by the Premier League of breaching the vast majority of 115 different charges relating to breaches of financial rules between 2009 and 2018.
Pochettino was the manager of Tottenham Hotspur for five seasons, from 2014 to 2019, and Southampton before that from 2013 to 2014. He also took charge of Chelsea for a single season in 2023-24.
“Where were the controls? » said Pochettino in Spanish, when asked by the Guardian for his opinion on the guilty verdicts. “That’s what caught my attention. Where were the controls?”
“If I remember being at Southampton, then Tottenham – I remember building (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 to go 18 months without (making a transfer).
“If a team like us, Tottenham, were fighting for titles with those above us and every year in the top four, reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League without being able to make a transfer for 18 months, all because we had to get used to the (Premier League financial controls)? They were so strict with us but also so lenient with others. That’s why I say: it’s all very strange.”
Manchester City’s problems began when a 2018 investigation by German newspaper Der Spiegel showed potential financial irregularities, citing leaked internal documents, outlining a host of potential violations that occurred over a 10-year period between 2008 and 2018.
City – who have always denied the allegations – were later accused by the Premier League in 2023 of falsifying details of their finances, with some of those issues centering around payments to players and coaches. They were also accused of breaching UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules and the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
UEFA attempted to discipline City in 2020, banning the club from participating in UEFA-sanctioned competitions like the Champions League and fining them €30 million. This sanction was subsequently annulled by the sports arbitration court; Some violations, they say, occurred too long ago to be punished and others have not been sufficiently proven.
City are widely expected to appeal the Premier League verdicts within the next two weeks and the ensuing legal proceedings could drag on for a prolonged period.
When asked what he thought a potential punishment should be, Pochettino again expressed his disappointment with the overall situation.
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“Whatever punishment (they choose), it is impossible to turn back time,” he said. “It did a lot of damage, more than anything the guidelines. In the end, 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? Docking points? It’s really hard.
“It’s sad,” Pochettino continued. “It’s a huge sadness. Ultimately we find ourselves in a situation where what was celebrated wasn’t so real, what seemed good might not have been so good, what didn’t seem good might have been good but couldn’t be because of what happened. Ultimately we experienced something where sports fairness didn’t exist. So how do we repair everything that was damaged because of that, if that’s it? true, all 114 rules that were broken, we experienced a period of deception.
Last week, Pochettino shared his thoughts on the punishment handed out 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 Spurs finishing in second place. The club was later fined heavily by the Premier League for undisclosed payments to players, coaches and other parties involved. The club was also hit with a nine-month academy transfer ban.
“We should win a title, a Premier League,” Pochettino told British media last week. “They were punished, they admitted, so that’s it? The title should go to 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 that. OK, that’s all, but it’s absolutely 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 applied the same things, maybe we could have signed players who would have made the team better or scored more goals,” Pochettino said. “It’s not me who’s complaining. It’s the truth. If they admitted to breaking the rules, the Premier League title would go to the second best team.”
Following the Chile match, the United States will face Mexico on October 3 and Canada on October 6 in Phoenix, Arizona, and St. Paul, Minnesota, respectively.
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