During Roman Abramovich’s time in charge of Chelsea, the only thing that seemed to matter to the Russian was success. If a manager was delivering it then they kept their job, whilst if they weren’t they were quickly given the bullet. José Mourinho’s second spell at Stamford Bridge saw success but also ended in acrimony, resulting in Guus Hiddink being brought in on a temporary basis. For the following season, Abramovich turned to another winner in the form of Italian Antonio Conte, who had enjoyed success with Juventus before moving to London. That success continued with the Blues, winning the Premier League and the FA Cup.
Antonio Conte’s Honours as Chelsea Manager
| Season | League Titles | Domestic Cups | European/International Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016/17 | Premier League | – | – |
| 2017/18 | – | FA Cup | – |
Conte as a Player
Antonio Conte was born in the Italian city of Lecce on the 31st of July 1969. He joined the youth team of the local club, making his Serie A debut when he was just 16-years-old. He became an important player for the squad under Carlo Mazzone, but fractured his tibia in 1987 and feared for his career. He returned to the team the following season and scored his first goal in the November, making it one goal in 99 appearances before he left Lecce in order to sign for Juventus. There he worked with Giovanni Trapattoni, showing a leadership, tenacious energy and skill on the pitch that led to him later being named captain.
Whilst at Juventus Conte won the Serie A title five times, as well as the Coppa Italia, four Supercoppa Italianas, the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Intertoto Cup. In fact, the only club trophy he didn’t win whilst with the Italian giants was the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. He also missed out on three more Champions League titles, with Juventus being losing finalists in 1997, 1998 and 2003. He played for the Italian national side 20 times during his playing career, retiring in 2004 having played 418 times for Juventus and scoring 43 goals in all competitions.
Becoming a Coach
After making the decision to retire as a player, Antonio Conte worked as an assistant manager for Luigi De Canto at Siena. The following season, Serie B side Arezzo appointed him their full-time manager, but was sacked three months later. When Maurizio Sarri failed to do much better, Conte was reinstated as the manager and led them to five straight wins, but that wasn’t enough to help them avoid relegation. In the December of 2007, Conte was appointed as the head coach of Bari, where he led the club out of relegation in his first season and then won the Serie B title in his second, which was his first major honour as a coach.
He was constantly linked with the Juventus job, but in 2009 replaced Angelo Gregucci at Atalanta. Things did not go well and he left the ground under police protection after one match, handing in his resignation the following day. He returned to Siena and led the club back to the top-flight, which was enough to see him replace Luigi Delneri as the Juventus manager in the May of 2011. Back at the club where he had enjoyed such success as a player, he led them to 28 matches unbeaten and the first Coppa Italia final since 2004. During his time there he won the Serie A title three times and the Supercoppa Italiana twice.
Becoming Chelsea Manager
Having won the Serie A title in each of the three seasons he was Juventus manager, Conte seemed the natural choice to become the national manager of Italy. He took over from Cesare Prandelli in 2014, winning his first match 2-0 against the Netherlands. He led the side to the Euro 2016 tournament, with the Italian FA confirming that he step down after its conclusion, with Chelsea confirming he would manage the club for the 2016-2017 campaign. He led them to the top of the group for the first time since the 2006 World Cup, defeating defending champions Spain 2-0 in the round of 16 before being knocked out by Germany on penalties in the quarter-final.
In spite of Italy’s quarter-final exit from the Euros, Conte’s stock was higher than ever. The 2016-2017 season began for Chelsea with a 2-1 win over London rivals West Ham United. On the 17th of December the Blues defeated Crystal Palace 1-0, setting a new record for consecutive wins for Chelsea with 11. A 2-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the January brought the club’s winning streak to an end, but not before they had equalled the 13-game winning run record in a single season set by Arsenal in 2002. He was named Manager of the Month on three consecutive occasions, becoming the first manager to have that honour.
On the 12th of May 2017, a Michy Batshuayi goal against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns was enough for a 1-0 win, seeing the club win the title with two games to go. When the club defeated Sunderland 5-1 on the 21st of May, it set a record for the most wins in a single season, having won 30 out of the 38 games played. It let to Conte signing a new contract on the 18th of July. The following season, Chelsea needed a replay to get past Norwich City in the third round of the FA Cup, then beat Newcastle United, Hull City, Leicester City and Southampton on the way to a final against Manchester United.
The final match of the 2017-2018 season was played at Wembley Stadium, with Michael Oliver as the referee. There were 87,647 people in Wembley to watch the game play out, which saw the only goal scored when Eden Hazard got into the United box but was fouled by Phil Jones, scoring the resulting penalty. A 1-0 win resulted in Conte’s second trophy in as many seasons, having also lost in the FA Cup final the year before. The problem was that the Blues finished fifth in the Premier League, missing out on Champions League football and resulting in Conte being sacked on the 13th of July 2018, receiving £26.6 million in way of compensation.
Life After Chelsea
As with so many other managers of Chelsea, it is fair to say that Antonio Conte felt no particularly loyalty to the Blues. In 2019, a little over a year after leaving his role at Stamford Bridge, he was given the manager’s job at Inter Milan. He took them to second in the league and the final of the Europa League, missing out to Juventus and Sevilla respectively. The following season, however, he won the league with Inter, which was the first time in 11 years that they’d ended up as Serie A champions. In spite of this success, it was confirmed that he would leave the club by mutual consent after disagreements over transfers.
It was at this point that Conte’s lack of loyalty to Chelsea became apparent, with the Italian being confirmed as the Tottenham Hotspur manager on the second of November 2021. When the club beat Watford on the first of January, Conte became the first Spurs manager to win their first eight league games. In spite of a good start at the club, he gave a press conference on the 18th of March, saying, “Tottenham’s story is this. Twenty years there is the owner and they never won something, but why? The fault is only for the club, or for every manager that stay here?” Unsurprisingly, it was confirmed on March 26th that he had left the club by mutual consent.