Jermaine Jenas finds it hard to argue with Antonio Conte’s evaluation of Tottenham Hotspur’s history but the former midfielder believes the soon to depart head coach must take a large share of the blame for failing to change the narrative with his negative football.
Conte’s outburst after last Saturday’s embarrassing draw away to Southampton, in which he had a furious pop at the players and questioned a long-held mental fragility, has left chairman Daniel Levy considering whether to sack him during the international break or wait until his contract expires in the summer.
Conte is in Italy, has missed training sessions this week and it is unclear when or if he will return to north London.
And Jenas thinks the dressing room will be split between those hurt by his comments and others revved up by the prospect of a fresh chance when he departs.
“For the players there will be bruised egos. Those who start will be thinking, ‘Did he need to say that? Why has he gone down that road?’ But there will be a lot of players on the fringes thinking, ‘Brilliant, he’ll be on his way and I’m going to get another chance.’
“The dressing room is a tricky place around these moments but essentially when someone is that passionate and angry, you have to believe he is telling the truth.
“At the same time he is culpable. He’s been at the club two years and this year has arguably, since I’ve retired, been the least enjoyable. They’ve not played well all year. There are problems left, right and centre and the expectations have been so high.
“He had a decent summer window and the ability to set his team out how he wants. But all fans have been watching for months on end is negative football.
“Even the other day, they go 3-1 up against Southampton and then decide to camp on the edge of their own 18 yard box for the last 15 minutes. Who does that against the bottom of the league?
“Any top team over the years, if you go 3-1 up against the team bottom of the league it’s time to stamp on their neck. It’s ole time, it’s time to pass it around and play high up the pitch, suffocate them. Don’t let them back in the game.
“That’s where he has to take as much responsibility as anyone else. But when he’s talking about the history of the club, I can’t argue with him. I don’t think anyone can, the proof is in the pudding.”
Earlier this week Jenas put his shirt from Spurs’ last trophy win, the 2008 League Cup, up for auction for the Common Goal charity in conjunction with the sports blockchain Chiliz.
And he sees the lack of silverware as a major contributing factor to the club’s culture of mediocrity.
“When you walk through the corridors at Tottenham there is no silverware to live up to. If you look at the greatest clubs in England and the world - Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal - as a young player when you walk down those corridors and see the silverware it brings an expectation level.”
At the same time Jenas believes the club will remain an attractive proposition for many players despite that lack of success - with playing in the Champions League and salaries the primary considerations, followed by who the head coach is.
“Do they want to be part of the narrative or part of the change? As a player, when you’re set that challenge… Players thrive on that stuff, the ability to change the narrative of the club. It’s not the be all and end all when you sign.
“The main question will be, ‘Are they playing Champions League football?’ After that it’s the financial structure of what’s been offered. Then who the manager is, the style of play.
“It’s still an attractive club, great stadium and great players. It’s important who they bring in as head coach. That’s massive around the ability of the players they are trying to attract.”
Jenas' crypto charity pledge
Jermaine Jenas believes criticism of footballers for investing and promoting cryptocurrency products is unfair as he takes a first move into an "interesting space" by putting his 2008 League Cup final shirt up for a charity auction linked to the sports blockchain Chiliz.
The One Show host and pundit has " donated one of my most valuable pieces" -to the Common Goal cause and believes it allows fans an opportunity to get closer to the action by bidding for authentic memorabilia.
"It’s hard to let go, I’m not going to lie," he said of the League Cup final kit. "The technology - the blockchain element - allows it to be verified. All this money will go to charity and they will know it’s 100% come from me. This is real, official and authenticated.
"The blockchain is a place where I feel in the future it’ll become a common word but right now people are a little bit fearful. I’m on the periphery, not fully, fully immersed yet because trying to educate myself much more on the topic as a whole."
While this initiative works very differently to the explosion of NFTs 18 months ago, many of which have cratered in value, Jenas insists it should be up to the players to do their own research for getting involved and is no different to property investments.
He said: "With the players in particular, it’s no secret that they earn vast amounts of money and if they feel going into NFTs or exploring the world of crypto is for them and want to part with sums of money that the general public would see as astronomical but is a punt for them - that’s up them.
"You’d hope they are doing their due diligence before and understand how it works. When I was playing for example, someone would walk into the dressing room with a brochure, ‘Oh look at all these developments going up in Morocco, my agent brought it to me. Have a look if you want and put a couple of hundred grand in to see where it goes.’ A lot of those went belly up.
"There were a lot of things that people thought were sound investments that people put money into that turned into a shambles. That was down to a player, again, not doing the research that needs to be done."
Jermaine Jenas is putting his 2008 League Cup-winning shirt up for auction as part of One Shirt Pledge – the first initiative in a long-running partnership between Common Goal and Chiliz , the sports blockchain
