Emotional night: Tottenham’s players, fans and staff all paid tribute to the late Gian Piero Ventrone
(Picture: Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images)Antonio Conte has spoken of his pride at the way his "devastated" Tottenham players coped with the sudden death of much-loved coach Gian Piero Ventrone in Saturday's win over Brighton.
Ventrone passed away suddenly on Thursday morning after a short illness, leaving Conte, who had known the 61-year-old for nearly three decades, and his squad stunned. He was 61.
Spurs warmed up in t-shirts dedicated to Ventrone - who was known as as 'the Marine' in Italy and 'Prof' at the club - ahead of the 1-0 win at the Amex Stadium and the away end sang his name after the final whistle during an emotional evening on the south coast.
Conte, who first worked with Ventrone as a player at Juventus in 1994, afterwards paid tribute to his friend and colleague, as well as his squad, describing them as "top men" for the way they dealt with the situation.
"I have to be honest, it was really, really difficult for us to be focused on the game, because what happened in the last three days was incredible, was incredible," Conte said afterwards. "No-one expected this because no-one knew about his illness. It was an illness, but under control.
"It's very difficult because this situation hit me a lot on the emotional side. When this happens, it is very different to cover your feelings with the players, with the people that work in Tottenham.
"At the same time I have seen a lot of solidarity, the players were really devastated by the pain. And in the whole Tottenham environment, the feeling was really, really bad, because in only 10 months, I think Gian Piero went through the heart of everybody. They appreciated him, because we are talking about a really big worker.
“I spoke with him last week on Thursday, for the last time, when I arrived at the training ground he wanted to speak with me. And to ask to stay at home because he had a bit of a fever. And it was incredible because he was really, really worried about missing training. And I said: 'Gian Piero, we are talking about your health.'
"And that moment he told me about his illness. And I said: 'This is your health, you have to try to have the right checks, and don’t worry.'
"His first problem was about missing training! For this reason, I think, he was in the heart of every single player. My players were really devastated by the pain.
"But in life sometimes, many situations happen, not only to us but to many people. Life sometimes is not good.
"At the same time you have to try to cope with this situation in the best possible way and it has to be so for his family, for his wife Cinzia, his son Ivan and daughter Martina, and then I’m sure that Gian Piero will stay with us forever, forever, I’m sure about this."
Conte learned of Ventrone's passing early on Thursday morning before informing his players. Training and the Italian's press conference were cancelled, leaving Spurs with a day to prepare for the clash against the Seagulls, which was decided by Harry Kane's first-half goal.
Conte continued: "I’m really proud of my players because I said to them I know that before having good players I have really good persons. Many times I repeated this concept.
"I think in these circumstances, they showed to be really important persons because I know I tried not to push them to play this game.
"Many times we tried to find the motivation to push these players and to create a situation and to increase the tension.
"Today honestly I did nothing under this aspect. I left them to face the situation and they showed me to be really good people, top men. I said to them just now that I’m proud to be the coach of this team because first of all we have top men and really good players."
Conte, managing director Fabio Paratici and chairman Daniel Levy will attend Ventrone's funeral in Naples on Sunday.
"I want to stay with his family and to give big hearts to them and to tell them especially, his daughter and his son and his wife have to be strong because Gian Piero was a really strong person," Conte added.
"He was a person with a strong character and he doesn’t want to see us not happy. It’s difficult to make him happy because we are devastated by the pain, but at the same time we know he will stay with us for the future, with me for sure. I will keep his teachings in my heart and in my head."
