It’s a tale as old as the sport of football itself. A manager treads a delicate tightrope to keep his board happy. The chairman may or may not be influenced by how the club’s fans feel about the coach too, but ultimately the decision on whether to stick or twist will be made in the boardroom rather than the stands. At least that’s the way it normally works. But at Tottenham Hotspur, an altogether different dynamic has developed.
Managers and head coaches are usually in thrall to their chairmen, having to jump through hoops to please their employers. So why does it feel like Spurs are standing to attention for their head coach, Antonio Conte?
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It is an unwritten rule of football that no one man is bigger than the football club. But Conte might be the exception that proves the rule. He is a serial winner in charge of a club often maligned for falling just short of trophies. Conte has won league titles with Chelsea, Inter Milan and Juventus. Meanwhile, a Champions League final defeat to Liverpool in 2019 is the recent high-watermark for Tottenham. The club and its head coach are poles apart in terms of achievements.
Yet, the union has worked for the most part. When Jose Mourinho managed the north Londoners for a shade under 18 months, he did so from a self-constructed pedestal. You always got the idea that Mourinho, a Champions League winner and three-time Premier League champion, was looking down on his trophy-averse new side. But Conte has embraced Spurs and the fans have embraced him right back.
Conte knows what managers like him are worth, not just in terms of finance but in terms of gravitas. There are just eleven managers who have won the Premier League since its 1992 inception. Just nine of those are still active today, with Conte being the last manager to win the title with a team outside of Manchester City and Liverpool. The Italian is a rare commodity, which perhaps explains why he is treated with such delicacy by the Spurs hierarchy
There have been numerous occasions where word has leaked that Conte is considering leaving. Usually engineered as a sort of power play, Conte essentially threatens to “sack” Spurs for not meeting his requirements, reversing the traditional manager-club dynamic. On more than one occasion, chairman Daniel Levy has scrambled to keep his superstar coach in situ.
On the one hand you’d have to argue; who can blame him? After the horrendous misstep that was the appointment and almost-instant dismissal of Nuno Espirito Santo, you can’t blame Spurs for clinging onto their man with both hands. But is Conte doing the sort of job that necessitates special treatment?
Tottenham’s recent form would suggest not. Conte’s men just dropped out of the top four by virtue of a 2-2 draw with Brentford and a desperately poor 2-0 loss at home to Aston Villa. This is not the mish-mash side of a year ago either. The former Inter boss has been allowed to marry the best of previous eras, like Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, with his own signings. Ivan Perisic, Yves Bissouma and Dejan Kulusevski are just some of those that make this a team built in Conte’s own image.
Spurs are not yet in the sort of form that should risk Conte’s job. But at the same time, now might be the moment to ditch the eggshells. He is not doing the sort of job that should inspire cult-like hero-worship, least of all from the board of the club. It is time to hold Conte to the standard any other Spurs manager would be asked to meet. He might threaten to walk, but no one man is bigger than the football club. Even if he has won a hell of a lot of trophies.
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