Tavecchio: ‘Italy didn’ have money for Conte’
“I’ll tell you something. If I had the money to keep Conte, I’d pay it! The problem is Coni retained € 30 million from the budge they usually give to each federation. We had not enough money and there was no way I could pay Conte. If Conte was in charge Italy we would have played the World Cup", Tavecchio told Sportitalia.
“I suffered when I decided to resign. I felt humiliated, I couldn’t sleep for many nights after the game against Sweden. Ventura was not the biggest mistake. Lippi was supposed to be part of the project, but it didn’t happen and it was not my responsibility. Ventura made some technical mistakes. He should have resigned, for sure. Ethically and morally he was obliged to resign after the game but he didn’t so he was sacked and took all the money of his contract.”
“I would have called Conte again after that. There were sponsors available to help me get Conte back.”