{"id":784768,"date":"2026-09-28T00:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T00:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/784768\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T00:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T00:42:11","slug":"tony-pulis-says-he-and-stoke-were-cheated-in-2011-fa-cup-final-after-manchester-city-verdict-manchester-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/784768\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Pulis says he and Stoke were \u2018cheated\u2019 in 2011 FA Cup final after Manchester City verdict | Manchester City"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tony Pulis has said his Stoke City team were \u201ccheated\u201d out of the 2011 FA Cup after Manchester City were found guilty on virtually all counts<\/a> of breaching Premier League financial rules.<\/p>\n

Pulis\u2019s Stoke lost the 2011 Cup final 1-0<\/a> after Yaya Tour\u00e9\u2019s goal. Yet following Friday\u2019s news that City are guilty on all but one of the more than 100 charges laid by the Premier League in February 2023, Pulis feels serious discontent. City are expected to appeal and they deny any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen do we get our FA Cup?\u201d the 68-year-old wrote in his BBC Sport column<\/a>. \u201cThat is what all Stoke fans have been asking me since the news broke on Friday. I thought exactly the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t expect Manchester City<\/a> to offer back the 2011 FA Cup and the winners\u2019 medals their players received. I don\u2019t seriously believe any other trophies and titles will be handed back over either. A points deduction and a massive fine feels far more likely.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I still feel cheated. We won\u2019t ever get that day back and the chance to celebrate around Stoke-on-Trent with the cup and medals we so honestly fought for. After breaking the rules, Manchester City got to do that instead. While the process is far from over because City are expected to appeal, I have to say this verdict and the whole situation has left a very sour taste in my mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pulis pointed to City\u2019s outlay on Tour\u00e9, who was signed from Barcelona for \u00a324m and earned about \u00a3180,000-a-week. He said: \u201cYaya Tour\u00e9, who scored the winning goal, was reportedly earning 10 times what we were paying any of our players and, on his own, had cost more than our entire starting 11 when they had signed him from Barcelona in 2010.\u201d<\/p>\n

Manchester City\u2019s Yaya Tour\u00e9 (left) scores during the 2011 FA Cup final. Photograph: Andrew Yates\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pulis underlined how his emotion has been changed by the verdict. \u201cMy disappointment was buried in the fact we had played a team full of superstars, and faced an elite coach in Roberto Mancini, and had just fallen short. Today, I feel very differently, as I am sure people connected with the other clubs affected by City\u2019s successes in the same period, between 2009 and 2018 [will feel].<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost, but to a team that have been found guilty of breaking the financial rules set out by the Premier League. In doing so, they did not just beat Stoke in an FA Cup final, they collected a stack of titles and went on to completely dominate English football for more than a decade. So, with those rules having been broken, what will the punishment be?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Tony Pulis of Stoke City reacts in defeat. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths\/The FA\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Pulis believes action may be widespread. \u201cI know all Stoke supporters will be demanding that City pass the trophy over and every club that has been affected by their actions will be considering their legal options,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, reiterated the club\u2019s position<\/a>. \u201cThere is so much noise swirling around us, nothing has changed. We have faced challenges together before and have prevailed. There remain many who want to undermine the momentum of our club. We will not give them that opportunity,\u201d said City\u2019s chair.<\/p>\n

On Friday a City spokesperson had said: \u201cThe Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements to be completed, and subject to strict confidentiality. As such Manchester City FC\u2019s position remains consistent with the club\u2019s statement of February 2023. The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League board and executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tony Pulis has said his Stoke City team were \u201ccheated\u201d out of the 2011 FA Cup after Manchester…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-784768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}