Speculation surrounding Antonio Conte’s future as Tottenham manager went up a notch on Wednesday evening after his side were dumped out of the Champions League at the round-of-16 stage. AC Milan progressed to the quarter-finals at the expense of the north London outfit after scoring the only goal of the tie in the first-leg at the San Siro.
A lacklustre goalless draw in front of their home support was met with a chorus of boos at the final whistle, before sections of the fanbase began chanting the name of former manager Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine remains the last Spurs boss to have won a Champions League knockout match, famously doing so against Ajax in 2019.
Asked about his future after the loss, Conte said: “This is not right day to speak about future but my future, I have a contract with Tottenham and then Tottenham know very well which is my thoughts and at the end of season we will meet and then we'll make a decision.” On BT Sport, pundits Rio Ferdinand and Glenn Hoddle were in agreement regarding whether the Italian should leave now or when his deal is up in the summer.
READ MORE: Every word Antonio Conte said on his Tottenham future, speaking to Daniel Levy and Milan defeat
“I think the powers that be at the club will sit there at the moment and say well we’re in pole position,” Ferdinand said. “Teams have got games in hand around them, yes, but they’ve got the points on the board and they’re sitting in fourth so I think it’d be a bit too early to say right, we’re going to give him the sack when we’re in that position and the be all and end all is finishing in the Champions League positions for Spurs.”
Hoddle added: “I think it would be a slight risk now but everyone’s got to sit down together - perhaps they’ve already done it - perhaps they know that maybe Conte isn’t going to stay so they’ve said stay until the season and get us in that top four. Obviously they wanted to go through tonight, that might slightly change now but it’s about communication at the level.”
The other question both posed in the aftermath of Wednesday’s defeat was who could come in to take the Tottenham hotseat. “But also who’s out there? Who’s gettable?” Ferdinand asked.
“There’s quite a few people out of work at the moment - Thomas Tuchel’s out of work at the moment, would he be a consideration? I don’t know, coming from Chelsea, they’ve done it in the past. All those factors have to be taken into consideration.”
“You’re right, who’s out there? There’s talk about Pochettino coming back. That [Pochettino being linked with a return] will happen tonight, won’t it, but it’s when the dust settles you’ve got to look at the bigger picture really,” Hoddle said.
“Getting into the top four is one thing, that’s what Spurs have got to aim at this season, but it’s a bigger picture than that, much bigger. Is that team then going to go again in the Champions League next year? They need investment into the squad and they need a rebuild.”
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