CONTE’S KEY TO A SPURS MASTERPLAN
Kane is no longer the top dog
TOTTENHAM director of football Fabio Paratici has vowed to end the club’s trophy drought alongside new manager Antonio Conte – with or without Harry Kane.
The England captain is said to be ready to scrap his plans to quit the club in order to work with the man who led Chelsea, Juventus and Inter Milan to league titles.
But Paratici, right, has signalled a new era in which Conte will now be the most important footballing figure at Spurs.
He said: “We are all here to achieve our ambitions. We want to do the best for this club every day. It is a long-term project. It is about everybody, not just Harry.”
It is 13 years since Spurs last lifted a trophy, the League Cup in 2008 under Juande Ramos.
Since Conte took over at Juventus in 2011, however, he has had just one blank season at club level in terms of trophies. That was in 2019-20, his first year at Inter Milan. Juventus had not won the title for seven years, following the Calciopoli scandal and their enforced relegation, until dominating once Conte arrived – winning three in a row under their former midfielder in a run that stretched to nine during Paratici’s time there. Paratici insisted he has a similar masterplan to revive Spurs alongside his compatriot in north London. He said: “When we started at Juve, we didn’t win for a long time.We don’t think about what we had to win. We felt that we had to compete. “When you are at that level, then you need to improve again and arrive to win trophies. It is day-byday you win trophies. It is not what you speak about, it is how you act. “You have to work hard and stay focused. Nothing else.” Conte, meanwhile, has vowed to create a team with passion and fight. His first game in charge is against Vitesse in the Europa Conference League tonight.
He said: “My coaching philosophy is very simple – to play good and attractive football for our fans with passion. To have a team stable, not up and down. “The fans deserve to have a competitive team with a will to fight.” TOTTENHAM (probable):