Jose Mourinho Reopens the 2017-18 Premier League Title Debate
Jose Mourinho has never quite let go of the 2017-18 Premier League season. Old comments of his have resurfaced this week, and they have put the question of Jose Mourinho Man City titles claims back to supporters who thought the matter had long been settled.
Manchester United finished that campaign second under Mourinho, 19 points behind Manchester City. It remains one of the widest title gaps of the Premier League era, and it is exactly why any suggestion of a retrospective change carries so much weight.
Mourinho put his position plainly when he first raised it.
“I think we still have a chance to win that league… and then they have to pay me the bonus and give me the medal.”
City’s continuing entanglement with football’s disciplinary process has kept that line alive. Supporters following our coverage of the potential loss of Premier League titles will know why Mourinho’s old joke no longer sounds entirely like a joke.
BBC Sport Sources Signal Low Appetite for Stripping Titles
Hope is one thing. The mood inside the game, according to BBC Sport, looks rather different. Sources have told the broadcaster there is little internal appetite within the Premier League and its member clubs for retroactively stripping Manchester City of past titles, the 2017-18 crown included.
It tells us something about how reluctant the wider Premier League may be to unpick a season that has already been played out and remembered.
Clubs rarely benefit from reopening old results. A retrospective title change would raise its own set of complications, from prize money to European qualification, and that context helps explain why appetite for it appears so limited. The original detail sits in BBC Sport’s report on Mourinho’s comments, which is worth reading in full.
None of this rules anything out. It simply sets expectations before the process that actually decides the matter gets underway.
Precedents From Juventus to the Premier League Rules
Precedent for stripping a title does exist, even if examples are rare. Juventus lost their 2005 and 2006 Serie A titles after the Calciopoli scandal, with the first left blank and the second reallocated to Inter Milan. It remains the clearest top-flight example of a major European league acting retrospectively against a champion club.
Elgin City offer a smaller but relevant case closer to home. They were stripped of the 1992-93 Highland League title after fielding ineligible players, proof that revocation is not confined to Serie A or to clubs of City’s size.
Premier League rules do allow for something similar. A disciplinary commission panel can impose penalties “as it shall think fit”, language broad enough to theoretically cover retrospective points deductions or the revoking of a title. That is why the Jose Mourinho Man City titles argument keeps resurfacing whenever City’s case is discussed, even though nothing in the rules guarantees that outcome.
Having the power to act and choosing to use it are two different things, as the BBC Sport reporting above makes clear.
What the Independent Panel Hearing Means for Old Trafford
The decision on any sanction against Manchester City rests entirely with an independent panel, and that panel has yet to hold its sanction hearing. Until it does, there is no ruling for United, Mourinho or anyone else to react to.
That timeline matters for Old Trafford. Mourinho’s quote may generate headlines, but United’s own prospects this season depend on results on the pitch, not on a process still waiting to begin. Supporters can weigh up how a retrospective outcome might actually land by reading our piece on reactions to potential retrospective medals, which explores the mixed feelings such a scenario would create.
Would a medal handed over years later feel like a genuine title win? Mourinho seems to think so. Until the independent panel meets and rules, it stays a claim rather than a certainty, and United’s focus is better spent elsewhere.
