Hi. Afternoon, everyone.
- Thanks, Fabio. I wondered if you could talk us through
the timeline of the last few days
and maybe go into more detail about what specifically changed
from the summer when it came to bringing Antonio Conte to Tottenham.
- So, first of all, I would like thank Nuno and his staff
for the job of these four months because
it's not an easy decision every time in football
when you have to take this decision for one club, it's not easy.
But okay, football is football,
we go ahead and we move forward.
This is the first thing: really thankful to Nuno and his staff.
About your question,
I think now is the right time because
we spoke once with Antonio this summer, but he was not ready,
not the right time
because he was involved emotionally with Inter, it was strong season
the last two seasons and he was not ready.
So I know Antonio very well, so when he says no, it's no
and when he says yes, it's yes.
So that's it.
- How confident are you that this appointment will show Harry Kane that
he can achieve his ambitions at this club?
- I think it is not just about Harry Kane.
We are here to work to achieve our ambitions as a club,
not as a personal people person.
So, we strive to do the best for this club every day,
to build something good, nothing for this season,
but for the long-term projects.
So this is the answer. It's not just about Harry but about all of us.
- Thanks, Paul. James Savundra from talkSPORT, please.
- Hi, Fabio. In terms of Antonio's appointment,
what do you think convinced him to come now rather than in the summer?
And did anything change in terms of the assurances you were able to offer
in the summer compared to what you offered now?
- No, sorry. But I answered before.
So, we didn't give the assurance,
we did one call with Antonio in the summer and that was not the right time.
So now he's less involved.
You know, when you finish one season, two seasons hard season,
maybe you're not ready to take another opportunity
or, you know, another experience.
So, he was not ready.
It was just not the right time,
not ready but not the right time.
- And do you feel like you're almost guaranteed success
by appointing somebody like Antonio
if you are able to offer him the support he needs?
- I think this club supports everybody.
You see, we are here to support all of us, not just the coach,
also the coach of the youth team.
But nobody can assure us to win something,
but we have to work to be focused,
to be committed, to be involved in this project 100% every day
and this is what we can do and we have to do,
but not assurance to win something or whatever.
So, nobody can give you this kind of assurance.
So I think we can do the best.
We have to do the best.
- Thanks, James. Simon Stone, please.
- Hi. Fabio, you came into the club in the summer,
it seemed a little but chaotic in terms of trying to get the manager
before you went and booked with Nuno.
How did that work from your perspective?
And do you think now after all this time you've got the right man?
Yeah. You know, when you appoint somebody,
every time you think that you appointed the best at that time.
So you have to think that when you take a decision,
you have to understand and this is the moment when you have to decide it.
So, in that moment you think that is the best
and maybe you don't have other chances,
maybe the time is right for this person and sometimes it's like this.
So now we think we have to bring a good this season for the club
and we follow, we move forward and we are optimistic for the future.
- You've come from Juventus;
a club that is used to winning the biggest trophies.
You've just brought in a manager who won the league title last year
and has won titles before.
Where do you think this football coach should be?
What is the end game for this period of this club?
- I think when we started in Juve
we didn't win for a long time.
So we didn't think about, we have to win this or this or this,
but we have to do the best to arrive, to compete for wins.
This is the most important thing.
Then when we are at that level,
we want to improve again and arrive to win trophies.
But I think it's day by day that you build something,
not just because you think or you speak about this
but you have to act and work hard and stay focused and nothing else.
- Thanks, Simon. Rob Guest, please.
- Hi, Fabio.
- Hi.
- You've worked with Antonio before.
I just wondered how that partnership worked
and how you expect it to work at Tottenham?
- So yeah, I worked with Antonio before. That was different club.
My expectation is nothing.
I know him very well. He's a hard worker,
a lot of patience, a lot of knowledge
because he's one of the best coaches in the world.
The track record speaks for itself.
I think, it's not my expectation, it's just,
we have to be like we are;
work harder and be committed.
- Have you spoken to Antonio about transfers
and is he intending to bring players in in January?
- Not at all. Not at all, because we trust in our players.
We trust them a lot.
So, we are focused to be better, like a club, like a team.
- Thanks, Rob. Sam Dean, please.
- Hi, Fabio. Just following on from that,
do you think this current squad as it is right now
is capable of challenging for wins and big trophies?
- Yeah, I think yes.
We are here for to do our best to win trophies, big or small.
I don't know this word, big trophy or small trophy, or trophy, trophies.
So, we strive to win every game, we strive to do the best every game
and to build the best in this season and the next seasons because
sometimes you have to be patient to achieve results,
you have to be ready to suffer, to sacrifice yourself for the group.
This is our mentality and we have to improve in this way.
- And do you feel that Tottenham are at the start of a new cycle?
And do you feel that the fans need to show patience,
even with someone like Antonio in the dugout?
Yeah, so when I spoke about patience,
to improve needs time, needs work, in every hour.
So to achieve something I repeat, we need day by day to work hard
and what we can do is this.
But for sure we believe tha we can achieve our target,
otherwise we would not be here.
So we have to believe that we can achieve our target.
We have everything we need to achieve.
We have big infrastructure, big club,
so,
players, history, we have everything to achieve this; big fans.
So we are here to, I repeat, improve ourselves every day
and if we improve ourselves we also improve the club this season.
- Thanks, Sam. And time for one more, and that will be Jonathan Veal, please.
- Hi, Fabio. If Antonio decides that he wants different players,
did you make it possible to bring players in if Antonio wants that?
- Yeah, but I repeat. We haven't spoken about players until now
so we have to be focused on our team and then we will see.
But I think the team is competitive.
We trust in the players
we have very good players so we don't speak about players now,
it's not the right time.
- And can I just ask about your relationship with Daniel Levy?
You've obviously been working with him for a few months now,
how is that dynamic and is he committed
to helping this club get back to where it was a few years ago?
- So, I think he is a big president, he is a big person,
he is the first fan of Tottenham,
he works hard, he thinks about Tottenham 24/7
so my relationship is very good, I'm so happy to be here,
I'm so happy to have this kind of relationship with him,
with everybody in this club, I have to thank everybody a lot
because they helped me a lot in these last four months,
this was a big change for me, a big challenge,
but I'm really happy to be in the Premier League, to be in England,
I'm so excited to follow, to fight,
and to start to really build something important
for the club that really deserves this.