Former Spurs boss Antonio Conte claims club is comfortable with losing
Antonio Conte has hit out at Tottenham Hotspur, claiming he was left deeply irritated by an accepting attitude toward defeat during his tenure. In an interview with The Athletic, as reported by Caught Offside, the Italian manager opened up on his frustrations with the north London club’s culture.
The current Napoli boss spent a turbulent period in charge of Spurs before his departure in March 2023. He has now revealed that the mindset of those around him, including chairman Daniel Levy, left him completely bewildered.
A message that stunned the manager
Conte arrived at Tottenham in November 2021 with the goal of transforming the club’s winning culture alongside managing director Fabio Paratici. While he guided them to a fourth-place finish in his first season, overtaking rivals Arsenal, he quickly ran into cultural barriers.
The manager recalled a specific exchange with Levy after a disappointing result that illustrated the relaxed attitude towards dropped points. Speaking to The Athletic, Conte said:
“I remember we weren’t winning or we’d drawn a game and I sent Daniel Levy a message.”
The response from the Tottenham chairman leaves his manager utterly bewildered. Conte explained how the exchange went, saying:
“He came back to me, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll win the next one’. ‘What the…?’ I kept saying to him, ‘Look!’”
For a manager who has won league titles with Juventus, Chelsea, and Inter Milan, this casual response to dropped points was entirely alien. Conte felt it represented a wider acceptance of defeat that ran through the entire institution.
The pain of constant mockery
The Italian tactician admitted he grew incredibly irritated by an accepting attitude towards defeat at his former club. He found himself battling not just the players’ mentality, but the reputation of the club itself.
According to the manager, the narrative surrounding Tottenham as perpetual underachievers was something he could not escape. Speaking about the atmosphere around the club, Conte said:
“The thing that drove me mad was hearing people around me saying, ‘Tottenham are never going to win anything’.”
The former Chelsea boss admitted that the constant jokes about his team hurt him deeply. He noted that even when other clubs faltered, Tottenham remained the punchline for football fans.
He pointed to a game where Arsenal lost 3-0 to Brighton, noting that people immediately joked that the Gunners had turned into Tottenham. Conte confessed that this persistent mockery irritated him immensely during his time in England.
A unique failure in a glittering career
Tottenham remains a unique stain on Conte’s otherwise highly successful managerial record. Across his decorated career, Spurs are the only club where the 57-year-old manager has failed to deliver a trophy.
The team has been searching for stability ever since March 2023, when his tenure in north London reached a dramatic conclusion. This departure was triggered by a notorious outburst in which he criticised the directors of the club as well as the culture within the squad.
Meanwhile, Conte has returned to Italy with Napoli, though reports continue to link him with a potential return to the Premier League with Manchester United. His latest comments show that the scars from his time at Tottenham have still not fully healed.
