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Antonio Conte - officially NOT the coach of THFC

tynesidespur said:
If Conte walks either now or in the summer I think there will be backlash/reaction from the fanbase on a level not yet seen under Levy's tenure. Of that I have no doubt. People are kidding themselves if they think otherwise.

That said I don't think we are anywhere near that stage. This seems to have been stirred up by some rather mischievous comments from Alasdair Gold.
Conte appears to be an emotional guy, rather like Poch before him so he wears his heart on his sleeve after disappointing setbacks. I'm sure he's pretty rational in board meetings and has set out his targets/aims. He will have an aim for the season - likely to attain a top 4 position, which even with the existing squad we have a reasonable chance of meeting with his coaching ability. Targets will no doubt be reset in the summer and we may see some serious soul searching by the board and Conte at that point.

At this stage there is no need to call out Levy & the board. They have made some serious errors since Poch was sacked, lurching from one poor appointment to the next alongside some poor recruitment. But he has bought himself time with the appointment of Conte. People need to take a step back and look at what a stellar appointment that is. Now we have to wait & see. Is Levy simply using Conte to get back into the CL and is happy to then let him go when the 18 months is up? Or does he really want to push on and challenge? Only time will tell, but with the appointment of Conte, Levy has earned that time.
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What did ally say? He's been saying for ages that jan is a difficult window and we didn't have much money to spend.
 
tynesidespur said:
If Conte walks either now or in the summer I think there will be backlash/reaction from the fanbase on a level not yet seen under Levy's tenure. Of that I have no doubt. People are kidding themselves if they think otherwise.

That said I don't think we are anywhere near that stage. This seems to have been stirred up by some rather mischievous comments from Alasdair Gold.
Conte appears to be an emotional guy, rather like Poch before him so he wears his heart on his sleeve after disappointing setbacks. I'm sure he's pretty rational in board meetings and has set out his targets/aims. He will have an aim for the season - likely to attain a top 4 position, which even with the existing squad we have a reasonable chance of meeting with his coaching ability. Targets will no doubt be reset in the summer and we may see some serious soul searching by the board and Conte at that point.

At this stage there is no need to call out Levy & the board. They have made some serious errors since Poch was sacked, lurching from one poor appointment to the next alongside some poor recruitment. But he has bought himself time with the appointment of Conte. People need to take a step back and look at what a stellar appointment that is. Now we have to wait & see. Is Levy simply using Conte to get back into the CL and is happy to then let him go when the 18 months is up? Or does he really want to push on and challenge? Only time will tell, but with the appointment of Conte, Levy has earned that time.
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Good points. In fairness, the full tweet from Alasdair Gold was a bit less mischievous than the shortened one retweeted by someone else.

It's all a bit of a perfect storm for the media right now.
- There's little argument that our squad needs improvement if we want to get back to being top 4/CL contenders.
- We have a high profile manager with a reputation (rightly or wrongly) for wanting to spend.
- We have a chairman with a reputation (rightly or wrongly) for trying to negotiate to the death in the transfer market.
- There's a rumbling undercurrent of dissatisfaction within the fanbase.
- There's not a whole lot else happening here or elsewhere at the moment, aside from Villa and Saudi Sportswashing Machine.

So Conte gets asked the same questions over and over (same happened to Poch I think). Conte gets fed up with being asked the same questions over and over (same happened with Poch). Ergo Levy is being his usual self and Conte is obviously unhappy and if not backed he will leave.

I have no doubt the situation re transfers was made clear to him before he joined and he signed on in full knowledge of what to expect. But I can also understand that he may well be surprised at exactly how much improvement is needed (e.g. he may have expected more from players such as Ndombele, Lo Celso, as well as for a better-firing Kane, and a more consistent Son) and that he now realises it will take longer then expected to get everything fixed. But it would take something very drastic for him to walk away now.
There is nothing to suggest his meeting on Monday was some kind of showdown with Paratici and Levy. There's not really anything other than a couple of grumpy press conferences after we've been knocked out of a cup with a less than stellar showing to suggest he is especially unhappy. A bit despondent maybe, but not on the verge of throwing in the towel.
Equally, Levy will be very aware of the above-mentioned undercurrent. He will also know that Conte is not going to accept being mucked around. If he ignores either then, well, on his head be it. The fallout won't be pretty.
Let's just see how this window and the summer pan out, what Levy is willing/able to make available, and what deals Paratici is able to get over the line. The two windows need to be judged in the round, but some activity is definitely needed this month because another 3 months or so of what we have now is not something I want to contemplate.
 
Wasn't paratici meant to take some of the press conferences? I know some fans were against it when it was mentioned. I think sharing the load of nonsense questions might help though. Can't be fun.
 
Lilbaz said:
Wasn't paratici meant to take some of the press conferences? I know some fans were against it when it was mentioned. I think sharing the load of nonsense questions might help though. Can't be fun.
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He did that in Italy apparently. But over here, isn't it a requirement that the manager takes pre and post match press conferences? I may well have made that up, but I thought it was the case?.
 
Glenda's Legs said:
He did that in Italy apparently. But over here, isn't it a requirement that the manager takes pre and post match press conferences? I may well have made that up, but I thought it was the case?.
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Not sure. Think we've had assistant managers and coaches take them before. But yeah it might be a part of the tv deal or something.
 
JerusalemMan said:
What makes you believe the dragon guy?
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He's been around for ages and doesn't post ITK all the time just to get attention (ie. rehashing whatever is in the papers).

Others have chimed in on the matter today:

the goat: We've heard this from a few people now so thought it was worth posting.

Paratici (and subsequently Conte) were promised we'd have money to spend on new players and that was part of what convinced them to join.

These finances were meant to be from a deal that we'd hoped to have wrapped up by now. We don't know if it was the stadium rights or someone buying equity but Levy thought it'd be done already. Conte "understands" the situation but if things get worse then that can obviously change.

trix: Ok so just to elaborate a little on the Goats post.

The offer has been there for a while, but we have only moved forward with it from the point of Conte coming in. From what I'm told it's an outside investor and it's to do with a dilution of shares. I don't know much about this sort of thing so can't be more specific.

We hoped it would be done by now, but for whatever reason, and I believe due to the make up of the shareholding it was always going to be complicated and take time. FP and AC were both aware of this and knew it might affect January. Like I said the club hoped it would be done by now but for whatever reason it isn't.

I was told it was significant and all for transfers. Make your own minds up how much "significant" might be, as I honestly don't know. From what I was told this week it's still being worked on and that all parties are still hopeful it will happen.

Oh yes, and Levy is fully aware of the consequences of not backing Conte!!!

I wasn't going to post about this in the open forum but due to some already interpreting as the fat lady singing I thought I'd just add a little more context.
 
Jordinho said:
He's been around for ages and doesn't post ITK all the time just to get attention (ie. rehashing whatever is in the papers).

Others have chimed in on the matter today:

the goat: We've heard this from a few people now so thought it was worth posting.

Paratici (and subsequently Conte) were promised we'd have money to spend on new players and that was part of what convinced them to join.

These finances were meant to be from a deal that we'd hoped to have wrapped up by now. We don't know if it was the stadium rights or someone buying equity but Levy thought it'd be done already. Conte "understands" the situation but if things get worse then that can obviously change.

trix: Ok so just to elaborate a little on the Goats post.

The offer has been there for a while, but we have only moved forward with it from the point of Conte coming in. From what I'm told it's an outside investor and it's to do with a dilution of shares. I don't know much about this sort of thing so can't be more specific.

We hoped it would be done by now, but for whatever reason, and I believe due to the make up of the shareholding it was always going to be complicated and take time. FP and AC were both aware of this and knew it might affect January. Like I said the club hoped it would be done by now but for whatever reason it isn't.

I was told it was significant and all for transfers. Make your own minds up how much "significant" might be, as I honestly don't know. From what I was told this week it's still being worked on and that all parties are still hopeful it will happen.

Oh yes, and Levy is fully aware of the consequences of not backing Conte!!!

I wasn't going to post about this in the open forum but due to some already interpreting as the fat lady singing I thought I'd just add a little more context.
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Ok the goat is a&c (his ego thinking he is the goat, also helps with fund raising).

Trix's sources are a couple of agents he went fishing with.

Dunno about dragon. If it was coming from jj or atlanta yid i might give it credence.

Hercules source is the internet
 
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Lilbaz said:
Ok the goat is a&c (his ego thinking he is the goat, alo helps with fund raising).

Trix's sources are a couple of agents he went fishing with.

Dunno about dragon. If it was coming from jj or atlanta yid i might give it credence.
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They are mostly wanabees and the members over there kiss their feet while AC coins in the donations.
 
LemonadeMoney said:
Jordan comes across well. Also, he slags off people like Jim White, and then Jim White carries on oblivious.
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It's the show. It's jims job. He antagonises, jordan puts him in his place.

A lot of people don't like jim. But they are a great team.

Then you get the likes of trevor sinclair and martin keown who have different perspectives. They are not meant to agree, it would be boring if they did. It works great.

Just wish they didn't have callers.
 
elltrev said:
It feels to me like every year a large chunk of fans completely forget that very little business gets done in the January transfer window... as far as I remember most teams will make 0-1 borderline first team signings at most.
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Yep. Also in a recent press conference Conte asked for patience saying it would take time and January was a difficult window to get the right players. But of course that's not a great selling headline, best to go with he's on the verge of walking out i guess.

Me thinks it would be a tad premature to walk after 3 months in a job because of a January window
 
RunTMC said:
Yep. Also in a recent press conference Conte asked for patience saying it would take time and January was a difficult window to get the right players. But of course that's not a great selling headline, best to go with he's on the verge of walking out i guess.

Me thinks it would be a tad premature to walk after 3 months in a job because of a January window
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Maybe it's more than just a window and perhaps Levy has gone back on what was discussed for the summer also ...
 
Jordinho said:
He's been around for ages and doesn't post ITK all the time just to get attention (ie. rehashing whatever is in the papers).

Others have chimed in on the matter today:

the goat: We've heard this from a few people now so thought it was worth posting.

Paratici (and subsequently Conte) were promised we'd have money to spend on new players and that was part of what convinced them to join.

These finances were meant to be from a deal that we'd hoped to have wrapped up by now. We don't know if it was the stadium rights or someone buying equity but Levy thought it'd be done already. Conte "understands" the situation but if things get worse then that can obviously change.

trix: Ok so just to elaborate a little on the Goats post.

The offer has been there for a while, but we have only moved forward with it from the point of Conte coming in. From what I'm told it's an outside investor and it's to do with a dilution of shares. I don't know much about this sort of thing so can't be more specific.

We hoped it would be done by now, but for whatever reason, and I believe due to the make up of the shareholding it was always going to be complicated and take time. FP and AC were both aware of this and knew it might affect January. Like I said the club hoped it would be done by now but for whatever reason it isn't.

I was told it was significant and all for transfers. Make your own minds up how much "significant" might be, as I honestly don't know. From what I was told this week it's still being worked on and that all parties are still hopeful it will happen.

Oh yes, and Levy is fully aware of the consequences of not backing Conte!!!

I wasn't going to post about this in the open forum but due to some already interpreting as the fat lady singing I thought I'd just add a little more context.
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Sounds like flimflam to me as the club had a cash position of £147m in the last set of accounts. Some of that could’ve been used while waiting for this investment to complete.
 
Jordinho said:
He's been around for ages and doesn't post ITK all the time just to get attention (ie. rehashing whatever is in the papers).

Others have chimed in on the matter today:

the goat: We've heard this from a few people now so thought it was worth posting.

Paratici (and subsequently Conte) were promised we'd have money to spend on new players and that was part of what convinced them to join.

These finances were meant to be from a deal that we'd hoped to have wrapped up by now. We don't know if it was the stadium rights or someone buying equity but Levy thought it'd be done already. Conte "understands" the situation but if things get worse then that can obviously change.

trix: Ok so just to elaborate a little on the Goats post.

The offer has been there for a while, but we have only moved forward with it from the point of Conte coming in. From what I'm told it's an outside investor and it's to do with a dilution of shares. I don't know much about this sort of thing so can't be more specific.

We hoped it would be done by now, but for whatever reason, and I believe due to the make up of the shareholding it was always going to be complicated and take time. FP and AC were both aware of this and knew it might affect January. Like I said the club hoped it would be done by now but for whatever reason it isn't.

I was told it was significant and all for transfers. Make your own minds up how much "significant" might be, as I honestly don't know. From what I was told this week it's still being worked on and that all parties are still hopeful it will happen.

Oh yes, and Levy is fully aware of the consequences of not backing Conte!!!

I wasn't going to post about this in the open forum but due to some already interpreting as the fat lady singing I thought I'd just add a little more context.
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That’s good to hear.

Its clear we cant go on relying on the stadium income alone to compete to win the PL and CL, which should be our ultimate aspirations. Everything is in place to set those targets are our primary goals. Everything but some backing where required to complement the resources the stadium will bring in.

Its a shame it wasn’t done in time for January as I’d expect it would have led to the arrivals this month of Ramognoli, Lamptey, Brozovic, Kessie and Vlahovic and with it CL football all but secured. A good chunk of what we would need in the summer would have also already be done and we could add one or two more from a position of strength to attack the PL and CL next season.

As it is, its most likely we will be in Europa or Conference and despite the new backing it will be harder to get that calibre of player, but we will get there, it will just take longer due to a combination of the new investment taking longer to secure than originally planned and our existing owner having zero love for our club and its fans.

But alas this deal will signal the first chime on the clock of lewis’ end game and for the sake of this club it couldn’t come soon enough. He has well and truly shown his true colours by refusing to invest himself in this recent period and we now know this stance has cost us so much during these last 10 years - ultimately CL places and trophies - but at least now the end is in sight, or so it seems….
 
AjaxDeSuperYids said:
That’s good to hear.

Its clear we cant go on relying on the stadium income alone to compete to win the PL and CL, which should be our ultimate aspirations. Everything is in place to set those targets are our primary goals. Everything but some backing where required to complement the resources the stadium will bring in.

Its a shame it wasn’t done in time for January as I’d expect it would have led to the arrivals this month of Ramognoli, Lamptey, Brozovic, Kessie and Vlahovic and with it CL football all but secured. A good chunk of what we would need in the summer would have also already be done and we could add one or two more from a position of strength to attack the PL and CL next season.

As it is, its most likely we will be in Europa or Conference and despite the new backing it will be harder to get that calibre of player, but we will get there, it will just take longer due to a combination of the new investment taking longer to secure than originally planned and our existing owner having zero love for our club and its fans.

But alas this deal will signal the first chime on the clock of lewis’ end game and for the sake of this club it couldn’t come soon enough. He has well and truly shown his true colours by refusing to invest himself in this recent period and we now know this stance has cost us so much during these last 10 years - ultimately CL places and trophies - but at least now the end is in sight, or so it seems….
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Whose getting the 4th CL a place then?
 
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