Conte followed up the 2016-17
Premier League title by winning
the FA Cup in 2018, but was sacked
by Chelsea after failing to qualify for
the Champions League. He still had
unfinished business in England though
and, after managing Internazionale- as predicted by Paddy Agnew –
to a sensational Serie A triumph
in 2020-21, he took charge of
Tottenham in November 2021.
WHAT CAME NEXT...
ANTONIO CONTE
Trullo...the basic dry-stone hut unique to
Conte’s native Puglia in southeast ItalyLeague final when we beat Ajax on
penalties in Rome.
“You should look at that team
sheet again. We started that game
with a midfield made up of Paulo
Sousa, Didier Deschamps and Antonio
Conte, and the curious thing is that all
three have turned out to be excellent
coaches.
“There were other guys in that
team who became coaches, Pietro
Vierchowod and Ciro Ferrara for
example, but those three in midfield
were something else. Look at them
now, Conte at Chelsea, Deschamps
with France and Sousa at Fiorentina,
all of them doing a good job.”
If there is a concept to which Italian
football folk often refer when discussing
Conte the coach, it is a reference to his
eat-sleep-drink, manic obsession with
his work.
“When he announced before last
summer’s Euro 2016 finals that, winor lose, he would be leaving the Italy
job, his former boss Lippi commented:
“Antonio is just acknowledging that he is
still too young to be coaching a national
team. He is a man of the pitch, a guy
whojustlovestobeoutthereevery
day training.” This is something Conte
himself had indicated on the day that
he announced his post-tournament
resignation, saying: “When, after the
Euro qualifiers were over, I realised
that it would be four months before I
coached the team again, I understood
then that I did not want to spend
another two years like this, shut-
up in the garage half the time.”
That news conference inevitably
prompted speculation about a future
with Chelsea rather than his likely squad
for France. Despite that, Euro 2016
deserves to be recalled as another
Conte success story, notwithstanding
a less than ideal build-up. He pulled
off a minor miracle with an arguably
below-par Italy squad, going out on
penalties to Germany in the quarter-
finals. Perhaps one day, further down
the road, he will get a second crack
at the national job.
Conte the Trullo, Conte the expression
of a Pugliese culture, during his Italian
glory days was sometimes called the
“Italian Mourinho”, essentially because
with him as with the Special One his
press conferences could be “lively”.
When formerJuventus coach Fabio
Capello expressed some criticisms of
Conte’sJuve, he observed: “All that I
recall about Capello’sJuventus was
some very dull football and how they
were stripped of two titles [by the
Calciopoliinvestigation].”
Asked about an alleged penalty not
awarded to Lazio during a1-1 draw in
Rome, Conte looked at his interlocutorand said: “I am counting here [to10]...”
But the countdown failed to achieve its
purpose because after a short pause,
Conte observed: “You should concentrate
on being a journalist not a fan.”
Chelsea supporters might do well
to recall another aspect of the Conte
mindset. In a football world where, for
many, three years is the normal time
cycle on the bench of a big club, Conte
has never made any secret of his desire
to keep on moving, not to link his name
to any one club in the manner of an
Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
Two years ago, Mirko Graziani ofLa
Gazzetta dello Sporthighlighted these
press-conference words from Conte:
“If one day in the future, I was to coach
Inter, I would be their number one fan,
let everyone be clear about that.”
Two years later, Conte’s name
continues to be linked with the Chinese/
Indonesian owned Internazionale. Who
knows, in another year’s time, that
could be the next stop for the Trullo.Trendsetter...Conte’s
3-4-3 system saw his
Chelsea team cruise to
the title with a then-
record 30 victories
Learning...during
his playing days
atJuventus