‘They don’t happen that way’: Tottenham man who left in 2013 sends warning to Antonio Conte

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Andre Villas-Boas has fired a warning to new Tottenham Hotspur manager Antonio Conte about dealing with Daniel Levy.

The Portuguese tactician was at the helm at White Hart Lane for about a year and a half. He was sacked by Levy in December 2013 after poor form and disagreements behind the scenes.

Villas-Boas was quizzed about Spurs appointing Conte yesterday and he backed the Italian to do a good job. However, he made sure to warn him about Levy, a man who is very difficult to work with.

Here’s what he said…

Villas-Boas warns Tottenham boss Conte about Daniel Levy

AVB told Yahoo Sports while speaking at a Web Summit in Lisbon yesterday: “Conte was very successful at Chelsea and Inter Milan, he can do a good job.

“He is one of those people who puts people into the peaks of performance by motivation, by determining objectives, I think he can be a good fit, depending on that link up with the top. In football, you always reach stages where that link up to the top has to be there and when you look up most likely it is not there anymore.

“I don’t want to turn this into a criticism of Daniel. Everybody has their ups and downs, their strengths and weaknesses, but Daniel is not an easy person to deal with. There are a lot of things that have to be said frontally, face to face, each side with truthfulness.

“But, sometimes they look like they don’t happen that way. He’s not the easiest person to deal with, but what is easy right now in football?”

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Well, we don’t know what it’s really like to work with Levy, but history tells us that every Spurs manager over the last decade has had some kind of problem with him behind the scenes.

Conte is undoubtedly a world-class manager. If he’s backed properly, he could change Tottenham’s fortunes, but can he maintain a good relationship with Levy throughout his time in North London?

History tells us that there will be a rift at some point and knowing Conte, he’ll let the world know what’s going on. It will be interesting to see how the next 18 months pan out at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.