Levy admits it was a 'MISTAKE' to appoint 'trophy managers' Mourinho and Conte

Tottenham manager Daniel Levy has admitted that appointing 'trophy managers' Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte were two mistakes.

Levy received heavy criticism from large sections of the Tottenham fanbase for his appointment of Mourinho, who replaced Mauricio Pochettino in 2019 and Conte, who went into the club after Nuno Espirito Santo was sacked.

It was assumed that they had been brought into the club to try and deliver instant success to the club, which still has not won a trophy since the League Cup in 2008.

But things didn't go to plan on either occasion, with both eventually sacked, with Conte criticising Levy and the Tottenham squad before his departure last season.

Levy was speaking at a fan forum on Thursday when asked about the appointments, and, though he did not mention them by names, he explained his regrets in giving both men their jobs.

'I want to win as much as everybody else, but the frustration of not winning and the pressure from maybe some players and from a large element of the fanbase, that we need to win, we need to spend money, we need to have a big manager, we need to have a big name, it affected me,' he said.

'I had gone through a period where we'd almost won. With Mauricio we went through some very good times. We didn't quite get there but we came very close and we had a change in strategy.

'The strategy was let's bring in a trophy manager. We did it twice and look you have to learn from your mistakes. They're great managers but maybe not for this club.

'We want to play in a certain way and if that means it has to take a little bit longer to win maybe it's the right thing for us. That's why bringing Ange [Postecoglou] in was from my point of view the right decision.'

Levy was joined on stage by new