Antonio Conte vs Jose Mourinho: Who is the biggest moaner in football management?

Seb Sternik
18 February 2022

Antonio Conte has been in charge at Tottenham since November and he’s already finding plenty of things to complain about. Here’s how we compares to football’s resident moaner, Jose Mourinho.

There are a lot of similarities when it comes to current Tottenham boss Antonio Conte and AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho.

Both men have won the Premier League with Chelsea, both have won the Serie A with Inter Milan and both have found it near impossible to change Tottenham's fortunes.

Another major similarity is that both men are massive complainers. Here, we take a look back at their best strops and determine who is the biggest moaner in football.

Omelettes and eggs… and transfers

Conte hit the headlines this week after underlining his dissatisfaction with Tottenham's business during the January transfer window.

On this occasion his gripes do have some justification. After all, the club did shed four players while only bringing in two.

"Tottenham are seeking young players they can develop and grow, not players who are ready," he told Sky Sports Italia. "That is the issue.

"This is the vision and the philosophy of the club. It is inevitable that, if you want to grow quicker and if you want to be competitive more rapidly, you need players with a lot of experience, because they also raise the experience level of the overall team.

"But I repeat, I have realised now that this is the vision of the club."

Mourinho also had his fair share of transfer complaints during his time in the Premier League. Arguably his most memorable transfer rant came towards the end of his first spell at Chelsea.

With the Portuguese manager unable to get the players he wanted, results inevitably began to suffer. That, coupled with an injury crisis, produced this famous quote: "The style of how we play is very important. But it is omelettes and eggs.

"No eggs - no omelettes! It depends on the quality of the eggs. In the supermarket you have class one, two or class three eggs and some are more expensive than others and some give you better omelettes. So when the class one eggs are in Waitrose and you cannot go there, you have a problem."

Speaking to walls, friends in high places and lots of fixtures

One of the big topics which managers like to complain about is the fixture pile-up which normally takes place during the festive period.

Having joined Tottenham in November, Conte was thrown straight into the deep end with matches coming left, right and centre.

With coronavirus infections going up in the country at the time, discussions did take place to determine whether there should be a circuit break, or at the very least, an increased number of days between fixtures.

Conte hit back at the meeting saying: "If I have to be honest, it was a meeting that we tried to speak and some coaches tried to speak, to ask about solutions but I think everything was decided.

"Because when you have a wall in front of you, you can speak and ask what you want but every decision was taken."

During his time at Manchester United, Jose Mourinho also had plenty to say about fixture pile-ups.

The former Red Devils boss was unhappy with United's constant selection for TV games saying: "You television companies make the decisions and we have to accept. I believe you make the decisions but I also believe that some clubs, or some managers, have good friends in the right chairs and I don't have them."

Moaning about referees

When it comes to referee complaints, there's a whole 2,000 word feature we could write about Jose Mourinho alone.

Instead, we'll refer to one of the most recent ones as the Roma manager clashed with a TV reporter following a draw with Bodo/Glimt in the Europa Conference League.

Despite being asked multiple times about potential penalty decisions, Mourinho continuously threw the question back at the reporter.

“The referee has to explain but they don’t speak!”

Jose had a ‘little discussion’ with @JanAageFjortoft on the standard of the officials last night 👀 pic.twitter.com/s65wg55OYi
— Hayters TV (@HaytersTV) November 5, 2021

Conte is also no stranger to taking shots at the officials. Following Tottenham's recent 2-0 defeat to Chelsea, the Italian manager was left furious after a potentially game-changing goal from Harry Kane was disallowed for a foul.

VAR backed up Paul Tierney's decision despite the fact that there was minimal contact between Kane and Thiago Silva.

Conte vented his frustrations in the post-match press conference saying: "The referee disallowed a goal and I was very clear with him because I think it's best sometimes it's best to tell the referee in a polite way, to see this type of goal disallowed in England is incredible.

"Maybe in Italy 50-50, but in England it was incredible."

'Money is not everything'

We've gone through transfers, referees, fixtures and even omelettes - but what about beefs with individual players?

Both Mourinho and Conte have both had their fair share of run-ins and controversies with specific individuals.

In the past, Mourinho has famously clashed with Paul Pogba, Eden Hazard and even Ricardo Quaresma.

During his time as Spurs boss, Mourinho also took a shot at Tanguy Ndombele after replacing the player at half-time during a clash with Burnley.

After the match, the manager said: "In the first half we didn't have a midfield.

"I know adapting to the Premier League is difficult but he has had enough time and a player of his potential has to give us more than he is giving us."

Conte's most famous rift with a player took place during his spell at Chelsea. The player in question was Diego Costa whose head was turned by a huge offer from China - a move which never transpired but did leave the relationship between the pair in tatters.

The Italian hit back at the proposed move saying: "The money is not everything. When you play for a great team like Chelsea, you must be pleased.

"This league can attract every player because this league is the first in the world for a lot of positive things. For this reason, I repeat, these offers from China are not a threat for our league. Money is not everything."

Who is top of the strops?

While Antonio Conte is certainly among the best complainers in football, the crown has to go to Jose Mourinho.

However, considering the Italian is seven years younger than his managerial rival, he has plenty of time to catch up. Managing Tottenham will certainly help his chances.