‘Joke of a club’: Tottenham fans savage chairman Daniel Levy as talks to appoint Antonio Conte as new manager crumble

Spurs fans have signaled their discontent with the club's hierarchy after talks to appoint Serie A winner Antonio Conte fell apart, with the Italian thought to be concerned about Tottenham's ability to challenge for honors.

The 51-year-old former Inter Milan, Juventus and Chelsea head coach had looked set to succeed Jose Mourinho in the Spurs hot-seat after failing in their bid to compel Paris Saint-Germain release Mauricio Pochettino – but it looks like chairman Daniel Levy will have to go back to the drawing board after Conte withdrew from talks late Friday.

According to reports, financial terms had been agreed with Conte despite his expressed reservations with the current state of the Tottenham squad and their ability to immediately challenge for silverware.

It was also reported that Conte had balked at the club's insistence to promote academy players to the first-team squad, and was wary of the club's transfer budget as well as the status of star player Harry Kane, who has been linked with a move away from his boyhood team this summer.

Conte's call to abandon talks leaves Tottenham in managerial limbo seven weeks after the club sacked Jose Mourinho days in advance of an EFL Cup Final against Manchester City.

29-year-old Ryan Mason was drafted in as interim coach but couldn't secure Spurs' first trophy in more than a decade on what was his managerial debut.

News that both Conte and Pochettino appear out of their grasp comes after another top target, Julian Nagelsmann, announced that he was to take over at Bayern Munich. Brendan Rodgers, who was thought to have been of interest, has reaffirmed his commitment to Leicester City.

Tottenham's seventh-placed finish in the Premier League suggests that the club are set for a pivotal summer. Failure to appoint a top-level manager, coupled with the potential departure of Kane, would heap further pressure on under-fire Levy, who remains a deeply unpopular figure with much of the club's fanbase, just weeks after they slammed him for being one of the signatories to the ill-fated European Super League project.

"There we go, Levy bottled it," wrote one fan on social media in reaction to the news that Conte had drawn a line through negotiations.

"Absolutely embarrassing from the Spurs board: we can't match Conte's ambitions and that's just not good enough. Are we just settling for mediocrity now?" added another.

"Can see why Conte turned the job down. Joke of a club," said another. 

Time will tell where Conte ends up in his next managerial move but it now seems certain that it won't be in London – forcing Tottenham to look further down their managerial wish-list, with the likes of Belgium coach Roberto Martinez and Brighton's Graham Potter thought to be in the club's thinking.

Alongside Kane's threatened exit, those names would be a tough sell to Spurs fans who already seem to have openly rebelled against their leadership.