Antonio Conte and Spurs: What Does Success Look Like?

Photo by Tim Bechervaise on Unsplash

Antonio Conte is the definition of success. He is relentless in his pursuit of silverware. At Juventus, at Chelsea, at Inter, league titles have been won. The Italian is not scared to insist his demands be met when building squads, when coaching his team to play his way, when telling individuals what is expected of them. It’s part of his aura – why teams come calling when he’s available and why players are attracted to the opportunity to work for him.

Spurs have launched two failed post-Pochettino paths. Jose Mourinho and Nuno Espirito Santo were dismissed, neither inspiring the players nor the fans. The squad both managers inherited was a mishmash of aging players, square-peg-round-hole talents, and two undoubted superstars in the shape of Heung-Min Son and Harry Kane. Daniel Levy tried to right the club’s course in the summer of 2021/2022 by hiring Fabio Paratici to be the Director of Football, aimed at bringing a unified vision to the coaching and playing staff. Nuno Espirito Santo’s hiring got him off to an awful start, but hiring Antonio Conte is one way to brutally and totally force your club on the path to success. Conte’s train is moving 100mph and you have to cope with it, have to hold on, and keep the track straight at true to hopefully end up at success.

Are These Short-Term Gains?

The argument against Conte is that he’s a short-term hire. He is a whirlwind. He will run a squad into the ground in an attempt to win trophies and leave bitterly and/or out of a personal stance. Spurs need success, whatever that looks like and however it comes. The hiring of Antonio Conte was, arguably – in the current climate of managers, many of whom, like Erik Ten Haag, had already turned them down – the only thing they could do, and the right thing for them to do.

Manchester United are finding themselves in a similar predicament. They are in no-mans-land. They are always looking up. Those looking at Man Utd ticket prices to come and cheer them on want them to competing for trophies. United hired an interim coach in the shape of Ralf Rangnick and are making the pursuit of a permanent solution difficult and drawn out. They may end up with Ten Haag, which fans are dreaming of, but whereas Spurs made the decision to hire Paratici to bring a unified vision – whatever that looks like and however it comes – United don’t have that quite yet.

Conte is demanding an overhaul of the squad, making it clear in press conferences that’s what he needs. The Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski signings in January were Spurs trying to keep up already. His goal, no doubt, will be to win something – anything – next season.

What About the Long-Term?

Spurs built their Premier League and Champions League title pushes on the back of younger squads and Pochettino’s talents. Conte wants already established players. That has been his remit at Chelsea and Inter. If Spurs built a squad to win-now, to win as soon as is possible, the likelihood is that they’ll need to fundamentally dismantle and rebuild that squad soon after. A team like Spurs, that doesn’t seemingly have the infrastructure of Liverpool nor financial capacity of Manchester City or Chelsea (the benchmarks across the English and European games) has to be careful that they don’t burn their success by recessing immediately.

Conte is a winner. He will likely bring the joy of trophies many Spurs fans have been dreaming of. But will it change any part of the club’s future-history? Will they simply rise to fall?

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