Mauricio Pochettino has questioned the fairness of Manchester City’s era of success after reports that an independent commission found the club guilty of 114 of 115 Premier League charges.
Former Tottenham and Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has described the period surrounding Manchester City’s alleged financial rule breaches as a “period of deception”, saying the reported findings have raised serious questions about sporting fairness in the Premier League.
Pochettino, now head coach of the United States men’s national team, was speaking after reports emerged that an independent commission had found Manchester City guilty of the vast majority of the 115 charges brought against the club by the Premier League.
The reported verdict relates to alleged breaches of financial rules covering the period from 2009 to 2018, alongside allegations that Manchester City failed to cooperate with the Premier League’s investigation between 2018 and 2023.
Manchester City have consistently denied wrongdoing and are expected to appeal the findings. The Premier League has not publicly released the full commission decision, and sanctions have not yet been determined.
Pochettino questions how the rules were applied
Pochettino's reaction was shaped partly by his own experience managing Tottenham during a period when the club faced strict financial restrictions while building its new stadium.
The Argentine spent five seasons at Tottenham between 2014 and 2019, after previously managing Southampton. He later coached Chelsea during the 2023-24 season.
Speaking about the Manchester City verdict, Pochettino questioned how financial regulations had been applied across different Premier League clubs.
“Where were the controls?” Pochettino asked, according to The Guardian.
He recalled Tottenham going through an 18-month period without signing a player while the club dealt with the financial demands associated with constructing the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Pochettino argued that Tottenham had been required to comply closely with Premier League financial controls while other clubs appeared to operate under different circumstances.
“If a team like us, Tottenham, was fighting for titles with those above us,” he said, according to the report, the club had still been unable to make a transfer for 18 months because of the financial restrictions it faced.
For Pochettino, the reported Manchester City findings therefore raise questions about whether clubs were competing under the same financial conditions.
‘We lived through a period of deception’
Pochettino stopped short of identifying a specific punishment that Manchester City should receive.
Instead, he focused on the difficulty of correcting the consequences of alleged breaches many years after they occurred.
“Whatever punishment [they choose], it’s impossible to turn back time,” Pochettino said. “It’s done a lot of damage.”
He questioned whether a financial penalty or sporting sanction could adequately address the effects of events that had already shaped multiple Premier League seasons.
Pochettino then referred directly to the reported 114 guilty findings.
“If it’s true all of the 114 rules that were broken, we’ve lived through a period of deception,” he said.
The wording was significant because Pochettino was not simply discussing financial regulations. He was questioning whether the sporting achievements of the period could be viewed in exactly the same way if the reported breaches are ultimately upheld following any appeal.
Manchester City deny wrongdoing
Manchester City have repeatedly rejected the Premier League's allegations.
The club was formally charged by the Premier League in February 2023 following a lengthy investigation into its financial affairs.
The charges covered alleged failures to provide accurate financial information, issues involving revenue and expenditure, player and manager remuneration, UEFA financial regulations and the Premier League's own financial rules.
City have maintained that they did not breach the rules and have strongly contested the allegations.
The latest reported commission findings therefore do not represent the end of the legal process.
The club is expected to appeal the verdict, meaning the final outcome could still change depending on the appeal process.
What sanctions could Manchester City face?
No final punishment has been announced.
Possible sanctions under the Premier League's rules could include financial penalties or sporting measures, with reports indicating that more severe possibilities could include a points deduction or expulsion from the league.
However, these remain potential sanctions rather than decisions that have been imposed on Manchester City.
The absence of a final sanction is also why Pochettino said it was difficult to determine what would constitute an appropriate response.
He suggested that simply imposing a punishment now could not completely reverse the consequences of decisions made and matches played over many years.
“That’s really hard,” Pochettino said when discussing possible sanctions.
Tottenham’s experience is central to Pochettino’s criticism
Pochettino's comments are particularly relevant because Tottenham competed directly with Manchester City during his time in charge.
Tottenham finished among the Premier League's leading clubs during several of Pochettino's seasons and reached the Champions League final in 2019.
The club also finished second in the Premier League in the 2016-17 season, behind Chelsea.
Pochettino has previously argued that clubs that complied with financial restrictions should be considered when assessing the consequences of rule breaches by other teams.
His latest comments reflect that same concern.
He said Tottenham had been unable to make a signing for 18 months while it adapted to financial restrictions, asking why those controls appeared to be applied more strictly to some clubs than others.
Manchester City’s success during the period under investigation
The period covered by the Premier League's financial charges coincided with Manchester City's transformation into one of English football's most successful clubs.
City's rise accelerated following the 2008 takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group.
During the years covered by the allegations, Manchester City won multiple Premier League titles and domestic trophies.
The club also eventually became European champions, winning the Champions League in 2023.
The Premier League charges, however, concern specific alleged financial and regulatory breaches rather than automatically invalidating every sporting achievement from the period.
Any consequences for titles or other honours would depend on the eventual decisions of the relevant football authorities and any appeal process.
Previous UEFA case ended differently
The Manchester City case also has a history at European level.
UEFA imposed a two-year Champions League ban and a €30 million fine on City in 2020 over alleged financial fair-play breaches.
City appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
CAS overturned the European competition ban, while reducing the fine to €10 million for failing to cooperate with UEFA's investigation. The sporting sanctions involved different allegations and a different regulatory process from the Premier League case.
The distinction is important because the current Premier League proceedings are separate from the earlier UEFA case.
Pochettino says the damage cannot simply be reversed
For Pochettino, the central issue is not only what punishment Manchester City eventually receives.
He argued that the passage of time makes it difficult to restore competitive conditions retrospectively.
Clubs played matches, signed players, won trophies and made financial decisions during the period under investigation.
If the reported findings ultimately remain in place after the appeals process, Pochettino believes the consequences will extend beyond Manchester City because other clubs were competing within the same Premier League system.
He described the situation as deeply sad and questioned how the damage to sporting fairness could be repaired.
His comments also reflect his own experience of managing Tottenham during a period when the club was competing for major honours while operating under financial constraints.
City expected to fight the verdict
Manchester City's response has been to continue contesting the findings.
Club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has previously expressed confidence that City would prove their position, while chief executive Ferran Soriano reportedly told European Football Clubs executives that the club would continue fighting the case.
The appeal process could therefore extend the dispute for years.
That means the reported 114 guilty findings are not necessarily the final word on the matter.
The commission's decision will have to be considered through the available appeal mechanisms before the legal and sporting consequences are fully settled.
A wider debate over Premier League financial rules
The Manchester City case has also reignited questions about the Premier League's financial regulations and how effectively they have been enforced.
Financial rules are intended to prevent clubs from gaining an unfair advantage through spending beyond permitted limits or through inaccurate financial reporting.
The challenge for football authorities is ensuring that the rules are applied consistently while also providing clubs with a fair process to challenge allegations.
Pochettino's comments focus precisely on that question.
His concern is that if clubs were subject to significantly different levels of financial restriction during the same period, then the competitive consequences may be difficult to correct after the fact.
No final punishment yet
For now, Manchester City remain a Premier League club and no sporting sanction has been imposed following the reported commission verdict.
The club's expected appeal will be an important next stage.
Until that process is completed and any sanctions are formally announced, claims about relegation, points deductions, title stripping or other sporting consequences remain possibilities rather than established outcomes.
Pochettino's intervention has nevertheless added another prominent football figure to the debate surrounding the case.
The former Premier League manager's central argument is that the most difficult issue is not simply determining what punishment should be imposed, but addressing the competitive consequences of alleged rule breaches that occurred many years ago.
For Pochettino, if the reported findings concerning 114 charges ultimately stand, the episode will represent a period in which clubs and supporters experienced Premier League competition under conditions that, in his view, were not fully fair.
Manchester City, meanwhile, continue to deny wrongdoing and are expected to challenge the findings.
The dispute is therefore far from over.
