Ian Holloway makes honest admission about his ill-fated spell as Leicester City manager

[davieG]

Leicester City latest - Former Foxes boss Ian Holloway has been reflecting on his forgettable spell in charge of the club

 

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-ian-holloway-verdict-3488908

ByJamie Kemble
06:00, 1 NOV 2019

Former Leicester City boss Ian Holloway says he wish he never made the move to Filbert Way.

Holloway endured an ill-fated spell with the Foxes which lasted only around six months.

The former Blackpool boss left by mutual consent in May 2008 after suffering relegation from the Championship with City.

And speaking to TheSackRace.com, he says he wishes he never made the move from Plymouth Argyle in November 2007.

Asked what he would have differently at City, he replied: "I would have stayed at Plymouth.

“At Leicester I picked up a time bomb that was ticking, but someone needed to do it.

 
“There were two or three of us that had a go - it was only a matter of time, they had far too many players, far too many opinions, and it needed clearing out. It needed a strong man, and Nigel Pearson was that man.

"He came in and did a brilliant job after me, and they’ve since gone on from strength to strength, so well done to him.

“He got them promoted back into the Championship, then up into the Premier League. They are a big club with fantastic support, even in the lower leagues they had 32,000 fans go to games - they fully deserve the success they are currently having.”

Holloway went on to speak about former City owner Milan Mandaric and what it was like to work with the Serbian-American.

“Milan Mandaric had already been through two or three different Leicester managers before he appointed me," he added.

“At the time I was doing OK with Plymouth, we weren’t a fashionable side but we were up in the top-seven (Championship).

“The previous season we’d played Leicester in a game and beat them 3-0 so I think Mandaric remembered that game, and when the time came he wanted me in as manager.

“It was a bit of a car crash to be honest. They had far too many players who were picking their money up and not doing a good enough job. Luckily I managed to get a few of them out the door.

“There were two players in particular that I wanted to get out. I told the chairman that I didn’t want them at the club. It was either me or them.

“He got rid of me.

 
“I was bitterly disappointed that I couldn’t turn it around at Leicester.

“I really liked Milan Mandaric. He was a real football fella that really loved the clubs that he’s owned.

“I wanted to prove to him that I could do it. I had to do it in my own style. I always take full control so whether he was used to that or not, who knows.

"But I had to control who was playing for me. I had to control the characters that I had. I didn’t like some of the ones that were there and I wanted to change them but he didn’t want me to do it, so end of story really.”

[Koke]

8 minutes ago, davieG said:

“There were two players in particular that I wanted to get out. I told the chairman that I didn’t want them at the club. It was either me or them.

“He got rid of me

 

I wonder who is talking about.

[UniFox21]

I was fairly young when we got relegated, and held so much resent and anger towards Holloway for taking us down. I always though he'd controlled everything and therefore it was his fault. 

 

But as I've seen and read more, this sums it up pretty well. We were a ticking bomb waiting to go off, he was just unlucky to be the one who was here.  

[Aus Fox]

Clearly talking about Richie Welles’s, I don’t even care that he came two years after hollow head!

[davieG]

8 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

I was fairly young when we got relegated, and held so much resent and anger towards Holloway for taking us down. I always though he'd controlled everything and therefore it was his fault. 

 

But as I've seen and read more, this sums it up pretty well. We were a ticking bomb waiting to go off, he was just unlucky to be the one who was here.  

He can't totally absolve himself.

 

When he joined us we were around 15th by the end of the season we were 22nd

 

He bought or loaned in 12 players spending over £2mill.

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

Idk he always seemed an ok guy but even if you forget everything else he still went to Stoke and played for a draw, got a draw and we were relegated, we only started to attack in the last few minutes when we knew all the other results were going against us, that’s how I remember it anyway but could be wrong.

 

It probably did give the club the kick up the backside it needed, from there we got to where we are today!

[UniFox21]

3 minutes ago, davieG said:

He can't totally absolve himself.

 

When he joined us we were around 15th by the end of the season we were 22nd

 

He bought or loaned in 12 players spending over £2mill.

And that was a shit tonne of money then, especially for the position the club was in. 

 

Looks like he's trying to dig himself out of blame by pointing the finger more at others?

[Vacamion]

 

I was very unhappy at the time, but I can no longer bear him any ill will of any kind. 

 

What happened after he left was so gloriously wonderful that it is hard to still care about his spell to any great extent. 

 

 

[Tommo220]

We were dead long before Holloway took charge.  So many years of mismanagement, poor signing after poor signing, players that were at the end of their careers and chasing one last pay day etc. 

 

 

i remember being really pleased when we brought him in, and can only imagine what an absolutely sh!t show it was behind the scenes at that point in time. 

 

just puts our progress into perspective - imagine supporting a team that Gary Megson could get the job to manage - and then being so dross that he jumps ship after a month! 

 

[Langston]

28 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

I was fairly young when we got relegated, and held so much resent and anger towards Holloway for taking us down. I always though he'd controlled everything and therefore it was his fault. 

 

But as I've seen and read more, this sums it up pretty well. We were a ticking bomb waiting to go off, he was just unlucky to be the one who was here.  

He's passing the buck, no doubt we were crap, but we had enough to stay up that season and his tactical ****ing buffoonery at the Britannia was atypical of his time with us. The worst manager we've ever had in my opinion.

[Les-TA-Jon]

We'd been circling the drain for 3-4 seasons before that point anyhow, amassing a bloated squad of nobodies and has-beens. 

[Guest Markyblue]

He done his best but it wasn't good enough but his going set up  the football miricle that occurred with nige and claudio. Also manderic found vichai and king power and the fairy tell began.

[Koke]

He cant have been a bad manager as he took both Blackpool and Palace up to the Premier League. 

 

He cant fully absolve himself. He went to Stoke for a draw. Granted it was a high flying Stoke side on the brink of promotion. 

 

Looking back on the sausd the only players I can assume he wanted rid of are Bruno N'Gotti and/or Stephen Clemence. They were senior players on high wages and they weren't contributing on the pitch.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

23 minutes ago, Mark 'expert' Lawrenson said:

Idk he always seemed an ok guy but even if you forget everything else he still went to Stoke and played for a draw, got a draw and we were relegated, we only started to attack in the last few minutes when we knew all the other results were going against us, that’s how I remember it anyway but could be wrong.

 

It probably did give the club the kick up the backside it needed, from there we got to where we are today!

The bloke played a 19 year old centre back in centre midfield for our crucial do or die game. He is unforgivable for that alone. 

[UniFox21]

4 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

The bloke played a 19 year old centre back in centre midfield for our crucial do or die game. He is unforgivable for that alone. 

Was it Holloway who would play the likes of Barry Hayles on the wing? 

[murphy]

Loser!

 

The darkest hour is just before dawn as Mamma Cass said.  It has been onwards and upwards ever since.

[filbertway]

I heard an interview with him a few months back where he said that he was forced to play Bruno N'Gotty by higher ups. I think there were 40 odd players on the books at the time as well. As said above, the more I read, the more it seems like he was working with his hands tied behind his back. Must have been an absolutely awful time to be a part of the club.

 

Massive respect goes to Pearson for sorting that out, then doing it all again after being let go.

[Tommo220]

16 minutes ago, Koke said:

He cant have been a bad manager as he took both Blackpool and Palace up to the Premier League. 

 

He cant fully absolve himself. He went to Stoke for a draw. Granted it was a high flying Stoke side on the brink of promotion. 

 

Looking back on the sausd the only players I can assume he wanted rid of are Bruno N'Gotti and/or Stephen Clemence. They were senior players on high wages and they weren't contributing on the pitch.

Radastin Kishishev didnt offer much,

[David Guiza]

The weekend before the Stoke game was the final nail in the coffin. Getting absolutely humiliated at home by Sheffield Wednesday and we were lucky it wasn't more than 3-1. Leon Clarke lobbing the third when he was about 24 stone along the way.

 

Enabled them to climb out of the relegation zone and meant that we ultimately needed to win, away from home, against one of the best sides in the division. I of course wouldn't change what's happened since then for the world, but, and as fun as that season was, I still hate the fact we were in League 1.  

 

 

[surrifox]

Despite the way things ended with Holloway I don’t think I was alone in believing he was a decent appointment at the time . He had built a competitive and entertaining Plymouth side with the likes of Halmosi and David Norris and when he brought in the two Hungarians Laczko and Gabor whatsisname to city there was an insane level of excitement and anticipation that lasted all of 2 games 

[Wolfox]

Div 3 was the making of us…. Pearson cleared out the rot and built new foundations…

 

was horrendous at the time, but, hindsight and all that…

[Guest Danny Clender]

I'm picking this up from the story.

In hindsight, we owe a lot to Ian Holloway.

If he hadn't have taken us down, Sir Nigel Pearson would never have joined. 

 

Dire his time was, always has a good word for Leicester though, can't fault that. 

 

Ta duck, ahhhh, remember me to 'im. 

[reynard]

In hindsight, a wonderful thing, I think there is a good argument for saying that relegation that season was perhaps the best thing that could have  happened to us as a club at that time. Without it I doubt we would of gone to where we are now. Survival would have meant keeping him as manager and not having the complete rebuild that Pearson undertook over several seasons.

 

Going down to the third tier also made out title win even more remakable.

[davieG]

Maybe he just wasn't good enough, were we were too big for him, Pearson managed to turn us around and do the job he couldn't even with Mandaric still there what's to say he couldn't have done that if we had stayed up.

[Beliall]

35 minutes ago, Langston said:

He's passing the buck, no doubt we were crap, but we had enough to stay up that season and his tactical ****ing buffoonery at the Britannia was atypical of his time with us. The worst manager we've ever had in my opinion.