Our love affair with the Gooners & Chelski (WTF)?
All this talk about Antonio Conte being our next manager is driving some fans mad. Yes, Former Chelsea and Inter Milan boss Antonio Conte has emerged as the clear front runner for the vacant manager’s role.
We seem to have a history of electing people either associated with or managed either Chelski or the Gooners.
History of our association with the Gooners
First up was Billy Minter in 1927 (27 to 29), who managed us. He also played for Woolwich Arsenal in 1905. Then there was Wally Harding in 1935, who also managed us. He had played for Woolwich Arsenal from 1913 to 1920. That was all before the Second World War.
In 1974 Bill Nicholson quit, but instead of promoting within (like we did with Bill Nick himself), we went for a man who played most of his life for the Gooners. Yes, we hired Terry Neill. He stayed with us for 2 years before jumping ship to manage, yes, you’ve guessed it, the Gooners.
But did we learn lessons from hiring Terry Neill? Like hell we did. We went for a man who won trophies with the Gooners as a player and then went on to manage them to win even more trophies. He was also caught up in a football scandal (to do with money), but never mind, Alan Sugar thought he would be good enough to manage us for three years, until finally, Levy sacked him. However, he did win us the League Cup in 1999.
Our new association with the Russians.
Then we wait 18 years to appoint another, not Gooner this time, but a former Chelski manager. He came with the record of being a serial trophy winner (he won trophies with all the clubs he managed). But he won nothing at Spurs and was quickly sacked (not even managing the team a whole season). Now we are looking for another manager. Instead of doing what the top five clubs do, pick a manager who is at the top of his profession, we go for one that has been around the block a few times, like Mourinho and George Graham.
Yes, we are trying to get Antonio Conte, the former Chelski manager. It is understood talks with the Italian have advanced quickly. There is a strong opinion that he will replace Jose Mourinho as our manager.
As you all know (or read), we contacted Mauricio Pochettino last week, but PSG have remained unwavering in their refusal to allow him to leave. Daniel Levy is unlikely to allow that situation to drag on for too long, and we should be expecting news in the next couple of days or sooner.
We have now been without a permanent manager since the departure of Mourinho on 19 April, nearly two months ago. When Pochettino was sacked within 24 hours, we knew that the ex-Chelski manager would be running things from now on.
Levy said the club had “lost sight of some key priorities” during the construction of our new stadium and the Covid-19 pandemic. So to put it right, we are replacing a Chelski man with another Chelski man. We’ve obviously run out of love with the Gooners and gone now for the Russians.
Managerless Spurs finished last season seventh in the table, qualifying for the new Europa Conference Failure-League.
Conte won the 2016-17 Premier League in his first season as Chelski manager but was sacked at the end of the following season when he won the FA Cup but finished fifth in the league. That sort of record would take him to hero status at Spurs. In fact, after 20 years of Levy overseeing the club and only one trophy to show for it, if Conte won what he had won at Chelski, we wouldn’t sack him but erect a statue in his honour.
Conte, who is 51-years-old, led Inter to the Europa League final in 2019-20 and within one point of Italian champions Juventus – who had finished 21 points ahead the season before. Inter claimed their 19th Scudetto with four games remaining last season, with their points tally of 91 ranking as the second-highest in the club’s history.
Thoughts:
So I repeat what I said in the title… what is it with us, the Russians and the Gooners? Is it a love affair of sorts? We seem to be happy to have everybody’s leftovers instead of going for somebody who is at the top of their game.
We haven’t had a good trophy-winning manager since Keith Burkinshaw left Spurs. It has been gradually downhill ever since… will the former Russian manager, Conte, change all that for us, or will we continue on a downward slope under Levy?
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All the best, Glenn
My name is Glenn Renshaw.
I am currently a Premium Season Ticket holder (West Stand) in the new stadium. Before that – at White Hart Lane – a season ticket holder in various parts of the ground (mainly in the North stand).
Before becoming a season ticket holder, I stood on the shelf and various other parts of the ground since the 1950s. In 1987 I became one of the first to hold a Spurs Membership card. I was also a life long member of the Spurs supporters club (now defunct).
I go to all home, away and abroad matches.
I was born in 1955, Edgware, London (it was in the late 50s – as a baby – that my dad took me to Spurs to initiate me). I currently live in Berkshire.
I also collect all Spurs books (and have everyone printed), Spurs handbooks (from 1920s onwards, Spurs programmes (since the 40s).
Previously, I wrote for Spurs Fanzines: The Spur, Spur of the Moment, My Eyes have seen the Glory and various other Spurs fanzines’. I also wrote for the SpursWeb app & its website.
I currently write and work for spursnetwork.com and its website. I write its Reviews & Match reports and a lot more.
My other interests are; reading, history, social history, Politics, going to the gym, wine, going out for a meal, music (all sorts), writing, theatre, concerts, going on holidays, socialising etc.
I have been writing blogs/ articles since 1989
If you wish to read more of my blog, please click “here”
