No question in my mind he'll walk. The only way we'll have enough money to give him the backing he needs is if we get CL income and that isn't looking likely. I've accepted it already, and tbh I'm glad he's adopting a scorched earth approach on his way out by calling out the nonsensical way our club is run and has been run for 5 years. He is the first manager we've had in the PL era who literally has nothing to prove, so he can say what he wants and his standing isn't affected one iota.
Some oil on the potentially stormy waters from Ali Gold, apparently the full interview is released tomorrow and has more context to it. Personally I want to see/read the whole thing before I pass proper judgement but it sounds baffling, of course we’re down on numbers in the squad but these weren’t players getting games under Conte for any number of reasons and he seemed happy enough with the quality of the incomings, if not the quantity, a couple of weeks ago. Feels like media games so when/if he doesn’t get the investment he wants in the summer and walks away, there’s a paper trail and it’s not out of the blue. Hopefully we’ll get more context tomorrow.
Sounds very much like the former and if we're honest our approach in January hints to it. Luis Diaz and (despite the fact most of us don't rate him) Traore are experienced, established players. Not up and coming youngsters like Kulusevski. The profile of player is totally different and matches our approach in the summer when we brought in Gil, Royal and Sarr. It smacks of a desperate madness to appoint a manager renowned for getting the most out of established players and giving him a transfer strategy that suits the likes of Potter, Nagelsmann or Poch. We are so tragically listless.
Sounds like this is a back me or sack me plea from Conte, he must realize by now how the clown show otherwise known as ENIC operate and is letting them know what needs to happen. Conte is right though, the whole culture of this football club needs to change from the very top down, otherwise it will continue to be the irrelevance that it is.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with Bentancur’s experience, given he won Serie A 3 times in a row and made 30 or more league appearances in both of the latter two seasons. Kulu is more raw, you can tell by the eye test, but he’s performed in big games for Juve. Not consistently though. There are obviously more experienced players out there but they are streets ahead of Gil and Sarr, for example. I agree though that Bentancur is probably the lower limit of age (and if you take away the titles) experience that we should be signing for Conte, in terms of games played and experience managing situations. Kulu looks a bit raw. Conte obviously improves players, we’ve seen that with Dier for example, but if you want to operate at a certain level then there’s a higher baseline for success. In answer to King’s question that you quoted, I think it’s a bit of both. He’s been around the block and will understand January isn’t the easiest window but he’s probably still disappointed we didn’t add in one or two other positions, especially RWB, in January. He’s also likely laying down the insurance policy so he can walk away in the summer if we don’t do what he wants and say “I told you so”
An interesting exchange between Matt Law and Jonathan Viel. JV Interesting interview from Conte, we’re relying on translation but there seems to be contradictions from what he has said in previous press conferences. Understand those inside the club are surprised at the comments. For info, it was a rights holders interview. #THFC (Right holder interview means mandatory interview. Conte did not manufacture the interview.) ML If anybody inside Tottenham is surprised by Conte's comments then they have no chance of making it work. This was always all about whether or not #thfc/Levy were prepared to change, not the other way around. Why would such a successful coach change for an unsuccessful chairman?
Anyone who thinks a Chairman who took us from a mid table side to the CL final is 'unsuccessful' needs to give their head a wobble.
Does anyone on here work for an organisation who would let them give a public interview in which they didn't take the organisation's line? There needs to be collective responsibility to succeed.
Does anyone else here yearn for the days of Harry Redknapp, where we played good football, the manager smiled was well liked by players, fans and the media and supporting was fun. We didn't win anything (no change there), but this bloke maybe the least likeable manager we have had since the man in the raincoat and even then its a close run thing. He maybe a proven winner, but I don't like him and at the moment my love of the game maybe at an all time low - I preferred watching Gerry Francis team to this bunch
That interview is the quintessential Conte. He was pulling this stuff at Chelsea and Inter...and why he and Daniel Levy are oil and water. Levy wants to keep things in-house, where he wields the ultimate power. Conte, more than anyone Levy will have come up against before, has no intention of having his agenda 'managed' by anyone and will use the media to try to get it. The interview is likely to reflect the fight that goes on at most clubs. The manager wants players who will avoid him losing his job and reputation, whilst the owner wants to minimise spend and ensure a return on investment. The issue of the age and experience of signings is THE standout element for me. In the 'Paratici transfer windows', we've signed 3 players who are 21 or under and no outfield player over the age of 24. If we're wedded to such a policy, we've employed the wrong manager. It's that simple. Over the last 20 years, Daniel's become very used to having his own way. The club is his very much his fiefdom and he doesn't react well to being strong armed or manoeuvred by anyone - within the club, or outside it. He didn't want to employ Conte, until he thought that he had to and we all knew why he did it...and that it would to end in tears at some point. This summer was always going to be the acid test, this just underlines it.
One can point out the number of times that we've come second in competitions, but in my book, 1 League Cup in 20 years is NOT sporting success of an acceptable level for a club of the size of Spurs.
Conte's a rock star, high maintenance, trophy manager. Everyone knows it. Pretty much everyone on here said something like..."He really isn't a good fit for the club", "Not a Spurs manager" or the like. He's extremely poorly suited to working for a club who love to keep a low profile. He's very much the antithesis of an ENIC employee...but Levy knew what we were getting into bed with. Levy painted himself into this corner. Now he has to find a way to get out of it...
Levy/Paratici really thought they could employ Conte, give him a shambles of a squad and then buy average players and still expect him to be happy and somehow get them their golden ticket back to the CL? A lot of fans were happy when he was appointed because we thought it would mean a different way of how the club was going to be run. Few months in and it’s already looking like a mistake as a big as Mourinho. I’m not even pissed off at this stage, you just have to laugh at the state of this club. Spursy indeed
It all depends how you measure success. Off the field the club is now up there with the very best with the stadium and training ground. On the pitch we’ve seen great players signed (Berbatov, Bale, Van Der Vaart, Modric, Eriksen etc) but if you’re looking at it in a very basic view of trophies won them it’s not been successful at all. I’ve never been fully ENIC in or fully ENIC out, there is things they’ve got very right and things they’ve got very wrong. They’ve owned the club for basically 20 years and it does feel like a crossroads is coming up soon.
It depends what you mean by size I suppose. When ENIC took over we were only a medium size club by any measure you could possibly imagine. We hadn't been in the European Cup nor won the League for 40 years. We had one FA Cup and one League Cup in 20 years and were cemented in mid table. Doesn't sound like a club who you would expect to win trophies.
We've only been a few points off the CL in the last two seasons and spent a lot more than most on players. When Conte started we already had 6 points more than from the equivalent matches in the previous season. All he has to do is to get the same number of points as Mourinho and Mason got from the other 28 matches. Doesn't sound like a big ask from a good coach. If he's not up for the challenge he shouldn't have trousered the wages.
I guess the point is that without a large outside investment, you can’t get the onfield success without the off-field success, unless you hit a perfect storm of academy players and recruitment for a year or two. Like we did under the early days of Poch, or Leicester did under Ranieri (though they burnt brighter and faster than we did). It won’t secure you consistent success though. We flamed out in the end and Leicester didn’t convert their title into consistent top 4, though of course they did win the cup last year. The frustration for fans which I share is that for years now it’s been ‘jam tomorrow’ in terms of trophies so now we want our jam. FWIW I think if Conte fails it’ll because of his own mistakes, which we’ve all highlighted since basically the turn of the year, and the club not being willing or able to match his ambitions. While Levy has obviously made mistakes over the years we’ve also been in plenty of positions where coaches/players have made mistakes that have cost us in big games. I also think that the fans, myself included, are overreacting a bit to a blip where 2 of the 5 key players at the club are woefully out of form and 2 are injured. Given the lack of options, Conte is going to struggle to mitigate that, though I repeat that he hasn’t helped himself with team selection the last few games, which is frustrating. I believe a coach of his quality should be able to get more out of this squad and better identify issues in-game, though obviously it needs strengthening if we’re going to consistently challenge for top 4 and trophies in the future.
I get that and I appreciate the owners are trying to maximise income with the stadium etc. Problem is they now have to pay back the cost of the stadium and doing that while keeping the playing squad competitive is near impossible without huge investment in the playing side and that’s where the issue is. The club are still stuck in the market for mid price players and they carry a huge risk and in recent years unfortunately they’ve all been flops. Add into that the big ticket signings have been disastrous and this is where the club is at the moment and the only way out of the current mess is a huge rebuild and to take some financial losses on players sold and to take some big risks on incomings
