After 16 months of chaos, the relationship between Tottenham Hotspur and its coach, Antonio Conte, ended after the Italian coach made a new fiery statement, in which he criticized the selfishness of his players and the defeatist mentality of the club.
And the North London club announced in a statement on Sunday evening: We can announce that Antonio Conte has left the club by mutual agreement. We succeeded in qualifying for the Champions League in Conte’s first season, so we thank him for that and wish him success in the future.
The statement added: Christian Stellini will coach the team until the end of the season, with Ryan Mason assisting him.
As for club president Daniel Levy, he said: We have 10 matches left in the English Premier League, and we must strive to reach the Champions League again. Everyone should make redoubled efforts to achieve this goal.
Conte leaves the team in fourth place with 10 stages to go until the end of the season.
The Italian joined the north London club in November 2021 and his reputation as a strong and successful coach preceded him, at least domestically, but with the negative point of not staying in his position for long.
Tottenham put his hopes in Conte, who won the league title with Juventus, Inter, and Chelsea, to end a 15-year period without titles.
Although some considered it difficult for Tottenham to pass the English Premier League barrier, Conte knew last year how to instill in his team the mentality that allowed him to beat Arsenal in the last breath race for the last ticket to qualify for the Champions League competition.
Conti goes beyond limits
However, the deterioration of the results in the local cups and the final exit from the final price of the most ancient continental competition, the most ancient mother, against the Italian Milan (0-1 in the round-robin and zero-zero in the return), with boring performances, led to a cooling of the relationship again between the club and its coach.
And while the renewal of Conte’s contract at the end of the season seemed to be questionable, the Italian decided to go beyond the limits during a press conference he held after his team drew 3-3 with its host Southampton, after it was ahead until the last quarter of an hour in the final stage of the league before the international window.
He said: We are not a team. We are a team where everyone only thinks of themselves. I don’t see any sense of responsibility in the players.
He added: We are retreating, I see a lot of negative attitudes and a lot of selfish attitudes that I do not like in the players.
Conte did not hesitate to criticize the club’s management either, as he said: They are used to it here, they do not play for something important. They don’t want to play under pressure. They don’t want to play with stress.
And he concluded: The story of Tottenham is as follows: the owner has been here for 20 years and they have not won anything, if they want to continue in this way, they can change coaches, and a lot of coaches, but the situation cannot change, believe me.
Illness and mortality haunted him
It is not the first time that Conte has appeared hostile and uttered dramatic and harsh words during a press conference.
In mid-February last year, he lamented his inability to compete for the Premier League title: For me, it is difficult to talk about fourth place, because I am used to achieving other goals.
The new season did not deviate from its predecessor, as the sporting results of Tottenham fluctuated, while the Italian’s adventure was very stressful on a personal level, after he had to undergo surgery to remove the gallbladder at the beginning of February.
He was also greatly affected by the death of his longtime physical coach, Jean Piero Ventroni, as well as by the death of former Serbian teammates Sinisa Mihajlovic and Gianluca Vialli after a long struggle with cancer.
Conte’s criticism did not come out of nowhere, as he had previously lamented Spurs’ lack of ambition in the transfer market.
Ironically, after the expensive dismissals of Argentine Mauricio Pochettino, Portuguese Jose Mourinho and his compatriot Nuno Espirito Santo in the past three and a half seasons, Conte’s dismissal will cost the club’s treasury 4 million pounds (4.5 million euros), while Tottenham could have used this money to strengthen its ranks. with new players.
