Former Tottenham Hotspur stars Michael Dawson and Jamie Redknapp have agreed on the exact moment Antonio Conte's future at Spurs became untenable. The Italian's exit from Spurs after 16 months had been widely reported as being agreed last week and late on Sunday night the club officially announced his departure.
Following the sacking of Nuno Espirito Santo in November 2021, Conte was appointed three months after chairman Daniel Levy had tried to persuade the former Chelsea boss to take over in north London. After Jose Mourinho was sacked, Levy revealed the requirements the next Spurs manager would have to fulfill
He said: “We are acutely aware of the need to select someone whose values reflect those of our great club and return to playing football with the style for which we are known – free-flowing, attacking and entertaining – whilst continuing to embrace our desire to see young players flourish from our Academy alongside experienced talent."
READ MORE: Antonio Conte's last words as Tottenham head coach shows why Daniel Levy had no other option
From his spells at other European clubs, Conte is specifically known for focussing on first-team on-goings with a pragmatic style. Those two traits immediately contrast Levy's comments which is likely why talks initially fell apart. His appointment just a few months later was likely agreed with both needing to compromise on their beliefs.
It was certainly a fragile relationship from the off and it became unrepairable following Conte's comments after the draw against Southampton. Tottenham were 3-1 in front with 15 minutes to spare but conceded two late goals to the Premier League's bottom side to draw the game 3-3.
Discussing the late collapse, Conte said: "They are used to it here, They don't play for something important yeah? They don't want to play under pressure, they don't want to play under stress. It is easy in this way. Tottenham's story is this. 20 years there is the owner and they never won something but why.
With his four-minute outburst coming on the eve of the March international break, Spurs had a massive decision to make and ultimately it was confirmed just 90 minutes before the end of last week. Dawson and Redknapp have since been giving their thoughts on Conte's departure and what is next for their old club, with both agreeing the Southampton press conference was the moment his future was likely going to be short-lived.
"I said it at the time straight after the game against Southampton, I felt that his position became untenable," Redknapp told Sky Sports, via Football Daily. "Not so much with the players because a lot of what he said he's said before to the players and from what I gather he is the type of manager who will say the same thing to the players and the media.
"I think it was more when he spoke about the culture at the club having been there for about 15 years. So, he can't be talking about the players then because the players haven't been there for that long so you can't really blame that as a problem. Once he said what he said, I felt his position with the owners became untenable."
Dawson agreed with Redknapp's point believing Conte being dismissed was "inevitable" after his comments and the international break arriving was the perfect time for Spurs to make the decision. "I think after that press conference it was always going to be hard to walk back into the changing room," Dawson told Sky Sports, via Football Daily.
"It happened when there was an international break coming up, players were going everywhere with their countries and they had time to reflect on that and the outcome for me was going to be inevitable."
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