What's new

Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

mil1lion

This is the place to be
May 7, 2004
44,586
86,454
I don't miss him but he did tell some home truths that needed to be said. We still have the same issue of not liking to play with pressure. If we did get a takeover and sign some top players I'd still rather stick to the football we play now though.
 

dannyo

Well-Known Member
Dec 6, 2006
1,062
3,348
Not pining over Conte per se, but bemoaning the fact that our problems clearly come from the top. Ange may or may not be good enough to achieve something significant with us. Conte unquestionably is/was good enough. The failure to take advantage of a golden opportunity and provide an elite coach with one blockbuster summer window is an abject disgrace. The £150m being made available was a complete PR con job because we weren’t willing to spend it on the player Conte wanted most (Bastoni).
Well, we 100% agree there. It was a bad appointment that was always going to end in failure because the owners never had any intention of backing him to the tune of what he wanted/needed to deliver what he was supposedly brought in for. He is absolutely a winner, but he needs to have the squad to succeed.

I guess what I’m accepting here is the horrible truth that nothing will ever change under our current ownership and we might as well enjoy the ride under someone who accepts where they are, seems like a nice bloke, and will give us a lot of goals to cheer along the way, hoping against hope that we stumble across a miracle along the way.
 

Rout-Ledge

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2005
10,016
22,876
Re the stuff he said about not liking to play under pressure. I firmly believe he’d checked out after the summer window and was looking to get paid off to leave pretty much from the end of the window. The comments he made were intended to make his position untenable. He should’ve been professional and done the best job possible to see out his short term contract and then leave. Don’t like the guy at all, but he is undoubtedly capable of great things.
 

mil1lion

This is the place to be
May 7, 2004
44,586
86,454
Not pining over Conte per se, but bemoaning the fact that our problems clearly come from the top. Ange may or may not be good enough to achieve something significant with us. Conte unquestionably is/was good enough. The failure to take advantage of a golden opportunity and provide an elite coach with one blockbuster summer window is an abject disgrace. The £150m being made available was a complete PR con job because we weren’t willing to spend it on the player Conte wanted most (Bastoni).

I can absolutely see why Conte viewed that window as a failure. Forster, Spence, Lenglet, Perisic, Bissouma, Richarlison. There’s not a single player in the bunch who clearly improved our first 11. Bissouma looked good but was an opportunistic bargain buy who’s proven to be a mixed bag. Richarlison added depth but wasn’t better than Son, Kane or Kulusevski. Perisic was the best of the bunch but ageing and not fit for purpose as a LWB. The less said about the other three the better, and Conte clearly didn’t want any of them (bar maybe Forster).
We did sign him Kulusevski, Bentancur and Porro though so it was not so one sided. I think it's just your typical "half way" we provided him. Like a few big signings and then the budget runs low and we pick more opportunistic ones. Same really for Ange, some first teamers and some young prospects or opportunistic deals (Soloman,Werner). We never go all in for any manager. It's like we will get you first choice here but 3rd choice or less there. Then injuries add up or we have extra European games and the quality in depth is shown up.
 

-Afri-Coy-

Well-Known Member
Jun 26, 2012
6,105
19,577
I was lambasted for being one of only two members on here who understood Conte’s underlying message during that speech after the Southampton game.

I would stand up for Ange in the same manner. It’s never the managers fault at Tottenham, the rot stems from the top and it will until we’re under new ownership.

@spurs mental and I take our apologies in blowjobs, thank you. Don’t be frightened, there’s only 3 inches between us anyway.
 

Rout-Ledge

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2005
10,016
22,876
We did sign him Kulusevski, Bentancur and Porro though so it was not so one sided. I think it's just your typical "half way" we provided him. Like a few big signings and then the budget runs low and we pick more opportunistic ones. Same really for Ange, some first teamers and some young prospects or opportunistic deals (Soloman,Werner). We never go all in for any manager. It's like we will get you first choice here but 3rd choice or less there. Then injuries add up or we have extra European games and the quality in depth is shown up.
The £150m commitment did seem to indicate that the club was willing to make an exception for Conte, but they didn’t follow through on it. Porro was ‘too little too late’. The Juventus two were good, necessary signings and did improve the first 11, but the summer window was the one we truly needed to deliver in, and we failed completely.
 

Cochise

Well-Known Member
Aug 8, 2019
5,534
14,402
In fairness, I don't think Bastoni wanted to leave Inter. The secondary option though was poor. Our centre back spending between Alderweireld and Romero wasn't great.
 

alfie103

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2005
4,243
4,979
Well, we 100% agree there. It was a bad appointment that was always going to end in failure because the owners never had any intention of backing him to the tune of what he wanted/needed to deliver what he was supposedly brought in for. He is absolutely a winner, but he needs to have the squad to succeed.

I guess what I’m accepting here is the horrible truth that nothing will ever change under our current ownership and we might as well enjoy the ride under someone who accepts where they are, seems like a nice bloke, and will give us a lot of goals to cheer along the way, hoping against hope that we stumble across a miracle along the way.

Why should we accept this? Why can't we make it as difficult as possible for Levy to help facilitate his departure?
 

Trix

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2004
21,607
356,705
true but how much backing would he have required and it was only a matter of when he exploded.
That may well have been the case, but I'll bring it back to why employ him in the first place? Everyone knew what he'd want and what would happen if he didn't get it.
 

Rout-Ledge

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2005
10,016
22,876
That may well have been the case, but I'll bring it back to why employ him in the first place? Everyone knew what he'd want and what would happen if he didn't get it.
I genuinely believe Levy is deluded and thought he could do enough to keep Conte happy in the market.
 

robertgoulet

SC Resident Crooner Extraordinaire
Jul 23, 2013
3,704
13,039
That may well have been the case, but I'll bring it back to why employ him in the first place? Everyone knew what he'd want and what would happen if he didn't get it.
Bingo. He wins everywhere he goes when he's backed to his liking. If he's not, he throws a fit and leaves. What did DL think was going to happen? Conte isn't a "suck it up and get on with it" manager. He's earned the right to walk if he feels like he's being given the run around.
 

-Afri-Coy-

Well-Known Member
Jun 26, 2012
6,105
19,577
That may well have been the case, but I'll bring it back to why employ him in the first place? Everyone knew what he'd want and what would happen if he didn't get it.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t go to the board and say “I want bastoni, barella and I won’t accept any other option”. He must’ve had atleast two targets for each position, and we failed to deliver any of them. Which is par for the course at THFC.
 

alfie103

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2005
4,243
4,979
That may well have been the case, but I'll bring it back to why employ him in the first place? Everyone knew what he'd want and what would happen if he didn't get it.

For me, I think he did it in a panic to appease the fans as they were very unhappy and (I think) chants of 'Levy Out' were starting.
 

Trix

Well-Known Member
Jul 29, 2004
21,607
356,705
For me, I think he did it in a panic to appease the fans as they were very unhappy and (I think) chants of 'Levy Out' were starting.
Tried for him in the Summer before appointing Nuno, so I'm not sure that was the driving reason.
 

mil1lion

This is the place to be
May 7, 2004
44,586
86,454
The £150m commitment did seem to indicate that the club was willing to make an exception for Conte, but they didn’t follow through on it. Porro was ‘too little too late’. The Juventus two were good, necessary signings and did improve the first 11, but the summer window was the one we truly needed to deliver in, and we failed completely.
I don't think the 150m was ever sold as something we were going to spend on players. Thing is the fee is only part of the equation, the package with wages is an issue. Like we paid good wages for Perisic on a free but we never pay the wages together with the fee which is what you need for top players. So even if we had 150m I'm not sure if they would include the player wages as part of the package anyway. They always seem to do just enough to keep us in Europe so I'm not surprised the window is never strong enough.
 

alfie103

Well-Known Member
Jun 4, 2005
4,243
4,979
Tried for him in the Summer before appointing Nuno, so I'm not sure that was the driving reason.

I think Levy in the summer was in a better position to say no to Conte's demands and what he wanted. However, after the stuff with Nuno and the fans turning, Levy panicked and just agreed with whatever Conte wanted to get him on board to appease the fans.
 

DiVaio

Well-Known Member
May 27, 2020
4,296
18,001
Sanchez, Dier, Davies, sessegnon, Royal, Hojbjerg, bergwijn, Lucas, winks. On the wind up suggesting we had the 4th best squad in the league at that point. We had two genuine world class players, two players who came in and made an instant impact and the rest were sub par for a top four finish.

I still think we don’t realise how good Kane was for us, our team now is much better than that one but with son on the decline and Kane gone we’re missing so much of what made us compete for top four for so long.
And most of the players you mentioned Conte rated, while Davinson, Dier and Davies as a starting back three didn't lose PL game keeping clean sheets in most of games.
Two genuine world class players in their prime - that was more than Arsenal and United in 21/22 - plus Hugo, Cuti, later Bentancur and Kulusevski.

Smith Rowe, Tierney, Lacazette, Tomiyasu, Cedric, Tavares, Sambi Lokonga, Aubameyang(in that season), McTominay, Lindelof, Fred, Dalot, Wan-Bissaka, Telles, Matić, Elanga. All of them played >1000 minutes in PL that season, hardly much higher quality than those players mentioned by you
 

For the love of Spurs

Well-Known Member
Mar 28, 2015
3,744
12,326
That may well have been the case, but I'll bring it back to why employ him in the first place? Everyone knew what he'd want and what would happen if he didn't get it.

I naively thought when we got Jose and Conte, elite win it now managers the club would spend £300m to £400m getting the standard of the playing squad up to their needs, the alternative was the club making a fool of itself.

So what we did was make a fools of ourselves, we hired elite chefs and gave them McDonald’s ingredients to cook with then wondered why we got left with a happy meal.
 

G Ron

Well-Known Member
Aug 24, 2012
2,230
8,585
He wanted to buy Bastoni at 23 years of age, he got Lenglet on loan at 27 years of age - To Dare is Too Dear.
He also got Danjuma on loan despite wanting Zaniolo. Now despite the fact I never rated Zaniolo and he flopped at Villa it’s just another example of a manager not being backed and instead being palmed off with sub-par alternatives.

This has been Levy’s MO since the dawn of time and yet some on here are still blind to it and continue to defend him.
 

RuskyM

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2011
8,137
28,411
Truth hurts?
What truth? That he was making noises that he didn't want to be here within months? That he had a contract on the table that he didn't sign (thank christ) and still complains about a lack of commitment? That this serial winner was knocked out of competitions by second division Middlesbrough & Sheffield United, a recently promoted Nottingham Forest and a pretty ropey AC Milan team?

To be fair, I guess he just complained because he didn't get exactly what he wanted. Like he did at Chelsea. And Inter. And Juventus. And for all of his "winning mentality" talk, I watched as he conceded a semi final against Chelsea, let a poor Man United team set a record for shots against us, and said we couldn't possibly compete with the giants of Milan after barely having a shot over two legs. And he still had the audacity to bitch about the fans not supporting him, when I heard fans sing his name from the moment he arrived to the moment he left. Ultimately, the bloke couldn't have given less of a fuck about us and it showed. Mourinho had more respect for us, despite having a better CV than Conte, a bigger reputation than Conte, and more hair than Conte.

If he wanted to be successful here, he had a funny way of showing it. Mostly I'm sick of fans being sycophantic for managers who were successful with our rivals because maybe they'll be nice enough to bestow that success upon us. Fuck that. So I repeat: I'm so glad this wiggy **** fucked off.
 
Top