21 September 2023 , 08:31
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Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has admitted he made mistakes in appointing Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte at the club.
Spurs have endured significant turbulence in recent seasons with decorated managers such as Mourinho and Conte failing to end the club’s trophy drought while also causing significant friction wit the fanbase and playing squad.
Mourinho was dismissed from the club in April 2021 and less than two years later – with an interim spell from Ryan Mason and brief stint of Nuno Espirito Santo in-between – Spurs also parted ways with Conte, amid concerns over the club’s results and general direction under the Italian.
Ange Postecoglou is the new Spurs boss and he has made an impressive start to life in north London with 13 points from their opening five Premier League matches, including the scalp of Manchester United.
Levy has now explained that is was a ‘mistake’ to appoint Mourinho and Conte, who were ‘trophy managers’ that he suggested were unable to connect and identify with the club. Postecoglou did not enjoy the profile of his predecessors, but comes with an excellent CV and his instantly formed a relationship with the club’s supporters due to his approach.
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Levy explained: "I want to win just as much as everybody else. The frustration from not winning and the pressure from maybe some players and a large element of the fan base that we need to win, we need to spend money, we need to have a big manager, a big name."
The Spurs supremo continued: "And it affected me. The strategy was to bring in a trophy manager and we did it twice. You have to learn from the mistakes. They are great managers, but maybe not for this club."
Have Your Say! Is Levy correct to criticise the approaches of Mourinho and Conte? Tell us what you think here.
Antonio Conte was dismissed by Tottenham earlier this year (Getty Images)Levy has also spoken of other criticisms of his leadership in recent years, including signing up Spurs to be one of the 12 founding member clubs of the so-called European Super League. However, he defended the decision of two years ago – which the club swiftly backed out of after a huge backlash from fans.
"All I'd say is we will always act in the best interests of this club and I stand by the decision we made," Levy said of the initial decision to sign up to the project. "We were prepared to have a conversation regarding the European Super League."