Tottenham: Levy admits Conte, Mourinho ‘mistake’; Ange ‘right decision’ preceded ‘trophy’ obsession
Tottenham Hotspur chief Daniel Levy has admitted that he made a “mistake” when he decided to appoint Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho.
Tottenham’s recent track record with managers has been pretty poor overall as they have attempted to end their prolonged trophy drought. They have not won anything since they lifted the League Cup in 2008.
In recent seasons, Mourinho and Conte have had spells in charge at Spurs. They are very respected coaches who have won trophies all across Europe but they ultimately failed at Tottenham.
Mourinho and Conte also proved to be unpopular appointments as a result of their negative style of play.
Tottenham have gone down a different route this season as Levy made the decision to appoint former Celtic head coach Ange Postecoglou.
The Australian has quickly turned Spurs into one of the most exciting teams to watch in the Premier League and they have enjoyed a brilliant start to the new campaign.
Spurs currently sit in the top four as they have won four of their first five Premier League games of the 2023/24 campaign.
Levy has now admitted that Mourinho and Conte were “maybe not” right for Tottenham.
“I had gone through a period where we’d almost won. With Mauricio, we went through some very good times. We didn’t quite get there but we came very close and we had a change in strategy,” Levy admitted during a Spurs fan forum.
“The strategy was ‘let’s bring in a trophy manager’. We did it twice and look you have to learn from your mistakes. They’re great managers but maybe not for this club.
“We want to play in a certain way and if that means it has to take a little bit longer to win maybe it’s the right thing for us. That’s why bringing Ange in was from my point of view the right decision.”
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Over the weekend, Dejan Kulusevki scored a late winner as Spurs battled back from behind to beat Sheffield United.
Speaking post-match, Kulusevski revealed that Postecoglou’s “calmness” helps to get the best out of Tottenham.
“I was quite calm. In the end I just tried to stay calm, it’s just a game of football,” Kulusevski said.
“When Richy scored, we knew we’re not going to lose and then I got the ball and did my thing. I know I just need to make one good thing to score and that’s what happened.
“We have got to stay calm. You see our coach Ange, he is on the side always being very calm so we have to do that as players.
“Stay calm, trust in each other and play like a family. We can improve a lot.
“First half we wanted to score too much, we thought we would score a lot of goals, but we have got to stay calm always and wait for the game to come to us.”
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