Antonio Conte has said that he does not regret the scathing criticism that he levelled at the Tottenham players publicly in his final press conference as the club’s head coach back in March of last year.
The writing seemed to be on the wall for Conte in his final couple of months at Tottenham, with the team looking short of ideas on the pitch.
The Italian himself looked increasingly dependent on the touchline and in interviews, also suffering a health scare at the time, having had his gallbladder removed in emergency surgery.
Following Tottenham’s 3-3 draw against Southampton in St Mary’s in March, with the Lilywhites conceding a late goal yet again, Conte launched a spectacular attack on his players.
He insisted that they were not capable of playing under pressure and accused every player in the dressing room of being selfish (Sky Sports).
The 54-year-old also predicted Tottenham would finish “seventh, eighth or 10th” with the attitude and commitment the players were showing, a prediction that proved to be correct.
Unsurprisingly, that was Conte’s final act as Spurs boss, with his assistant Cristian Stellini taking over a brief period before he too made way for Ryan Mason, who once again steered the ship until the end of the season.
Antonio Conte has no regrets about Tottenham rant
When asked about his choice of words in that press conference, the former Tottenham head coach told The Telegraph: “At that moment, my feeling was that. If I say something, it means there is always something true. No, honestly, I don’t regret anything about this. But I have good feelings about Tottenham. I keep this experience in my heart.”
When asked if he can sometimes be too honest, Conte replied: “I am this way. I hate the lies. This can help me sometimes or sometimes can hurt me. But I prefer to stay in silence than to tell a good lie – also the relationship with my players.
“During the season, it can happen that you need an honest conversation that can be positive or negative. I know very well, I was a player as well and some coaches told me good lies to keep me calm. I don’t want this type of situation.
“I know very well when you have these honest conversations with the players, in the first moment they can be a bit angry. Then, from my experience, the time helps the player to appreciate you. They were angry, but then they appreciated the honesty.”
Spurs Web Opinion
Antonio has always been an emotional character and the rant that he unleashed at St Mary’s would not have come as a surprise for anyone who has followed his career.
The fact that the Italian is prone to those sorts of moments and has a reputation of being quite temperamental is why some clubs might think twice about appointing him, even though his coaching record remains exemplary.