Tottenham Hotspur assistant head coach, Cristian Stellini has refuted that Antonio Conte is only a short-term manager, despite his history of short spells in charge of clubs.
The Italian has enjoyed immense success during his managerial career at clubs including Juventus, Chelsea, Inter Milan, and the Italy national team job, but has rarely stayed in one place for too long.
Conte passed the one-year mark in North London this month, after taking over from Nuno Espirito Santo following the Portuguese coach’s sacking back in 2021. In that time, Spurs have come on leaps and bounds, qualifying for the Champions League last season.
Stellini also took exception to the idea that Conte usually likes to take jobs at ready-made teams capable of winning trophies straight away, which is certainly not the situation at Tottenham.
The assistant, who worked with Conte at Juventus and Inter, insisted that the staff are enjoying their time at Tottenham, but they must work hard to reach winning ways.
When asked if it was unfair to call Conte a short-term manager, Stellini said (Football London): “Yeah, I think so. I think so because he pushes himself in a level so high in his work.
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“He is so passionate in his work. In every club he takes the club in one position and he increased the level every time. So, you can have a different club in the past, a different team, and now we are working well.
“The team increases, all the players improve themselves and we are happy, but there is no problem. It is an unfair suggestion this. We are working here, we are happy to be here. We feel from players, from everyone, we feel good. It’s an unfair suggestion, I think.”
On the idea of Conte liking ready-made clubs, he added: “It’s not true what you said, because Antonio managed clubs that win in the past, but it was a long time that they don’t win, so it’s different.
“It’s different, it’s not like this, but when the relationship finished, that club, all those clubs, can win again because if you change your mentality, if you start to work to win something, then you change something in your mind and everyone at the club.
“It is a good situation to start to win, so when he stops, this type of club continues to win. It’s different, it’s not that he worked in clubs that win every season and we are doing well here.
“We need time, patience, we need to work to stay in this type of process and to continue to work. Then we will see what happens, but every game we work to win.”
Spurs Web Opinion:
I continue to get the feeling that Conte and his staff are more than willing to stay in North London for a good while, but only if they are backed in the transfer market. They don’t want to feel like there is no chance of them ever winning a Premier League trophy, otherwise what’s the point?
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