Holloway. A voice to be heard.

It was very interesting to watch the Ian Holloway interview surrounding the state of football following on from the Wayne Rooney saga. Although Ferguson has stated that he didn’t want it to become a saga, I feel that with the amount of time remaining until the January transfer window is upon us suggests that the media frenzy will not allow it to be any other way. 

Holloway has won many people over for his comments on many different issues due to his honesty, integrity and passion. As I have said before, the achievements at Bloomfield Road under Holloway have been nothing short of incredible. He has turned the fortunes of a small club into Premier League over achievers. The players he has brought in have exceeded all expectations and many of us hope to see The Seasiders continue to enjoy Premier League status. As somebody who grew up watching Blackpool as a schoolboy in the days of Paul Stewart and Sam Ellis as manager I have a keen interest in them doing so well.

They play fast flowing, expansive football which has allowed them to gain some  precious points already this season. Ian Holloway has had a larger media audience since Blackpool have been in the top flight which has brightened up the tone of interviews we see so often. But this side of Holloway is nothing new to many. Ask Bristol Rovers followers. He achieved legendary status as a player as a hard-working, hard tackling, honest midfielder who gave everything. He has brought those qualities into management.

But as we are all rightly claiming that he is the best thing since sliced bread we must remember his time at Leicester and I feel that his experiences at The Walkers have benefitted him to become the manager he is today. He left Plymouth Argyle after being head hunted and exited Leicester City after their relegation to the third tier of English football.  He had a squad on paper that could have pushed for promotion but everything he tried at Leicester went wrong. Expectations were huge and it just didn’t happen.

The career of Holloway over the last few years just goes to show that you can’t keep a good man down. I am sure that some Leicester City fans will wonder how he has had so much success but it all points to the fact that sometimes things just don’t go your way no matter how good you are.

My own personal experience of Ian Holloway:

I was at Northampton Town and had started the 2000-01 season in goal scoring form. Ian was manager at Bristol Rovers who were at the wrong end of the table. I was told that Ian and Bristol Rovers offered £250,000  which was turned down flat. Northampton had recently paid £150,000 a few months previous breaking their transfer record at the time.

Holloway followed the correct procedures by contacting the club. He could so easily have tried to contact me prior to the offer coming to gauge my interest or even try to unsettle me after the offer was rejected. But no. This shows a huge amount of integrity, which was the root of his rant at the Rooney saga.

At a time where money has completely taken over the world of football how refreshing it is to have Holloway as one of our top English managers showing such passion for our game.