Ex-Manager watch: Antonio Conte

[cjbyid]

Sounds like levy believes he can go up against any manager and win. Conte will tell him to do one of he hasn't already.

Such a frustrating little man in how he operates. Should be faaaar far away from the football side of things.

 

[rajmak2000]

Managers come and go at Spurs but the one constant throughout has been Levy. Up to now his position at the club has never been under threat but if there is even a slim chance the ITK is correct and VL may be trying to remove from him from the football side of the club I really hope it happens. Irrespective of who replaces Levy the club need a different/new direction as 18 years of Levy is too much.

 

[Bluto Blutarsky]

This. Just hire a yes man instead.

I’d rather if Southgate stayed at England

 

[bat-chain]

People love to climb in on Levy but you really need to know what the issues are or are not before you destroy him.

I'm 100% behind Conte but there has to be some give and take even if Conte is irreplaceable to us in a sense, not mad for the club to say can we develop some youth players.

Equally the time has come for Levy to show mega ambition, I’m sure they will get there.

 

[JCRD]

People love to climb in on Levy but you really need to know what the issues are or are not before you destroy him.

I'm 100% behind Conte but there has to be some give and take even if Conte is irreplaceable to us in a sense, not mad for the club to say can we develop some youth players.

Equally the time has come for Levy to show mega ambition, I’m sure they will get there.

What does mega ambition look like - financially? How can we invest £200m to a manager who has committed himself to perhaps see out that ambition? Its like you say give and take but what ive been reading on here is Conte this Conte that and tickling his balls. I would like us to keep Conte (even though im not hig biggest fan) to have this view that whatever he wants we should give - is nonsense.

We have several players on our books we need to get rid of - lets not forget theyre still on our books - Ndombele, GLC then we have players in the squad we need to get rid of (Gil, Emerson/Doherty, Sanchez et al) - we cannot just add add add. That is just not sustainable. I just dont get what some of us want, we all want to win and be successful but you need, both on the same page and currently it appears theyre not. Both parties need to contribute to that.

 

[journeyman]

People need to have some perspective. We were a mess when Levy took over. Nowhere remotely as competitive as we are today. That’s not even getting into the “best stadium in the world, best training ground in the world stuff”. We had managers like Gross, Francis & Ardiles back then, compared to Poch, Mourinho & Conte now. Regular European football, compared to none back then.

Ok, we all wish he had been looser with the chequebook on the playing side at different junctures. But people calling for Lewis’s daughter - who we know nothing about - to force him out; that’s completely mad chat, worse than wanting to sign the latest hot young Ligue 1 star on the basis of some 2 min YouTube clip. This is the standard “will he, won’t he?” that accompanies every Conte transfer window & contract discussion. We need to chill out.

 

[bat-chain]

What does mega ambition look like - financially? How can we invest £200m to a manager who has committed himself to perhaps see out that ambition? Its like you say give and take but what ive been reading on here is Conte this Conte that and tickling his balls. I would like us to keep Conte (even though im not hig biggest fan) to have this view that whatever he wants we should give - is nonsense.

We have several players on our books we need to get rid of - lets not forget theyre still on our books - Ndombele, GLC then we have players in the squad we need to get rid of (Gil, Emerson/Doherty, Sanchez et al) - we cannot just add add add. That is just not sustainable. I just dont get what some of us want, we all want to win and be successful but you need, both on the same page and currently it appears theyre not. Both parties need to contribute to that.

For me it means outspending Arsenal that needs to be the minimum, they haven’t been in the CL for 6 years and we have all these revenue streams from the stadium. If Conte sees them outspending us he has a right to be pissed off.

 

[Lifelong]

Let’s be honest here, Levy has taken this club to a level (financially)none of us thought we were capable of. Unfortunately he has come up against the financial doping of city et al……but I fear Levy is a bit of a control freak and a true leader recognises when his time is done and it’s time to move over and let someone else take the reins, I don’t think that’s in him unfortunately.

 

[dudu]

People need to have some perspective. We were a mess when Levy took over. Nowhere remotely as competitive as we are today. That’s not even getting into the “best stadium in the world, best training ground in the world stuff”. We had managers like Gross, Francis & Ardiles back then, compared to Poch, Mourinho & Conte now. Regular European football, compared to none back then.

Ok, we all wish he had been looser with the chequebook on the playing side at different junctures. But people calling for Lewis’s daughter - who we know nothing about - to force him out; that’s completely mad chat, worse than wanting to sign the latest hot young Ligue 1 star on the basis of some 2 min YouTube clip. This is the standard “will he, won’t he?” that accompanies every Conte transfer window & contract discussion. We need to chill out.

Exactly, everyone knew what getting into bed with Conte would be like when they were desperate to have him. He needs assurances.... and without even knowing what they are people are convinced he is asking for something completely reasonable and is happily giving his own assurances, equal to what he is asking for, in return.

I am sure there are those at the board level who are sceptical about giving him what he wants, based on his actions at previous clubs before. Surely it is the CLUBS long-term interest to make sure they are giving control to someone who is gonna stick around themselves....

I am also sure that Levy has been happy to give his two cents where it isn't wanted.

I don't know what is going on behind the scenes right now. and I hope they can figure out a compromise and actually build on the last 14 months with Conte at the helm.

 

[dudu]

For me it means outspending Arsenal that needs to be the minimum, they haven’t been in the CL for 6 years and we have all these revenue streams from the stadium. If Conte sees them outspending us he has a right to be pissed off.

What was our spend vs theirs the last two windows, since Conte has been in?

 

[danielneeds]

People love to climb in on Levy but you really need to know what the issues are or are not before you destroy him.

I'm 100% behind Conte but there has to be some give and take even if Conte is irreplaceable to us in a sense, not mad for the club to say can we develop some youth players.

Equally the time has come for Levy to show mega ambition, I’m sure they will get there.

Levy is never gonna change. He’s been here 20 years and his patterns of behaviour have been consistent.

On top of that he used to be a disrupter, doing things differently to the rest of the PL, but now he feels very much old fashioned in the way he wants to do things. Time for fresh ideas and thinking.

 

[Albertbarich]

To be fair we have been spending more, it just doesn't quite feel like as much as we expected & is disappointing when clubs like West Ham outspend us in the Summer.

Everyone is spending more.

I understand on the face of it the spending requirements seem obscene but that's the competition were in.

Keep up or fall behind

 

[dagraham]

Everyone is spending more.

I understand on the face of it the spending requirements seem obscene but that's the competition were in.

Keep up or fall behind

Indeed.

It’s not just about overall spend in numbers though. A lot of it is about timing and sustained spending.

We only seem to spend when we’re in a hole in a reactive way. Then just revert to the mean again.

 

[TPdYID]

Everyone is spending more.

I understand on the face of it the spending requirements seem obscene but that's the competition were in.

Keep up or fall behind

Disagree.

Recruitment isn’t just about how much you spend. It’s about, how wisely you can spend it.

Our issue isn’t that we DONT spend, it’s when we do, more often then not, it’s not spent wisely enough.

So many times over the years, we’ve been crying out to improve our first 11, with players ready to fit the ‘here & now’. Instead we take a punt on an “up and comer” with potential sell-on value in the hope we can make some ££ back if it all goes tits-up.

Essentially squad-piling with average players which no-manager wants to play. The list is endless: Stambouli, N’jie, Nkoudou, etc were never going to feature consistently no-matter who the manager is/was.

The glimmer of hope is that the odd 1 in 30 go on to do another Bale/Walker. Levy then dines out on the fact that he got a world record for a defender (Walker), but fails to mention we replaced him with Aurier. Or a world record fee for Bale & replaced him with 7 squad-padders.

 

[DiamondLites]

Absolute amateur hour if we force Conte out to bring back Poch, we would be a joke. How is there not money to spend? What is going on with the naming rights? Where is the rest of the 150m from the summer?

 

[knowlespurs]

It's not just about spending though, Bentacaur and kulu were less than tanguy, son was 20m, it's about getting the players the manager wants to fit into the system he wants to play
They need to sort it out quick, can't see levy spending much in Jan if Conte won't commit

 

[TPdYID]

It's not just about spending though, Bentacaur and kulu were less than tanguy, son was 20m, it's about getting the players the manager wants to fit into the system he wants to play
They need to sort it out quick, can't see levy spending much in Jan if Conte won't commit

Nail on the head.

We all saw what we done with the Bale money that summer. It’s a myth we don’t spend money - we clearly do!

It’s just not spent very well. It’s been going on for years, I appreciate recruitment is a spikey process, and you’ll get as many wrong as you do get right…

There’s been a few times when you’ve scratched your head and thought wtf in terms of signings.

The one that really sticks in my mind was Zokora. We sold Carrick (and it seemed like he wanted to go), so we have this gaping hole whereby we need a deep lying playmaker, someone who dictates play from deep with clever, well timed, progressive passes, someone in the Carrick mold (A round peg to fit the round hole left with Carricks departure).

His replacement….Didier Zokora?

 

[Metalhead]

Absolute amateur hour if we force Conte out to bring back Poch, we would be a joke. How is there not money to spend? What is going on with the naming rights? Where is the rest of the 150m from the summer?

If we brought back Poch, there is no way that it wouldn't go tits up again. Why is it always quick fixes at the club?

 

[jimbo]

Exactly, everyone knew what getting into bed with Conte would be like when they were desperate to have him. He needs assurances.... and without even knowing what they are people are convinced he is asking for something completely reasonable and is happily giving his own assurances, equal to what he is asking for, in return.

I am sure there are those at the board level who are sceptical about giving him what he wants, based on his actions at previous clubs before. Surely it is the CLUBS long-term interest to make sure they are giving control to someone who is gonna stick around themselves....

The argument against giving Conte what he wants when he’s not committed does seem sensible on the face of it, but think of it this way…

If Conte committed to a long contract tomorrow, would you trust Levy to give him the backing he needs?

It sounds from those who know more that there is a conflict between the types of players Conte wants to sign (that he’s flexible on names but not profiles) and the players Levy/The Board want to sign. So, we should also ask ourselves who do we prefer to decide on the targets to improve the squad, Conte or Levy? With Paratici caught in the middle.

For me, this isn’t about Conte specifically - I’m not wholly convinced he’s really a Spurs coach in the style we prefer, or should prefer. I’m more comfortable with backing him despite this because he pretty much always leaves teams stronger than when he started. But as Trix keeps saying, why appoint him knowing exactly what he’s about and then not be prepared to back him? The only answers I can see are:
1. Levy believes his own mythology as a master negotiator and thought he could handle Conte, manipulate him even.
2. Levy was focused on saving his own skin with the external pressures and never intended to buy-in to Conte or to step away from the football side properly and now some of the heat has gone he’s reverted to type.

I think 2 is most likely.

The problem is, if Conte goes now - or when he goes as he will eventually - if the Levy situation is not resolved we will simply be destined for more of the same. A new manager with the same board is not going to get us anywhere. A new board, whether with the same manager or a new one, just might get us somewhere.

 

[Finchyid]

Disagree.

Recruitment isn’t just about how much you spend. It’s about, how wisely you can spend it.

Exactly….6 bentancurs is £100m would be well happy with that