‘It was Daniel who pushed me’ – Conte opens up on how Levy helped him behind the scenes at Spurs
Antonio Conte admitted that losing three close friends in quick succession last year was extremely hard for him to take, describing it as the toughest...
The post ‘It was Daniel who pushed me’ – Conte opens up on how Levy helped him behind the scenes at Spurs appeared first on Spurs Web - Tottenham Hotspur Football News.
Antonio Conte admitted that losing three close friends in quick succession last year was extremely hard for him to take, describing it as the toughest period of his life.
Conte saw Gian Piero Ventrone, who was part of his coaching staff at Tottenham, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Gianluca Vialli pass away in a period of just four months.
That coincided with a poor run of form for Tottenham, with the Italian eventually losing his job in March of last year.
For the first time since leaving the Lilywhites, Conte has now opened up about the experience of losing his friends, admitting that his head was filled with ‘horrible thoughts’ at the time.
The former Tottenham boss explained that the Spurs squad also found it quite difficult to come to terms with the loss of Ventrone.
Conte told The Telegraph: “For sure, it was one of the toughest moments of my life. Gianluca Vialli, I had an important relationship with him.
“I met him three weeks before he died to have dinner with my wife and I keep that moment in my heart. And Gian Piero. In only six days (he died). It was really difficult to face this situation, also the death of Sinisa.
“When this type of situation happens, you can have horrible thoughts. You think about what can happen to another person very close to you, or if it can happen to you. It was a really difficult moment, with the Tottenham players too when Gian Piero died. We tried to overcome it, but I felt that also the players felt this horrible situation.”
Daniel Levy looked out for Antonio Conte at Spurs
Soon after, Conte himself suffered a health scare, being forced to have emergency surgery to remove his gallbladder. The 54-year-old returned to Tottenham a week after the surgery, only to realise that he needed more rest and being forced to take a few more weeks off.
Recounting that episode, the former Spurs head coach said: “It was an important period with the Champions League, the FA Cup and with the league. I preferred to come back quickly, but then I understood it was really soon.
“It was Daniel Levy who pushed me to go home and recover again. After the AC Milan game, when we lost 1-0 in the San Siro, he told me to stay in Italy to recover well because he didn’t like the way I looked and Tottenham’s doctors didn’t want me to take the risk. The club supported me really well.”
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There is no doubt that the personal tragedies and the health scare that Conte went through contributed to his struggles at Spurs. The Italian is an extremely fiery character who always operates at 110 per cent, which he would not have been able to do during his final few months at the North London club.
The post ‘It was Daniel who pushed me’ – Conte opens up on how Levy helped him behind the scenes at Spurs appeared first on Spurs Web - Tottenham Hotspur Football News.