Antonio Conte reveals he didn’t like seeing Tottenham celebrate something back in 2022
Antonio Conte has lifted the lid on his Tottenham Hotspur departure and the circumstances that shaped his dramatic north London exit.
Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy is never shy to sack managers. In fact, in his 24 years as Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy has sacked 15 Tottenham managers, and has managed to win just two trophies in that spell.
Among the managers to have been axed by the club’s chairman is Antonio Conte, who has a reputation for being a serial winner – a manager who clinches league titles wherever he goes.
Conte’s time at Tottenham did not bring the league titles, but it was a respectable showing from the Italian, who managed a top-four finish in his first spell in the Spurs dugout.
He then had the Lilywhites in fourth place with ten games to go, before his famous rant where he called out the club’s culture before leaving by mutual consent.
Antonio Conte opens up on Tottenham exit
The Italian has gone on to enjoy a successful spell as a manager in his subsequent job and only just managed to secure a Scudetto with Napoli last season.
Speaking to Sky Italia about the multiple chapters of his career, Conte opened up about his time at Tottenham Hotspur.
The manager admitted that he arrived in north London during a difficult time for the club, as they were ninth in the league, but he did manage to deliver Champions League football – an achievement he stated was like winning the Champions League.
He said: “It was a difficult year at Tottenham. I arrived in November with them ninth in the standings and we ended up in the Champions League, overtaking Arsenal and you know the rivalry between the two clubs. For them, going to the Champions League was like winning the Premier League.”
The Italian later explained that he did not want his staff to get used to the mentality of celebrating qualifying for the Champions League, stating that you do not celebrate these things.
He continued: “On the last day, the Champions League entry was celebrated in the dressing room. I called my staff and told them: we do not get used to these celebrations. You do not celebrate these things. We are used to celebrating other things. OK, great feat, but at the same time we understand what kind of celebration it is.”
Of course, this explains Conte’s fiery press conference after the clash against Southampton, where he was quick to call out the Tottenham hierarchy for their lack of ambition.
Personal loss and shifting priorities behind Conte’s Spurs exit
Conte went further into other reasons for his Tottenham exit, stating that the deaths of Gian Piero Ventrone and Gianluca Vialli had a major impact on his mental state.
He said: “The following year a few things happened, Gian Piero Ventrone died of leukaemia in fifteen days and it was a terrible blow on an emotional and psychological level and it was not easy.
“Then Gianluca Vialli also passed away, with whom I had met the month before at a restaurant with my wife. I had seen him very calm, he was even fine, but during that dinner I understood that something was wrong. You notice it when someone is enjoying something, he had drunk, eaten and after a month he passed away.”
Conte also opened up about the death of Sinisa Mihajlovic and the impact it had on him, stating that it led him to reconsider his priorities at Tottenham.
He continued: “Sinisa’s story also had an impact. A series of pains that made me rethink some priorities. I had my family far away, in Italy, while I was in a hotel. My wife had always made an effort for me.
“So I asked myself: how much is it worth sacrificing family and friends for this knowing that from one day to the next you find yourself facing tragedies of this kind and no longer being there? This made me change some priorities.
“Then I also had a problem and I had to urgently have gallbladder surgery and I was at risk of getting pancreatitis. In short, that period made me think a lot about the priorities.”
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