Antonio Conte has buoyed the staff at Chelsea by attending their Christmas party – the first manager to do so since Carlo Ancelotti.
There has been an increasingly positive mood around Stamford Bridge with the club’s 11 consecutive wins sending them back to the top of the table.
Normally the senior team manager will record a video message for the non- playing staff, but the receptionists, door attendants, security staff and other workers were surprised when he arrived at the event on Thursday evening, according to the Telegraph.
The newspaper adds that Conte recorded the message but decided that he should attend and thank the employees in person.
Conte is aware that some relationships had been strained prior to the departure of Jose Mourinho last December, so he saw the celebration as another way of building morale within the club, the newspaper reports.
Along with building relationships off the pitch, he has also worked hard to create a better rapport on the pitch by setting up a monthly supper club for his players and coaches, the Telegraph says.
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