2 hours ago
23
If the current Tottenham Hotspur head coach needs an opinion on the north London club he will certainly get one from one of his friends
If Igor Tudor requires a very candid view on life inside Tottenham Hotspur then he need only turn to his good friend Antonio Conte.
Tudor has quickly found out all about north London derbies and Spurs' injury hell in his opening week at the club and after the 4-1 defeat to Arsenal the Croatian looked like a man who had been slapped in the face by the reality of the situation he faces at the 16th-placed club with just 13 available outfield players in his opening training sessions.
If the 47-year-old is looking for someone to talk to about the rather unique experience of being a manager in N17 after taking over from Thomas Frank then he might just turn to one of his team-mates for almost a decade and close friends - Antonio Conte.
The duo won Serie A titles and reached a Champions League final together after Tudor joined Juventus from Hajduk Split in 1998 having helped Croatia finish third at the World Cup that summer.
Back in 2022 the two crossed paths as managers when Tottenham took on Tudor's Marseille in the Champions League and ahead of that game Conte said: "Igor Tudor is a friend, we played together for many years in Juventus. We lifted trophies together, at the same time, we also lost trophies together.
"I’ve known him a long time. He’s a really good guy, a strong person, also, as a player, he was really strong. The last time I saw him was when he was assistant coach at Juventus with Andrea Pirlo. He’s a good friend. Sometimes, we message on the phone.
“Football... the time is going so fast. We’re not so young. When you start to see on the bench your old team-mates it means you are becoming old! I am really happy to see him on the bench in an important club in Europe like Marseille. He did very well last season in Verona and yeah, he’s doing a really good job. I wish for him the best, apart from these two games against us!"
FOLLOW OUR TOTTENHAM FB PAGE! Latest Spurs news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
Now Tudor is is in Conte's old dugout seat as the interim head coach at Spurs, looking to save them from a relegation battle and the former Juventus centre-back will be learning quickly about how the north London club works, even if he is surrounded by different people than the Italian was back then.
Conte led Spurs to a fourth-place finish in his first season before things fell apart in his second campaign, amid various factors, and Tudor would likely have seen or heard about the current Napoli coach's furious blast at the club and his players in his final press conference after a 3-1 lead with 15 minutes to go became a draw at Southampton.
"The worst situation is what was happening on the pitch. What has been happening in the last few months, what is happening in my second season," he told football.london that day. "I think that it's the right moment to speak because I think that after this performance, for me this is unacceptable.
"We are winning 3-1, in control of the game and you are able to concede two goals and to risk, because also Fraser [Forster] made a fantastic save in one situation. I think it's much better to go into the problem, because the problem is that for another time we showed that we are not a team.
"We are 11 players that go into the pitch. I see selfish players, I see players that don't want to help each other and don't put their heart."
When another reporter asked Conte if his uncertain future at the club only added to the situation, the Italian fully boiled over into this lengthy epic, angry rant before leaving the room.
"You are finding an alibi, another alibi!" he snarled. "You try to find an excuse for the players. OK, continue to do this, to find an excuse for the players. You do only this! You do only this. Excuses for the players. 'But the players, maybe, my future, then we lost confidence, they lost spirit, they lost being a team'. Excuses. Excuses. Excuse. Try to protect them every time.
"Bah. Come on, come on, come on. We are professional. The club pay us a lot of money. The players receive money, me receive money, you understand? Not to find excuse or not show spirit or show a sense of belonging or don't show a sense of responsibility because we are showing this. For me this is unacceptable because for me this is the first time in my career to see a situation like this. Until now I wasn't able to change, not to change but compare to last season the situation went to become worse.
"Why? Because they are used to it here, they are used to it. 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? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here? I have seen the managers that Tottenham had on the bench. You risk to disrupt the figure of the manager and to protect the other situation in every moment.
"Until now I try to hide the situation but now no because I repeat I don't want to see what I have seen today because this is unacceptable and also unacceptable for the fans. They follow us, pay the ticket and to see the team another time to have this type of performance is unacceptable. We have to think a lot about this.
"I said that I wanted to see the fire, not that I have seen. It is different. I said that I want to see the fire in their eyes, in their hearts. I want to see the right spirit. Ok. Not only in the training session, on the pitch. Because here you have to make the difference. And I am not saying this. And until now I try to hide the situation but now, there are 10 games to go and some people think we can fight. Fight for what with his spirit, this attitude, this commitment? What? For seventh, eighth, 10th place? I am not used to this position. I’m really upset and everyone has to take their responsibility.
"Not only the club, the manager and the staff. The players have to be involved in this situation because it is time to change this situation if Tottenham want to change. If they want to continue in this way, they can change the manager, a lot of managers, but the situation cannot change. Believe me."
And with that Conte was gone from the room and a few days later from Tottenham. That top four finish in 2022 has not been matched since, although Ange Postecoglou did manage to lead Spurs to the Europa League trophy last year before being sacked like Conte not long after.
The Australian delivered his verdict on the club's problems in recent weeks in his interview with The Overlap podcast and Conte may well have just let his friend Tudor know precisely what his thoughts are in a more private manner in the past fortnight.
Few people know what working inside Tottenham Hotspur is really like than those tasked with managing it.
Ensure our latest sport headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings
English (US) ·