Widespread reports emerged last week that City had been found guilty by an independent commission on all but one of the 115 charges brought forward by the Premier League in 2023, related to breaches of the league's financial regulations covering a nine-year period between 2009 and 2018.
Sanctions have yet to be decided for City, with rule W.51 of the Premier League’s handbook stating that such punishments could range from fines to potential expulsion from the league.
Pochettino, whose Spurs side missed out on UEFA Champions League football as they finished below City during the Argentine's debut season in north London, was left questioning what might be an appropriate punishment for the Manchester club.
”If it’s true that the 114 rules were broken, then we lived through a period of deception," Pochettino, who is now head coach of the United States, said in quotes reported by The Athletic.
"So, whatever the punishment ends up being … I don’t know. It’s impossible to go back. I don’t know if it’s impossible to go back, but I think a lot of damage has been done.
"Especially with the controls during the pandemic, because ultimately a lot of clubs followed the rules and others didn’t, perhaps thinking about what the punishment might be after so many years: ‘What’s going to happen? A financial penalty? Points deductions?’
”I don’t know. It’s very difficult, honestly.”
Earlier this month, Pochettino said Spurs should have been retrospectively awarded the 2016/17 Premier League title after Chelsea admitted - who won the league that year - 74 breaches of FA regulations in relation to agents, intermediaries and third-party investment in players.
The west London club were fined £10 million and given a suspended transfer ban.
Pochettino also suggested his side were subjected to more "strict" restrictions than others, citing his side's lack of transfer activity in 2018 and 2019.
He said: ”So if a club like us, Tottenham, who had been competing for titles, competing with the other teams up there, finishing in the top four every year, reaching a Champions League [final] without having been able to sign anyone for 18 months because we had to comply with the rules the Premier League imposed on us, how could those controls have been so strict with us and so much less strict with some others?
”That’s why I say the whole thing is very strange. And that’s the problem: everything becomes very, very murky, and it’s very, very difficult to draw a conclusion."
Pochettino concluded that the reported guilty verdict is "deeply sad", adding: "Ultimately, we’ve lived through a period where sporting justice didn’t exist.
"So how do you make up for all the damage that was caused by that, if all those 114 breaches are proven to be true?
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"Hopefully, in the future, this serves to make things as fair as possible, so that everyone, through their own ability and creativity, can compete fairly and on equal terms."
During the nine-year period of the alleged breaches, City won the Premier League three times, the FA Cup twice and the Carabao Cup on three occasions.
In a letter addressed to City fans on the club's official website, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said he was confident of their innocence.
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