Antonio Conte has revisited his time at Tottenham with the frustration still raw. In an interview with The Athletic, the former Italy coach said what gnawed at him most was the sense of resignation inside and outside the club.
“The thing that drove me mad was hearing people around me saying, ‘Tottenham are never going to win anything’. That they’re losers,” Conte said.
“They were made fun of. They’re still being made fun of. Even now.”
Levy reply left Conte exasperated
Conte described his exchanges with chairman Daniel Levy after dropped points as part of the same pattern. He recalled sending Levy a message after a draw.
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“He came back to me: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll win the next one’,” Conte told The Athletic.
“‘What the…?’ I kept saying to him, ‘Look!’”
Despite the friction, his first season produced results. Conte took charge in November 2021 with Spurs ninth and ended the campaign fourth, pipping Arsenal to Champions League qualification.
“I went to Tottenham with the ambition to turn things round a bit,” he said. “When I arrived, they were ninth. We finished fourth, overtaking Arsenal.”
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‘Underdogs’ at Chelsea in 2016-17
Conte’s pride still rests, however, with the Premier League title he won at Chelsea in 2016-17, his first season in English football. He insists it came against the odds.
“That was a Premier League title we won as underdogs. We hadn’t made any big signings,” he told The Athletic.
The one acquisition he singled out was N’Golo Kante, a figure who did not match the physical profile Chelsea were used to.
“He wasn’t the typical Chelsea player: tall and handsome. When I first saw him, I had a few doubts myself about his physicality.”
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Tottenham struggling under De Zerbi
The comments land as Tottenham sit in the lower reaches of the Premier League under Roberto De Zerbi. The Italian was appointed on 31 March 2026 after replacing interim coach Igor Tudor, and steered the club through the final weeks of 2025-26 after his late arrival, but Spurs have carried the struggle into the new season despite heavy summer spending.
Conte himself left Napoli in the summer after two seasons at the Stadio Maradona and remains out of work. He has told reporters he wants to join a club that has “lost sight of their history” and make it shine again, with his name repeatedly linked to the Manchester United job.
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