As we saw in England this week, Antonio Conte was relieved of his duties as first team manager of Tottenham Hotspur after he went on a tirade against his players and the London club in front of the media following another poor performance by his men. It had reached boiling point and Daniel Levy decided it was time to cut ties with the emotive Italian coach.
Worryingly for Celtic supporters, Ange’s name has been brought up in several conversations with ex-players and media personalities in regards the current vacancy at Spurs. Reports have also mentioned that he is on a shortlist of names that has been compiled by Daniel Levy and although he may not be at the top, he is there amongst a raft of others. It’s nothing new of course, and they would probably be stupid for not considering the man we have all come to love and adore for his candour and refreshing attitude in the dugout.
What you see is what you get with Ange and his coaching skills have been proven to be second-to-none since his time at Celtic Park. One of his countryman has come out in recent days in praise of his abilities as a coach and revealed that he makes players better all the time. That man is Mark Schwarzer. The former Middlesbrough and Chelsea goalkeeper has interviewed Ange before since becoming Celtic boss and has a deep admiration and affection for him.
However, he has done something that will have the Celtic fans kicking up a fuss and that is he touted Ange for the current vacancy at Tottenham. Speaking to the GegenPod Podcast on Optus Sport, he said: “Ange would be a great signing (for Spurs) in the summer. Whether or not he would be remotely interested or not, who knows?
“I mean I suppose for Ange, and this is not trying to be disrespectful to Celtic and the league and that always happens, Celtic are a massive club, but the Premier League is, in my opinion, the best in the world.
“To be in that league, to be at a club that are a top six to eight team these days. I think for Ange that would be a big step-up. I think it would be a case of ‘Okay, I want to have a say’. Not necessarily being involved in every player that comes in through that door but ‘I need to play a certain way. These are the type of players I want.’ For his system to work he needs to have a bit more of a say in the players they bring to the club. He wants a certain type of player all the time. I also think he can coach players. I think he changes players, he’s got the ability to, and he’s shown it, to make players better.
“We don’t see a lot of that these days. Even the big name managers like Antonio Conte. Tell me a player that’s actually better at Spurs? I don’t think there’s a single player since he has been there that has gotten better. That is something Ange does really well. If you go on that journey with him he wants you there, he improves players with the quality of football they play but as an individual.”
Watch him talk about Ange’s coaching ability below…
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