Antonio Conte’s Chelsea legacy hinges on the FA Cup Final… lose and he’ll go down as the Sulky One

Legacy: FA Cup Final will determine how Conte is remembered
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David Chidgey18 May 2018

The FA Cup Final will have a huge bearing on how Antonio Conte is remembered by Chelsea supporters.

Beat Manchester United and he will depart as the man who lifted two trophies in as many seasons.

Lose, and I fear he will be known more for his negativity than the exuberance and passion we all loved him for in his debut campaign here.

It’s intriguing that the match that could shape Conte’s legacy at Stamford Bridge pits him against our greatest ever manager.

This may be Conte’s final game for us but at least he will not have the ignominy of being sacked before Christmas as Jose Mourinho was in 2015.

Conte and Mourinho both took Chelsea to the Premier League title and then followed it up by failing to qualify for the Champions League.

Mourinho was sacked after a breakdown in relations with technical director, Michael Emenalo famously blaming “palpable discord with the players”.

Although Mourinho had the backing of a majority of the supporters it is easier to get rid of one bad apple than 11.

This season has also been plagued by negativity, although while Chelsea’s inconsistency has been frustrating, the season has not been the failure that Mourinho’s final one at the Bridge was. The Portuguese departed with the team just a point above the relegation zone.

Conte has been downright sulky and it is this attitude that has perhaps caused much of the negativity.

As a supporter it is easy to assume there is one common factor in both Conte and Mourinho’s last season in charge and that is their friction with the board.

As determined winners, they demand the tools to do the job. For various reasons they both felt strongly the club did not give them what they wanted.

The difference is purely in the reaction. Mourinho plotted; Conte sulked.

If Conte lifts the FA Cup it will hopefully leave a more fitting memory than the sullen shadow of the manager we saw on the touchline against Newcastle last week.

Win or lose tomorrow, most of us would prefer to remember Conte as the manager who leapt into the crowd at Stamford Bridge, celebrating goals as passionately as the supporters, embracing them in the process.

It all seems a long way from the Conte who was joyously thrown into the air by the players at West Brom, with the Chelsea away supporters serenading him, having clinched the title.

This is the Conte we all fell in love with and it would be great to see it for one last time with an FA Cup victory against United.

Mourinho won three Premier League titles, three League Cups and one FA Cup at Chelsea which is why he is remembered as our finest manager.

I have a feeling that he may remind Conte of that should United win on Saturday.

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