MONSTER FERGIE

ANTONIO CONTE wants to become a managerial monster like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger by sticking around for many years to come. But don’t tell his wife Elisabetta. Managers’ longevity was thrust back into the spotlight last week when Pep Guardio la announced he was “arriving at the end” of his coaching career.

The Manchester City boss, 45, went on to claim “the process of my goodbye has already started”, before backtracking later in the week and assuring City fans he’d be at the Etihad for some time yet. Conte puts Guardiola’s words down to fatigue, not just due to a heavy Christmas and

New Year schedule but also years on the tr trainingi i ground, dd day after day, as a player and then a manager. Like Guardiola, Conte played at and manages at the top level.

But while the City boss is adamant he’ll be on a golf course in his dotage and far away from football, the Italian admits he will be in the game for another decade at least, maybe even two more. He also reckons that without football men like him and Guardiola “probably die”. Ferguson retired at 71, while Wenger is still going strong at 67. Asked if he saw himself going on that long, Conte said: “You are talking about two monsters, two great managers.

“Sir Alex Ferguson is a good example for me.

“When I see him, but also when I see Arsene, they are a big example for me. I hope to have not completely their career, but 10 years, yes. It’s enough hf for me. Twenty more years? Now I’m 47. I prefer that my wife doesn’t listen to this. But this is our life. Football is our life, with this pressure, with all.

“Football is our life and it’s right to continue to live in football. In the moment that football is not in our life, I think probably we die.

“I have great respect for Pep and when you have a method, when you have a philosophy of football, an idea you want to bring in every team you manage, you spend a lot of energy.

“Sometimes it can happen that you are a bit tired, more tired, in some periods.

“Above all when you were a footballer and you spent your life 20 years in the game and then quickly you became a manager.

“You spend a lot of energy. But not just physical energy, also mental energy. In some moments it can happen to think this. I’m sure that Pep wants to continue for a lot of time. Pep’s work is fantastic.”

Conte’s side take on Grant McCann’s Peterborough today in the FA Cup third round and his experience as a player means he won’t be taking it lightly as he knows what it’s like to be on the wrong end of a giant-killing.

He added: “It happened when I was a footballer for Juventus.

“We played Brescello, a small team in the same category as Peterborough. “In the first game we drew 1-1. In the second game at home we won 4-0.

“In the first game I scored. This type of game is always very difficult, above all if you don’t arrive with the right tension, with the right focus.

“In England it doesn’t exist, an easy game, above all in the FA Cup.”