Antonio Conte has criticised Tottenham’s attitude towards losing, saying the club’s acceptance of a reputation for failure frustrated him during his spell in north London.
The former Spurs manager reflected on his time at the club in an interview with The Athletic, recalling a message exchanged with chairman Daniel Levy after Tottenham had failed to win a match.
Conte arrived in November 2021 with the ambition of changing the team’s mentality. Working alongside managing director Fabio Paratici, he helped Tottenham move from ninth place to fourth, overtaking Arsenal and securing Champions League qualification.
But he said Levy’s response after a poor result highlighted a difference in outlook that he found difficult to understand.
“I remember we weren’t winning or we’d drawn a game and I sent Daniel Levy a message. He came back to me, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll win the next one’. ‘What the…?’ I kept saying to him, ‘Look!’” Conte said.
Antonio Conte explains Tottenham frustration
Conte said he was particularly angered by comments suggesting Tottenham were destined not to win major honours.
“The thing that drove me mad was hearing people around me saying, ‘Tottenham are never going to win anything’,” he said. “That they’re losers. They were made fun of. They’re still being made fun of. Even now.”
He added that Tottenham’s reputation was still used as a point of comparison when other clubs suffered heavy defeats, saying: “Arsenal lost 3-0 to Brighton and they were joking, ‘Arsenal have turned into Tottenham’, get it? Believe me, this irritated me a lot.”
Tottenham remain the only club at which Conte failed to win a trophy during a managerial career that also included Juventus, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Napoli. He guided Spurs back into the Champions League in his first season, but his tenure ended in March 2023 after a public outburst directed at the club’s board and squad culture.
Conte has since been linked with a possible return to the Premier League at Manchester United, while Tottenham continue to search for greater consistency.
