Antonio Conte says Chelsea won the 2016-17 Premier League title as “underdogs” and has revealed that hearing Tottenham described as a club destined to win nothing “drove me mad”.
Conte, who left Napoli after two years at Stadio Maradona last summer, reflected on his managerial career in England during an interview with The Athletic.
The Italian managed Chelsea from 2016 to 2018 before taking charge of Tottenham between 2021 and 2023. He remains the last manager to lead Chelsea to the Premier League title, achieving that in his first season at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea also won the FA Cup in Conte’s final campaign at the club, in 2017-18.
“That was a Premier League title we won as underdogs,” Conte said.
“We hadn’t made any big signings. We signed (centre-back) David Luiz, (left-back) Marcos Alonso and (midfielder) N’Golo Kante the club asked me 10 times if I was sure about him.
“He wasn’t the typical Chelsea player: tall and handsome. He was the sort of bloke who, when you saw him, was just… well, when I first saw him, I had a few doubts myself about his physicality (laughs), but I was so convinced he was a top player.”
Conte left Chelsea after two seasons and subsequently managed Inter from 2019 to 2021, winning the Scudetto in 2020-21.
He then replaced Nuno Espirito Santo at Tottenham in November 2021. Spurs finished fourth that season and qualified for the Champions League, but Conte’s side did not mount a sustained challenge for the Premier League title.
His time at Tottenham ended in March 2023.
Conte said the persistent perception that Tottenham were incapable of winning trophies was particularly aggravating.
“The thing that drove me mad was hearing people around me saying, ‘Tottenham are never going to win anything’. That they’re losers,” he said.
“They [Tottenham] were made fun of. They’re still being made fun of. Even now. Arsenal lost 3-0 to Brighton and they were joking, ‘Arsenal have turned into Tottenham’, get it? Believe me, this irritated me a lot.”
He recalled messaging chairman Daniel Levy during a difficult result.
“I remember we weren’t winning or we’d drawn a game and I sent Daniel Levy a message,” Conte said.
“He came back to me: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll win the next one.’
“‘What the…?’ I kept saying to him, ‘Look!’”
Conte said he had arrived at Tottenham determined to improve the club’s position, with former Juventus colleague Fabio Paratici also working there as managing director of football.
“I went to Tottenham with the ambition to turn things round a bit,” Conte said.
“Partly because (managing director of football and former Juventus colleague Fabio) Paratici was there. When I arrived, they were ninth. We finished fourth, overtaking Arsenal.”
He also indicated that he could consider returning to management during a season, provided the opportunity was worthwhile.
