The narrative around Antonio Conte’s sacking from Chelsea is inherently negative. But the truth is he did not quit on the club; the club quit on him.
It has been just over three years since Antonio Conte’s Chelsea lifted the Premier League title in (then) historic fashion. In the time since Conte has gone from adored to hated (and occasionally back again) in the mind of many fans.
But so much of Conte’s exit is wrapped up in narrative, half truths, and outright falsehoods. Conte never quit on the club but it is hard to deny the club quit on him.
The Conte quit on the club narrative largely comes from his lack of celebration in the second season. Many armchair experts of body language took that to mean he did not care anymore. Furthermore, Chelsea’s poor results (compared to the previous season at least) were blamed on Conte “giving up”. The players, as they often are, were absolved of nearly all the blame.
But the club still won the FA Cup that season. It was clear the players did as they did in 2015/2016 and shrugged their shoulders at the league. Conte, even knowing a sack was inevitable, planned a preseason. Not only that, he started it as well.
Does any of that sound like a man who gave up on the club? The fans at the stadium never truly thought so, or at least they never began songs of “f**k Conteball”. Regardless, the club itself thought something had occurred as they tried and failed to avoid paying Conte what he was owed for the sacking.
That entire saga is used as a knock against Conte, as if he was supposed to be the only Chelsea manager in the Roman Abramovich era to be sacked and not paid what he was owed. But here is the thing that those people often miss with the situation; Chelsea can be wrong. Defending the club when they are wrong is not being a good fan. If anything, it is being a bad one.
Conte kept trying to find a working formula in his second season but he unfortunately came up short as happens in football. He knew a sack was coming but he still planned and prepared and acted as a professional. He certainly did not “quit” on Chelsea.
But the club did quit on him. As soon as they started believing the narratives in the media about the manager. Or even before then when they stopped supporting him in the market. Or perhaps even further back when they got upset about the text confirming what Diego Costa wanted anyways.
The club did wrong by Conte and that should be okay to say. Conte, for his part, holds no ill will towards the fans or the players. He even believes Frank Lampard can be one of the best in the game. Conte was, and perhaps on some level still is, fully behind Chelsea. No amount of narratives or historical rewrites will change that simple fact.