There is a standard road map for anyone wishing to establish himself in the global managerial elite. It is the path trodden — in different ways — by José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola among others. Antonio Conte made different choices in the summer of 2014, ones that were as unconventional as they were risky. He walked away from a club who had won three consecutive Serie A titles and took over a national team whose chalice was more poisoned than usual. Both decisions speak volumes about the man whom many expect will be the next Chelsea manager.
The stock explanation for his departure from Juventus was that he felt he had taken the side as far as he could, unless they ramped up their spending to sign more A-list stars, particularly up front.
Juventus, as you would expect, did not appreciate his complaining. When he submitted his resignation in July 2014, they let it be known that they did little to dissuade him. While they were grateful for his work, they pointed out that there were fundamental differences over how strong the squad really was. And they did little to deny rumours that his intense “drill sergeant” ways had begun to rankle some of the veteran players.
Had the club fallen apart after his departure, Conte would have been vindicated. Instead, under his successor, Massimiliano Allegri — who is much more of a man-manager than a whip-cracker — they came within 90 minutes of winning the treble.
But back to that summer of 2014. Most expected Conte to follow the natural blueprint of ambitious out-of-work managers. Announce a sabbatical. Learn English and Spanish. Do some carefully chosen media work. Travel the continent and make sure they’re ready for the next big job that opens up.
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Instead, less than one month after leaving Juventus, he was unveiled as the coach of Italy, who had endured a terrible 2014 World Cup.
From a career perspective, it made little sense.
The only way Conte could enhance his reputation with the Italy job was by winning the European Championship or, perhaps, narrowly losing in the final. Anything else would be seen as failure or mediocrity, because that is the nature of the Italy job. What is more, he was taking over one of the least gifted Azzurri squads in recent memory.
Conte talked about restoring pride, discipline and intensity, all the things you would expect from a guy whose teams reflected what he was as a player: a blue-collar, never-say-die warrior. Cynics pointed to his reported £5.5 million-a-season wage, others to the possibility that he was seeking some protection should an old match-fixing related case against him find its way to a criminal court.
Back in April 2011, when he was coaching Siena in Serie B, Conte allegedly gave a pre-game team-talk during which he was said to have told his players that their match against Novara would end in an agreed draw. The accusation was made by one of his players, Filippo Carobbio, and he was banned for ten months by the Italian Football Federation, later reduced to four on appeal for failing to report the alleged incident. Conte strenuously denied the allegation and it was suggested that Carobbio, who was found guilty in various other cases of match-fixing, was simply cutting a deal with prosecutors by implicating a high-profile figure.
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His lawyers also pointed out that of the 25 other people in the room at the time, not one backed Carobbio’s testimony, which was the only evidence against him. And that while Italian sporting justice has draconian penalties for “failure to report” match-fixing, in most other countries he would not face sanction for it. Still, while the sporting case is over, a criminal investigation was launched last month and, in theory, Conte could yet be drawn into it.
Yet neither explanation is satisfactory. The wage from the Italian FA is hefty, but it is nothing to what he could earn by patiently climbing the managerial food chain. Nor is the Italy job going to protect him if he is prosecuted and subsequently found guilty in a criminal court, where they would have to find evidence of material involvement in match-fixing, not just “failure to report”. And that is something the sporting tribunal was unable to find.
Most likely, Conte took the Italy job simply because he’s an emotional manager drenched in self-belief, just as he was a player of limited skill but huge personality and workrate who rode those qualities to claim runners-up medals in the 1994 World Cup and 2000 European Championship as well as five Serie A titles and a Champions League with Juventus .
He is not a man who plots out his career path. He simply believes that he can make a difference right here, right now. With Italy this summer, and with Chelsea next season.