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United States coach Mauricio Pochettino expressed sadness at an apparent failure of “sporting justice” in his response to reports that Manchester City has been found guilty of almost all of the 115 charges leveled against the club for alleged financial breaches.
The alleged rule-breaking by City took place between 2009-18, during which period Pochettino was manager of Tottenham and turned the London team into a challenger for titles in English soccer despite operating on a relatively small budget.
The Premier League has yet to officially confirm the verdict that, according to several media outlets, has been passed down by an independent commission following a long-running case.
“If it’s true that the 114 rules were broken, then we lived through a period of deception,” said Pochettino, speaking Monday — a day before the U.S. men’s team plays Chile in a friendly match.
“So, whatever the punishment ends up being … I don’t know. It’s impossible to go back. I think a lot of damage has been done.”
Earlier this month, Pochettino called for Chelsea to be stripped of the 2016-17 Premier League title for a total of 74 breaches of Football Association regulations covering agents, working with intermediaries and third-party investment in players. Chelsea’s punishment, on appeal, was a fine of 10 million pounds ($13.4 million) and a suspended two-window transfer ban.
Chelsea won the 2016-17 Premier League by a seven-point margin over Tottenham, which finished third in the 2017-18 season when City was champion. During this time, Tottenham was working under a far tighter budget than its title rivals in England yet still reached the Champions League final in 2019.
Pochettino, who was at Spurs from 2014-19, said that “ultimately a lot of clubs followed the rules and others didn’t.”
“What’s going to happen — a financial penalty? Points deductions? I don’t know,” he said. “It’s very difficult, honestly.
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“It’s sad. It’s deeply sad. Because, in the end, we’ve entered into a situation where what was celebrated wasn’t really what we thought it was. What seemed so good maybe wasn’t so good. And what didn’t seem good maybe actually was good, but it couldn’t be seen as good because the other ‘good’ was achieved by breaking the rules. So, ultimately, we’ve lived through a period where sporting justice didn’t exist.”
City has always denied wrongdoing and its chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, continued to protest the club’s innocence on Saturday, a day after reports said a verdict had been reached.
Reporting by The Associated Press.
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