Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[Japhet]

Sorry to say I don't think I care any longer. I spend too much time on SC and worrying about Spurs. Time to get on with my life and just let things play out as they do.

I tend to find that worrying about stuff that hasn't happened is a complete waste of time. Life's much easier when you work that one out.

 

[Cochise]

If we are being brutally honest, we don't have the money to compete at the top anymore. There are two state owned, billionaire clubs and four more US owned clubs all with much greater financial clout than ourselves. That is the reality of top flight, English football.

I do not think Conte is a good fit for a club that cannot compete. He wants to win things, he might be able to do it here with free reign over transfer picks etc, but it's a slim chance. Winning the league is fanciful without the money buy top players.

I think Levy is trying to maintain our position in the football pyramid but is too arrogant to see the writing on the wall. In Paritici we have someone who can pull rabbits out of hats at least. I wonder if we would be in a better position letting Conte walk and bringing in a manager that would be happy drawing out potential from players Paratici wants to take a punt on. We're all kicking ourselves over Kim min Jae and Kvaratskhelia at Napoli, but in all honesty, would Conte have been happy with such deals?

One thing's for sure. If we become that type of club, the ticket prices would need to reflect the ambitions.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

One thing's for sure. If we become that type of club, the ticket prices would need to reflect the ambitions.

 

[TPdYID]

I don't follow.

Your stunning mrs is flirting with a guy at work. You’re concerned, and for very good reason.

You love her, but that constant nagging feeling, that she’ll have her head turned makes your relationship very strained.

Your ex, who you still have a soft spot for, is fluttering her eyes and showing you a considerable amount of leg.

Your current mrs, who once strut around like the only girl in the world, suddenly loses a bit of her chirp… she has caught wind of the competition.

Does the current mrs wind her neck in? Or spread her legs for the colleague at work? Either way, you’re not going home to the fur-glove…

 

[Gb160]

Honest question does Levy actually know anything about football

like if you sat down with him would he know how to spot a good fotballer or any up and coming players?

i always have had the impression that beyond Spurs he’s probably heard of Messi, Ronaldo and that Mbappe is an up and coming player

Not sure what you're getting at...its like asking if the CEO of Tescos knows how to stack shelves or sort out the trolleys.
Its not his job, he pays others to do that.

 

[BorjeSpurs]

Starting to feel like the stadium was a complete waste of time.

We still can't compete, still bickering about sell on value, wages being too high and still nowhere near competing for the league

I didn't want all that time at Wembley, all those baron windows to just read tweets about shit pop music and boxing matches.

So we have the best stadium which gives us huge revenues, the most expensive tickets, the most expensive kits and the lowest wage to turnover ratio in the country . Something doesn't add up here.

It's a depressing cycle of nothing. It feels like they will fuck up by losing Conte or not backing him and lots will get angry and some will defend them no matter what, then in time people just let their anger turn to acceptance and we wait for the next cycle of hope and frustration.

I hope the boss can manipulate them to get what he needs but I'm pretty bored of this acceptance that it will go tits up sooner or later.

While United have spent most of any club on transfers and wages, their fans are complaining about the stadium and the training ground while Spurs fans are doing the opposite.

Whatever you think about the ownership of the club, there is no doubting that the stadium is an incredible success story that will benefit Spurs for decades to come.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

Not sure what you're getting at...its like asking if the CEO of Tescos knows how to stack shelves or sort out the trolleys.
Its not his job, he pays others to do that.

But, if he does not know how to stock shelves - perhaps he should not tell the person stocking shelve how to do his job...

 

[thebenjamin]

Your stunning mrs is flirting with a guy at work. You’re concerned, and for very good reason.

You love her, but that constant nagging feeling, that she’ll have her head turned makes your relationship very strained.

Your ex, who you still have a soft spot for, is fluttering her eyes and showing you a considerable amount of leg.

Your current mrs, who once strut around like the only girl in the world, suddenly loses a bit of her chirp… she has caught wind of the competition.

Does the current mrs wind her neck in? Or spread her legs for the colleague at work? Either way, you’re not going home to the fur-glove…

Aren't Arsenal the biggest spenders in the league over the last 3 seasons? Maybe United overtook them with Anthony, but I see no reason we shouldn't be able to spend on a par with Arsenal or, nowadays, Chelsea. We should realistically be overtaking Chelsea, their stadium is trash.

 

[H-SF]

If we are being brutally honest, we don't have the money to compete at the top anymore. There are two state owned, billionaire clubs and four more US owned clubs all with much greater financial clout than ourselves. That is the reality of top flight, English football.

I do not think Conte is a good fit for a club that cannot compete. He wants to win things, he might be able to do it here with free reign over transfer picks etc, but it's a slim chance. Winning the league is fanciful without the money buy top players.

I think Levy is trying to maintain our position in the football pyramid but is too arrogant to see the writing on the wall. In Paritici we have someone who can pull rabbits out of hats at least. I wonder if we would be in a better position letting Conte walk and bringing in a manager that would be happy drawing out potential from players Paratici wants to take a punt on. We're all kicking ourselves over Kim min Jae and Kvaratskhelia at Napoli, but in all honesty, would Conte have been happy with such deals?

One thing's for sure. If we become that type of club, the ticket prices would need to reflect the ambitions.

I don't share the same faith in Paratici, but completely agree with the former part of your post. I personally think we could potentially be quite fucked in the medium term. Arsenal have a very good young core and manager who could potentially be at the beginning of a 3-4 year period of competing at the top. City are run brilliantly and have endless pits of wealth so I can't see them falling away even after Pep leaves which doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon. United are United and are potentially getting new owners. Boehly has already and seems to be ready to commit a ludicrous amount of money towards both on-field and off-field operations, so one way or another they'll end up competing for big honours again. I don't need to say much about Newcastle. Liverpool were the only side I felt might suffer for a bit but now theres talk of a takeover over there + moves for Enzo Fernandez and Bellingham. Whilst we obviously aren't in a terrible position our two most expensive assets have probably already peaked (maybe unfair in Kane's case), our albeit top class manager has a history of short stints at clubs and ENIC realistically have zero ambition of pushing past the point of firmly competing for top 4. With some luck, their self-sustaining model has worked in the last decade but I think if Conte leaves this summer we will be in a position where they are under serious pressure to sell up and might even be starting to realise that a top 4 spot requires more of a cohesive footballing project (including sizeable invesetment) than it did 5 years ago.

 

[Albertbarich]

While United have spent most of any club on transfers and wages, their fans are complaining about the stadium and the training ground while Spurs fans are doing the opposite.

Whatever you think about the ownership of the club, there is no doubting that the stadium is an incredible success story that will benefit Spurs for decades to come.

Comparing us to arguably the worst run club in the league isn't saying much.

The stadium is lovely but it was supposed to help us compete.

We seemingly still can't.

 

[Trix]

People hate to admit it, but Levy has done good for the club. He built our reputation from mid table obscurity to being invited to the Super League table. All with one trophy in his tenure. People will remember the negatives and forget any positive impact he had on the club since he came in. Without him, we don't have the training ground, we don't have the stadium, we don't have the ability to attract Mourinho, Conte and Paratici.

You are right he has done all of that, and he deserves massive credit for doing so but it's all pointless if we don't continue to move forward. As I keep saying why appoint Conte if you aren't going to back him? Levy knew exactly what he was getting and what he'd want same with Jose, yet he appointed them anyway? Why bother if you just wanted to do things your own way anyway?

 

[-Afri-Coy-]

You are right he has done all of that, and he deserves massive credit for doing so but it's all pointless if we don't continue to move forward. As I keep saying why appoint Conte if you aren't going to back him? Levy knew exactly what he was getting and what he'd want same with Jose, yet he appointed them anyway? Why bother if you just wanted to do things your own way anyway?

This. Just hire a yes man instead. Or back Conte and see how far he can get us. But don’t sit on the fence and piss him off because he won’t hang around for Levy’s shenanigans.

 

[Timberwolf]

Starting to feel like the stadium was a complete waste of time.

We still can't compete, still bickering about sell on value, wages being too high and still nowhere near competing for the league

I didn't want all that time at Wembley, all those baron windows to just read tweets about shit pop music and boxing matches.

So we have the best stadium which gives us huge revenues, the most expensive tickets, the most expensive kits and the lowest wage to turnover ratio in the country . Something doesn't add up here.

It's a depressing cycle of nothing. It feels like they will fuck up by losing Conte or not backing him and lots will get angry and some will defend them no matter what, then in time people just let their anger turn to acceptance and we wait for the next cycle of hope and frustration.

I hope the boss can manipulate them to get what he needs but I'm pretty bored of this acceptance that it will go tits up sooner or later.

I get the frustration, but the stadium has set us up for the next 50+ years. That and the training ground were absolutely integral to our growth as a club and without that long term investment we were only ever a few bad windows away from slipping away into a relegation fight like Everton last season.

The shit pop music and boxing matches are what will keep us sustainable at the top level without blood money from [insert country/regime] or an American sugar daddy...and the latter can go either way.

Fact of the matter is, football is completely unfair and unless we're bought out by one the above we'll always have to worry about the bottom line and look for other revenue streams. Personally I'd prefer that struggle over being handed riches on a plate, but based on our current model we're always going to be up against it in comparison with clubs like Newcastle, City and Chelsea. That's just modern football.

I think we missed chances to invest the odd crucial 50m or so in the squad that could've pushed us to glory when we had the chance in previous seasons, but beyond that we've punched above our weight in every way except trophies for the past 15 years and are better set up than 95% of teams in the country.

Levy's certainly fucked up in certain ways, but I can't fault him for the stadium one iota.

 

[Metalhead]

You are right he has done all of that, and he deserves massive credit for doing so but it's all pointless if we don't continue to move forward. As I keep saying why appoint Conte if you aren't going to back him? Levy knew exactly what he was getting and what he'd want same with Jose, yet he appointed them anyway? Why bother if you just wanted to do things your own way anyway?

This is why it's hard to grasp what has come out today because it makes no sense at all. Daniel Levy might be polarising but he's an intelligent guy. Anyone on here could have told him that there is no point in bringing in Conte and not backing him. The talk in the summer was that this was the real deal - DL got it, he was on board with backing him from a distance, there was refinancing to back him and now it seems that after half backing him, the club is now backing off.

 

[Timberwolf]

This is why it's hard to grasp what has come out today because it makes no sense at all. Daniel Levy might be polarising but he's an intelligent guy. Anyone on here could have told him that there is no point in bringing in Conte and not backing him. The talk in the summer was that this was the real deal - DL got it, he was on board with backing him from a distance, there was refinancing to back him and now it seems that after half backing him, the club is now backing off.

Think it all comes back to that old Ferguson quote:

"But you know what Daniel Levy is like. He is different."

He thinks he knows best and has always had a huge soft (or blind) spot for big name or flavour-of-the-month managers regardless of how well they fit at Spurs culturally, stylistically, financially etc. And then once he gets them he still has to poke his nose in and meddle.

With Conte he was stuck between a rock and a hard place as he'd clearly not shown enough ambition to convince him to join in the summer, but things were so bad under Nuno he has no choice but to get his cheque book out to save his own skin. If he'd not brought in Conte, that might've been it for him completely on the football side of things so his hand was forced. And like most of Levy's desperate, Hail Mary, managerial appointments it came off for him.

...but now things have settled down a bit and Conte has overachieved - much like Poch and Redknapp did before him - Levy's old habits are coming back to the surface and he's starting to meddle again.

He just can't help himself.

 

[mil1lion]

We buy a Rolls Royce and then expect it to run on lemonade

How do you know it doesn't run on lemonade if you haven't tried it? To dare is to do!

 

[the lad]

Think it all comes back to that old Ferguson quote:

"But you know what Daniel Levy is like. He is different."

He thinks he knows best and has always had a huge soft (or blind) spot for big name or flavour-of-the-month managers regardless of how well they fit at Spurs culturally, stylistically, financially etc. And then once he gets them he still has to poke his nose in and meddle.

With Conte he was stuck between a rock and a hard place as he'd clearly not shown enough ambition to convince him to join in the summer, but things were so bad under Nuno he has no choice but to get his cheque book out to save his own skin. If he'd not brought in Conte, that might've been it for him completely on the football side of things so his hand was forced. And like most of Levy's desperate, Hail Mary, managerial appointments it came off for him.

...but now things have settled down a bit and Conte has overachieved - much like Poch and Redknapp did before him - Levy's old habits are coming back to the surface and he's starting to meddle again.

He just can't help himself.

He can help himself by pissing off once and for all.

 

[glacierSpurs]

Levy had a hand in giving us one of the best stadiums, one of the best managers and probably one of the best sporting directors, yet he's the one not moving forward... Utterly depressing.

 

[Metalhead]

Think it all comes back to that old Ferguson quote:

"But you know what Daniel Levy is like. He is different."

He thinks he knows best and has always had a huge soft (or blind) spot for big name or flavour-of-the-month managers regardless of how well they fit at Spurs culturally, stylistically, financially etc. And then once he gets them he still has to poke his nose in and meddle.

With Conte he was stuck between a rock and a hard place as he'd clearly not shown enough ambition to convince him to join in the summer, but things were so bad under Nuno he has no choice but to get his cheque book out to save his own skin. If he'd not brought in Conte, that might've been it for him completely on the football side of things so his hand was forced. And like most of Levy's desperate, Hail Mary, managerial appointments it came off for him.

...but now things have settled down a bit and Conte has overachieved - much like Poch and Redknapp did before him - Levy's old habits are coming back to the surface and he's starting to meddle again.

He just can't help himself.

It's a real shame.

 

[npearl4spurs]

So small time.