Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte has been connected to an exit from the north London club, whether it’s due to the Paris Saint-Germain rumors or leaving because of insufficient funds to overhaul the squad to his liking this summer.
Whether Conte remains or not, the Telegraph reports that Spurs are beginning to construct a backup list of managers should the Italian tactician depart this summer.
According to the English media outlet, Brighton & Hove Albion manager Graham Potter has emerged as the top target for Tottenham to replace Conte if the 52-year-old decides to venture for another project.
Spurs will have to pay more than £10-million if they want to appoint Potter as their manager. These next few weeks will tell whether Conte remains at Spurs past this season despite having one year left on his deal.
Potter and his Brighton squad are ninth in the Premier League table, and at one point in the season, he did have The Seagulls threatening for a European spot. Nonetheless, many would think he’s getting the most out of the squad and could be open to a move to a top-six club at some point.
Someone has to make the coffee and someone else has to bring in the biscuits..like a bunch of fluffers..ffs I feel sick.
I thought Poch lost the desire to desire when he wasn’t backed so his departure seemed inevitable.
For me I miss Jose’s wit but not his dreadful style of play.
Nuno was like the 10th choice so that says it all here.
Conte is probably the best gaffer we could ever hope for. If he’s not backed no one ever will be by Levy. This summer is an important tipping point.
It would be nice to have a team with Harry and Potter for literary fans but I’m sure the gaffer has higher ambition.
Levy has really brought all this on himself by being too trigger happy. Firing Poch who had just got us runners up in Europe and into the CL for another season was trite, spiteful and self harming on a grandiose scale.
From that point on we’ve gone downhill and Mourinho, though getting us to a cup final, could only manage 7th place. Levy knee-jerked again, though I think possibly because of the dour nature of the football, but then he knew that when he hired him.
Next Levy spouted forth about needing a manager to play intense, attacking football, just like Poch in other words! Once again Levy knee jerked and bought in the dour Nuno to play the exact opposite of his desired brand of football, oh dear.
Next followed the appointment of another super coach in Conte, who managed to rival Poch’s achievements (not) by flopping in the Conference league against part timers, and by the looks of it also failing to get top 4.
What next? The commonsense vote says stick with Conte and back him to the hilt this summer. If reports are to be believed and 7 players really are up for sale then that would need around 10 coming in. Ain’t happening.
More likely is that Levy will over price the 7 that need clearing out and stick to his sell before you buy mantra, resulting in not an awful lot of change.
What will Conte’s reaction be to that? Stay tuned.
transfer committee = baldy.
Why run the risk of ruining your career as a young manager under Levy? You will never have control over transfers which in reality is the most important part of the equation for footballing success. Even if you were similar to a Poch type character and you achieved relative success, eg, qualifying for CL four years in succession, when that critical time comes to go to the next level of really challenging for honours, Levy won’t back you. The job generally appeals to a Benitez type character, looking for a last pay day before he signs the NDA before the inevitable departure. One could argue that Mourinho was past his sell by date but if you ask for Skriniar or Ruben Diaz and get Rodon , it probably saps your enthusiasm for the job. But then it is a lot cheaper to hire a top class manager and then fire him than to reinforce the squad. If the reports are to be believed that we are prepared to sell up to seven player, how many do we intend to recruit? Our bench is threadbare enough as it is, so that could mean having to recruit a minimum of 10-12 new players. Not on Levy’s watch. So what next you might well ask? I have absolutely no idea but if the optimists amongst you believe that Levy is going to change the habits of a lifetime, I suspect that you will be sorely disappointed. For those of us with a rather more jaundiced opinion of all things Enic, I am afraid we will have to continue living in a doom loop of Levy time.
Would the exit plan coincide with Kane s contract coming to an end Son getting older..who is going to take that on..
An elite coach creates an illusion..focus on the coach not some of the jokers in the shirt…biblical..water into wine principle ..
Yes we do that to top coaches ..could it be the transfer committee..
Totally, reward the also rans to a similar rate as winners. Less risk for the reward.
The financial rewards of qualifying for CL has overtaken the desire of winning trophies, something Levy and co have latched onto and see as success.
This is a flaw within the system football has adopted since global interest has transformed the game and brought in it’s billions, a reconstruct of how money is distributed around should be on the agenda, but those at the top are happy enough of course.
Potter in an instant for me, he’s not for Spurs though with a Levy in charge or for many of it’s fanbase I imagine who have other ideas shall we say.
However for me, Potter would reconstruct the playing side of the club with relatively cheaper options than the more expensive ones that are not a real option, he’d get the club an identity in playing style and mentality.
We had that with Poch which was a very good period for the team once it found it’s feet so to speak, even though it eventually failed.
Since that period we have gone round and around with differing managers and methods that we now have a limited style of play, yet we challenge for Europe, which must tell us that there is some above average ability within the squad.
Whatever the situation with Conte, right now the club has nothing solid to build on for next season or the future after that, with so many doubts over the manager and many of the players, I’d like to think positive plans are in place, but not with our chairman.
Sorry mate, missed that was your point.
But yes it’s let football people do football stuff.
Like Poch went down hill as his influence to do stuff inside the club declined.
Try telling Levy it’s not about elite managers! That’s the point I was originally making.
You’re spot on they wouldn’t.
They build different skills sets and whether rightly or wrongly have reputations.
Though not all managers can do the reverse.
Just think Ferdinand and Moyes stories about defending training,
Because Potter should have an exit plan.
What job would he want after us?
Conte feels like the first manager who has thought about exit strategies from Levy.
Conte hasn’t talked about legacies, whilst he wants a legacy club and on paper we are that opportunity. Conte has kept it in smaller cycles of thinking.
I’d like to see the Pep’s and others mentioned working on restricted budgets and players of limited ability in a relegation scrap.
Many people put down managers like Allardyce and Dyche but they have done wonders in comparison, yes I know, this club has similar conditions but nowhere near the same.
I think the button has remained depressed, its a faulty switch.
I don’t think it is about eite managers,
Redknapp spent especially when he first came in and Levy was in a panic.
Poch came in and whilst the spending wasn’t there he was also able to put his stamp on the side and show who was boss. Again Levy taking the hit in the pocket due to Adebayor being sidelined.
The Chairman backed the manager* (to an extent).
When you get the elite managers they are more demanding by fact of they get their results their way.
The issue is Levy plays to his biggest customer Tavistock.
The whole remit of results for that is on the bottom line and asset value.
Is it any wonder we have spent fortunes on the structural investments that give marginal gains to the footballing product that fans want.
Levy has done what he needs for his biggest customer.
Sweat the assets we have and if you have a return great.
Winning isn’t key with in that.
It is not in Levy’s thinking and he hasn’t been bonused on that.
Winning is a variable that you cannot fully control in the sports arena.
In sport there are only a few pots you can win, though there are rewards for being close similar to an each way bet.
Now can there be a winning side?
Of course there is, but it comes with more risk. Pumping more cash into a stadium can be paid back in a structured manner vs a footballer that you can lose it all.
Will Levy change, 21 years feels a little to long for reinvention and desperation seems the thing that broadens Levy’s thinking, turned on by fans at Utd game or facing a potential relegation threat for example otherwise it seems all about the numbers.
He could agreed a transfer budget with Paratici and Conte.
He could agree a maximum player wage bill.
He could still allow reinvestment from any sales and wages released from player sales.
Ultimately he would need to delegate.
That would require trust in his team that they have the skills to manage that.
But that wouldn’t make that about Levy.
I’ve always agued that so called great managers like Pep,Klopp,Mourinho and Conte would never go to a club with with very limited resources.
Their success has always been built on having almost unlimited funds to build a squad with the best players to work within their system.You could argue that most managers would achieve success working in a financially unrestricted enviroment.
Well the proof is in the pudding; Mourinho finished 7th and Conte, despite several new signings, is about to finish 5th.
Off you go to the Bookies then , they have a different slant.
Disagree most started creating teams from nothing or reviving a clubs fortunes..and in that the players in those squads increased in value , some became elite, the managers then go to bigger clubs with bigger expectations and bigger wallets..the bottom line is most so called elite coaches have developed a team and it’s players a boon for the employing club..it’s only when confronted with a squad some of which stinks and steams ..that the cracks appear ..sadly not in the Kappelmeister’s wallet.
Interestingly the two managers that succeeded the best with what they were given were not elite managers; Rednapp and Pochettino. It makes me wonder whether so called elite managers are only that because of the open cheque book backing they receive from their rich club owners.
Both Potter and Rodgers turned down the masochism of working for Levy by the way.
Unless he is going to be paid 15 mil pa..why would Potter suffer the indignity of working with a control freak…if we get CL ..but then why would Conte go…all a mechanism to stop Conte spouting off about the realities of managing a club wearing a fur coat and no knickers.
The only thing I can hope is that Poch has told Levy to do one.
First of all, as Archibald pointed out below, he has turned down the offer once before. Paul Barber who is the CEO at Brighton, worked for Levy for five years between 2005 and 2010 and was responsible for recruiting Redknapp. I imagine that Potter might have asked his advice about working for Levy. Enough said.
For the here and now , Conte is in charge .
Tonight is the only question on the table , can we get that desired result?
So come on Spurs fans , I’ve heard the negatives , can we win ?
OF COURSE WE CAN !!!!!!!! C O Y S !!!!!!!!
At Brighton I imagine he sources his own recruits and the board back him.At Spurs he would submit his preferred player choice and be given an untried young punt[there may be a typographical error there].
It’s a no brainer.
Hahaha
Conte to Potter? Only Spurs could after he Nuno debacle
Has there have ever been a better warning than Everton this season? – Everton looked set to solidify themselves just in time for consideration of joining the imminently arriving Euro Super League (it’s not dead…it’s just in stealth mode now) and now they’re in serious doo doo.
Well this elicits a few response replies from me. Firstly there were multiple reports that Potter doesn’t want the Spurs job due to the reputation of the property developer.
Then there is the small matter of us Spurs fans watching Potter Ball squeezing other teams for the win. This works well sometimes but the top teams have the players to beat the hell out of you.
So either this is untrue or else pure madness.
If this is true then it’s yet another ‘hit the reset button’ moment in ENIC’s fruitful stewardship of Tottenham Hotspur. What with the Green Bay Packers and Guns N Roses, the happy clappers should be as happy as pigs in sh*t…
Yep.