Defeat at Burnley tipped Antonio Conte over the edge earlier this year and saw the Tottenham manager block a planned summer tour of Australia.
Tribal Football can reveal Spurs' 1-0 defeat at Turf Moor in February was the final straw for Conte in a power struggle with chairman Daniel Levy and the club's board.
Twelve months in the making, Tottenham were planning for a welcome money-spinning tour of Australia for this summer's preseason. Given the World Cup scheduling for December, organisers had been assured Spurs would arrive Down Under with a full-strength squad - including England captain Harry Kane and South Korean star Heung-min Son.
Negotiations had been finalised to the point where contracts had been exchanged between offices in Australia and England early into the New Year. But then Spurs suffered defeat at Burnley, which saw Conte react furiously in public and behind the scenes.
In the aftermath of seeing his team defeated by Ben Mee's lone goal on the day, Conte let rip, questioning his own position and his salary.
“When this type of situation happens, maybe there is something wrong," he declared, quoted by the Guardian. "I don't want to close my eyes, I want to take my responsibility, if I have the responsibility. I am open, I am open for every decision because I want to help Tottenham.
"From the first day I arrived here I want to help Tottenham. I repeat: I am too honest to close my eyes and continue in this way, and also take my salary. But it's not right in this moment."
And sources close to the tour tell us Conte's outburst was not performative. The Italian was genuinely upset about Tottenham's limited spending in January and the all but agreed tour of Australa found itself caught up in the crossfire.
"They love Conte," a source close to the tour organisers told Tribal Football, "but they also know it was he who blocked the tour. It's been a power struggle between the manager and the chairman about transfer spending.
"And when he was informed of the Aussie tour, he blew up."
The source added: "It's a shame. But that's football. But you can also say this won't be a one-off."
For the moment, Manchester United and Crystal Palace are expected to spend part of their preseason in Australia this summer. Celtic and Rangers, meanwhile, will also face eachother in Sydney.
