ONE TOUCH SUMMARY
- Pochettino says no punishment can repair the damage done to the Premier League by Manchester City's breaches.
- Manchester City found guilty in 114 of 115 financial charges spanning 2009 to 2018.
- Pochettino cites Forest and Everton receiving different sanctions as evidence sporting justice did not exist.
ONE TOUCH INSIGHT
Pochettino is not a neutral and that is precisely why his verdict carries. The manager who finished second to Chelsea in 2016-17 and third behind City a season later watched the charged period from the closest seat in the league, and his framing is the sharpest anyone has offered: the punishment is a sideshow, the controls are the story.
He knows the mechanics from inside it. Spurs went 18 months without a signing while building a stadium and still reached the 2019 Champions League final; City claimed three titles, an FA Cup and three League Cups between 2009 and 2018, and the ESPN-reported 114-of-115 finding puts the legitimacy of all of it in question. Everton and Nottingham Forest took points deductions. That asymmetry is what Pochettino means when he says sporting justice did not exist.
His argument that no punishment repairs the damage holds for a reason the league table hides: the clubs who complied paid in a currency no deduction refunds. Next comes the sanction's scope — whether it reaches back to the 2017-18 and 2011-12 titles or settles for fines and deductions, with Aguero's stoppage-time goal against QPR the moment that gets re-litigated loudest.
WHY IT MATTERS
Pochettino's intervention reframes the City verdict as a governance crisis rather than a single-club case. Questions over where the controls were, and why sanctions differed between clubs, strike at trust in the competition's integrity and the legitimacy of its past titles.
TACTICAL FIT
For rivals, City's domestic dominance is now shaded by the breaches, reshaping the recruitment maths of clubs built to chase them. Pochettino's own contrast — 18 months without a signing while Tottenham built a stadium — underlines the imbalance.
THE DEBATE
Can any punishment ever repair the damage to the Premier League's integrity?
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Burley: The Premier League's image has been damaged after Man City's charges (2:19)
Jeff CarlisleSep 28, 2026, 07:40 PM ET Follow
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United States manager, Mauricio Pochettino said Monday that it was "very difficult" to know what punishment Manchester City should receive for breaking the Premier League's financial fair play rules -- and severely damaging the competition.
Pochettino, who managed in the Premier League for eight seasons with the likes of Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, and Chelsea, added: "We have lived through a period where sporting justice did not exist."
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Last week, an ESPN source said Manchester City was found guilty in 114 of 115 charges relating to breaches of Premier League financial regulations between 2009 and 2018. In that time, City claimed three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, and three League Cups. One of those league titles came during the 2017-18 season when Pochettino led Spurs to a third place finish.
The prior season, Spurs finished second to Chelsea, who were also found to have breached the league's financial regulations.
Ahead of Tuesday's match between the USMNT and Chile, Pochettino was asked his opinion on the Manchester City charges and what would be a fair punishment.
"It's very difficult when out of 115 charges you are found guilty of 114 to know what the punishment should be to make it fair. Because there are other clubs like Nottingham Forest or Everton that broke rules and received different sanctions, whether point deductions or fines," Pochettino said. "It's a very difficult situation that causes astonishment given the magnitude of the verdict. And it's also fair to ask where the controls were for the rules to be broken like that. That's what catches my attention the most."
Pochettino recalled that during his time at Tottenham, the club was building a new stadium and for a spell had no financial room to sign players. He said he thought that Spurs was the only team in Premier League history to go 18 months without being able to make a signing.
U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino managed Southampton, Tottenham and Chelsea in the Premier League over an eight-year period.Getty Images
"That was a big disadvantage because we were fighting among the best teams and reaching a Champions League final [in 2019]," the U.S. coach said. "Why were those controls so strict with us and not as much with others? That's why I say everything is very strange, and the problem is that everything gets clouded. If it's true that they broke 114 rules, we have lived through a period of deceit. No type of punishment will make it possible to repair what was done, and the Premier League's controls are severely damaged."
City's run during that period coincided with some iconic moments, including Sergio Aguero's stoppage-time strike against Queens Park Rangers on the last day of the 2011-12 season that enabled City to claim a first top-flight crown since 1968. Now the legitimacy of those moments has been cast into doubt.
"It's a very sad situation because what was already achieved and celebrated maybe wasn't real, and what wasn't so good could have been better," he said. "We have lived through a period where sporting justice did not exist. If the charges are proven, it's very difficult to repair what happened. I hope that at least it serves to ensure equality exists in the future.
"I said at the time regarding Chelsea's situation when we fought for the title with them while I was at Tottenham, that they were better because they got more points, but by breaking rules. How do you repair that?"
Following the USMNT's friendly with Chile on Tuesday, it will play two more matches -- against Mexico and Canada -- in the September/October international window.
AI-assisted · generated from ESPN FC reporting, not editor reviewed
