Tony Pulis managed Stoke City during their 2011 FA Cup final defeat to Manchester City.
The former Stoke manager has questioned the legacy of City’s Wembley win amid reports of a financial rules verdict that the Premier League has not officially announced.
Former Stoke City manager Tony Pulis says he feels cheated by his side’s defeat to Manchester City in the 2011 FA Cup final, as the Manchester club faces renewed scrutiny over alleged breaches of Premier League financial rules.
Pulis guided Stoke to Wembley hoping to secure their first major trophy since winning the League Cup in 1972. Instead, City claimed a 1-0 victory, marking their first major success under their Abu Dhabi-based owners.
His comments follow reports on Friday that an independent commission had found City guilty of all but one of the 115 charges brought by the Premier League. The league has not officially announced a decision, and the reported findings remain unconfirmed.
Pulis questions legacy of Wembley defeat
Writing in a column published on Sunday, Pulis said Stoke supporters had been asking when their club would receive the FA Cup. He said he shared their reaction, although he recognised that the process was not finished and City were expected to appeal.
The former manager described the situation as deeply disappointing. However, he did not expect City to return the 2011 trophy or the winners’ medals awarded to their players.
Pulis also doubted that other honours would be handed back. In his view, a points deduction and a substantial fine were more likely outcomes, though those were his expectations rather than confirmed sanctions.
For Stoke, the Wembley loss ended an opportunity to break a trophy drought stretching back to 1972. For City, the victory helped launch a prolonged period of success following the club’s 2008 takeover by Sheikh Mansour’s Abu Dhabi United Group.
City maintain their denial
Manchester City have strongly rejected the allegations against them. Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak said on Saturday that he remained confident the club would establish its innocence.
No punishment has been announced. Potential sanctions outlined in the reports include a points deduction, a heavy fine or expulsion from the Premier League. City are expected to challenge any eventual punishment through an appeal.
There have also been calls for the club to lose Premier League titles won since the takeover. Those demands do not amount to an official decision, and there has been no announced move to reallocate City’s trophies.
Financial case covers 2009 to 2018
The Premier League charges followed an investigation into alleged regulatory breaches between 2009 and 2018, a period that includes City’s FA Cup victory over Stoke.
The allegations concern the accuracy of financial information supplied by the club, disclosures about payments to players and coaches, and compliance with financial sustainability requirements. City were also accused of failing to cooperate with the investigation.
The case was referred to an independent commission, which began a private hearing in September 2024. Proceedings lasted about 12 weeks.
City previously faced a separate financial fair-play case brought by European football’s governing body, UEFA. In 2020, UEFA imposed a two-year ban from European competition and a fine, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport subsequently overturned the ban.
For now, Pulis’s frustration over the Wembley defeat sits alongside an unresolved public picture of the Premier League proceedings, with an official announcement and any subsequent appeal still central to the outcome.
