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Ian Holloway

Personal information
Full name	Ian Scott Holloway
Date of birth	12 March 1963 (1963-03-12) (age 47)
Place of birth	Cadbury Heath, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Midfielder (retired)
Club information
Current club	Blackpool (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps (Gls)†
1981–1985	Bristol Rovers	111 (14)
1985–1986	Wimbledon	019 0(2)
1986–1987	Brentford	030 0(2)
1987	→ Torquay United (loan)	005 0(0)
1987–1991	Bristol Rovers	179 (26)
1991–1996	Queens Park Rangers	147 0(4)
1996–1999	Bristol Rovers	107 0(1)
Total		598 (49)
Teams managed
1996–2001	Bristol Rovers
2001–2006	Queens Park Rangers
2006–2007	Plymouth Argyle
2007–2008	Leicester City
2009–	Blackpool
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English football manager and former player. He became the manager of Blackpool in May 2009. Holloway is well known amongst football fans for his informal and funny interviews, with a wide selection of quotes and soundbites beings printed.

Holloways playing career spanned 18 years from 1981 to 1999. A midfielder, he began his career at hometown club Bristol Rovers in 1981, going on to play for Wimbledon, Brentford, Torquay United (on loan), a second spell back at Bristol Rovers, and Queens Park Rangers. He returned for a third time to Bristol Rovers, where he became player-manager before ending his playing career in 1999. He has since managed previous club QPR, Plymouth Argyle and Leicester City.

Playing career

A native of Kingswood, Bristol, Holloway grew up in Cadbury Heath, where his mother Jean still lives in the same council house. Holloway was in the same class as fellow player Gary Penrice at school and they still remain close friends today. His father Bill, an outstanding amateur footballer, was a seaman, then a factory worker. Holloway began his playing career as an apprentice with his hometown team Bristol Rovers, turning professional in March 1981 and making his league debut the same year. He usually played on the right side of midfield, and made his name as one of the more promising players in the Third Division (now League One). After four seasons at Rovers, he was transferred to Wimbledon in July 1985 for £35,000.

His stay at Wimbledon was a short one. In March 1986, after less than one year at the club, he was sold to Brentford for £25,000, where he also spent just a little over a year. In January 1987 he joined Torquay United on loan, playing 5 times. In August 1987, after two disappointing years in London, Holloway returned to Bristol Rovers for a fee of £10,000.

Back at Rovers, who were now playing "home" games at Twerton Park in Bath, and under the wing of new Rovers manager Gerry Francis, Holloway flourished. In four seasons, he missed only five games, and was a key player as Rovers gained promotion to the Second Division in 1990. When Francis was appointed manager of First Division side QPR in 1991, one of his first signings was Holloway, for a fee of £230,000 in August 1991.

Undeterred by his previous failure to settle in London, and the fact that he had never played at the highest level before, Holloway made the most of his second spell in the English capital, and became a crowd favourite at Loftus Road with his tireless running and determination. He spent five seasons at QPR, playing more than 150 games for the club, before returning to Bristol Rovers for the third time in August 1996, this time as player-manager.

Career statistics

Notes

a. Exact details for his Bristol Rovers appearances not known, so all included in one season for each stint at the club (1984–85 and 1990–91) until specific season details known
b. Exact details for his Queens Park Rangers appearances in 1991-92 and 1994-95 not known, so all included in one season (1994–95) until specific season details known
c. All Football League Trophy results are included in totals

Managerial career

Bristol Rovers

Holloway took over a club that was struggling both on and off the pitch. In his first season in charge of Rovers, he led the club to 17th place in Division Two (now League One). The next season, however, Bristol Rovers gained fifth place and made the playoffs. Despite taking a first-leg advantage of 3-1 against Northampton Town, Rovers subsequently lost 3-0 in the second leg and went out 4-3 on aggregate in the semi-finals. The 1998-99 season ended with a somewhat disappointing 13th place. Holloway retired as a player following that season, having played more than 400 matches for Bristol Rovers, to concentrate fully on management. In 1999-2000, his last full season at the club, Rovers finished 7th, narrowly missing the playoffs.

Queens Park Rangers

In February 2001, midway through the 2000-01 season, Holloway was appointed manager of QPR, where he was given the seemingly impossible task of keeping the now-struggling team in Division One. He failed to do so, as QPR finished second from bottom and were relegated to the third level for the first time in 34 years. Despite the relegation, Holloway stayed on and rebuilt the side. After steadying the ship in 2001-02, and a near miss in 2002-03, Holloway and QPR were promoted back to the second level in 2004, finishing second behind Plymouth Argyle.

Holloway's first full season in The Championship ended with a respectable 11th place, and during the following season 2005-06, the club continued to hover around mid-table.

Ian Holloway was suspended (sent on gardening leave) as manager by Queens Park Rangers on 6 February 2006. The reason given by the Q.P.R board was that the constant rumours linking Holloway to the vacant managerial position at Leicester City were causing too many problems for the club.^[1] As it turned out, the Leicester job went to Rob Kelly, and QPR went on to finish 21st, just one place above the relegation positions.

Plymouth Argyle

On 28 June Holloway became the manager of Plymouth Argyle, and promised to take the club to the Premier League.^[2] On 12 August after Plymouth beat Sunderland away 2-3, in celebration of his first away win as manager Holloway offered to buy every one of the 700 fans who made the 805-mile (1,296 km) round trip a drink: "Anyone who travelled up there please send me a letter. I would love to buy you a drink.".^[3] On 10 October 2006, Holloway made a remarkable return to football, playing for Argyle's reserve team against South Western side Liskeard, however he only did this due to a number of players being injured, and has since vowed to hang up his boots permanently.

Leicester City

Following press speculation, on 21 November 2007, Holloway submitted his resignation to the Plymouth Argyle board, with speculation that he was about to be offered the vacant managerial position at Leicester City.^[4] The Plymouth board issued a statement saying he was still employed by Plymouth and tied legally to his contract, and the board's decision on whether or not to accept his resignation would be made on Friday, 23 November. Having agreed a compensation package for his services, he was announced in a press conference by Milan Mandarić as Leicester manager on 22 November, signing a three and a half year contract. His departure, however, was met with negativity from Argyle fans.^[5][5] Holloway made history when he became the first Leicester manager in over 50 years to win his first league game in charge, beating Bristol City 2-0.^[6]

On 7 February 2008, in a build up to a match against Plymouth Argyle at the Walkers Stadium, chairman Paul Stapleton spoke negatively of Holloway for allowing several high-profile players to leave the club before joining Leicester. A total of five players left Plymouth in the January transfer window, which he claimed was all Holloway's fault.^[7] Holloway, stunned by the claims, had his lawyers look at the statements, while Mandarić accused Stapleton of "sour grapes" over Holloway's move to Leicester, saying Plymouth Argyle should be thankful for what he had achieved during his time there.^[8] Plymouth won the match 1-0 as Holloway's former charges came back to haunt him.^[9] Winning just nine out of 32 games, Leicester were relegated from the Championship on 4 May 2008.

On 23 May 2008, following the club's relegation, Holloway and Leicester City parted company by mutual consent. Reflecting on his time at Leicester, he said "Leicester City is a marvellous club and I am as devastated as anybody that this great club suffered relegation. I gave 100% to the cause but unfortunately we ran out of time. The fans here are a different class and deserve a lot, lot better. I'd like to wish everyone connected with Leicester City well for the future - the club will always remain close to my heart."^[10]

Blackpool

On 21 May 2009, it was reported that Holloway was set to be announced as the new manager of Blackpool following the departure of their caretaker manager Tony Parkes. The appointment was confirmed later the same day with Holloway signing a one-year contract with the Blackpool.^[11] His first league game in charge of the Seasiders was a 1-1 draw with his former club Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road on 8 August 2009, the opening day of the 2009-10 season.

Managerial stats

As of 16 March 2010.

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Bristol Rovers		13 May 1996	29 January 2001	247	90	70	87	36.43
Queens Park Rangers		26 February 2001	6 February 2006	252	100	81	71	39.68
Plymouth Argyle		28 June 2006	21 November 2007	71	28	23	20	39.43
Leicester City		22 November 2007	23 May 2008	32	9	8	15	28.12
Blackpool		21 May 2009	Present	41	15	11	15	36.59
Total				643	242	183	218	37.64

Honours

Player

• 1989–90: Third Division Champion (promotion to Second Division) - Bristol Rovers

Manager

• 2003–04: Second Division Runner Up (promotion to First Division) - Queens Park Rangers

Stress test

In June 2004, Holloway took part in the BBC series Stress Test. The documentary addressed the fits of rage which were disrupting Holloway's home life, with the help of psychologists and an anger management expert. Holloway said afterwards: "If I hadn't done that programme, I wouldn't be sitting here now. Before I did it, I believed that I was a person who was kind, considerate, and believed in free speech. The anger management expert showed me I was a jumped-up, obnoxious little git who wouldn't listen at home because of what happened at work. If I'd carried on the way I was, I would have destructed everything I had." As a result he changed his attitude, and painted Promotion, an abstract canvas in the style of Jackson Pollock which hangs in the lounge of the family home.^[12]

Personal life

Holloway met fellow Bristolian Kim when she was aged 14, and after marrying nursed her through Lymph cancer. The couple have four children: William, twins Eve and Chloe, and Harriet. The twins were born profoundly deaf, as both Ian and Kim had a gene which means that they were more likely to have deaf children. The doctors told them that there was only a remote possibility of any other children being deaf, but Harriet was also born deaf.

With three children in one family deaf, it has challenged Ian and Kim to get their children the best education. But the couple made the choice to put the children first, meaning that for the last three years of his QPR career, Holloway commuted daily from Bristol to London so the children could attend a deaf school in Bristol. They then moved to St Albans when the children were of secondary school age, for the same reason. Holloway has learned to communicate via sign language, and his quirky media-loving quotes have made him a high-profile campaigner on deaf issues and concerns.^[13]

Holloway is well-known for his many strange and bizarre comments in post-match interviews, which are often quoted in the national media. His creative use of metaphors has made him one of the most popular interviewees and one of the cult personalities in English football. In June 2005 a book of his quotes, "Let's Have Coffee: The Tao of Ian Holloway", was published; and in June 2006 he came 15th in a Time Out poll of funniest Londoners.^[12]

His autobiography, Ollie: The Autobiography of Ian Holloway, co-written with David Clayton, was first published in 2007, with an update in 2009. In August 2008 the Little Book of Ollie'isms was published, also co-written with David Clayton. Holloway also wrote the foreword for The Official Bristol Rovers Quiz Book, published in November 2008.

He has developed a keen interest in self sufficiency, to such an extent that he keeps chickens and has even built his own hen coops.

Bibliography

• Little Book of Ollie'isms (2008)
• Ollie: The Autobiography of Ian Holloway (2009)

Further reading

• Murply, Alex (1 June 2005). Jones, Richard; Faragher Steve. ed. Let's Have Coffee: The Tao of Ian Holloway. Bristol: Naked Guides Ltd. ISBN 0954417798. 

References

External links

• Ian Holloway career stats at Soccerbase
• Ian Holloway management career stats at Soccerbase

From Wikiquote

Ian Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English football manager.

Sourced quotes

• "Apparently it's my fault that the Titanic sank."
  - On criticism from Plymouth Argyle fans during Leicester City's match against Plymouth Argyle.^[1]

• "I love Blackpool. We're very similar. We both look better in the dark."
  - Reported on The Football League Show, BBC 1, 26 September 2009.^[2]

• “If you're a burglar, it's no good poncing about outside somebody's house, looking good with your swag bag ready. Just get in there, burgle them and come out. I don't advocate that obviously, it's just an analogy."^[3]

• "Why haven't they got cameras? The officials can speak to each other easily enough now. Why aren't we using laptops that are linked up and can give a decision in five seconds? A chimpanzee could do it - with not much training. We might as well go back to being cavemen, grab our girl by the hair, drag her into the cave whether she wants to come in or not because we may as well live in that age. We've come forward, haven't we?"^[4]

Quotes

• "He's six foot something, fit as a flea, good looking - he's got to have something wrong with him. Hopefully he's hung like a hamster - That would make us all feel better. Having said that, me missus has got a pet hamster at home, and his cock's massive." - talking about Cristiano Ronaldo.

• "To put it in gentleman's terms if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they're good looking and some weeks they're not the best. Our performance today would have been not the best looking bird but at least we got her in the taxi. She weren't the best looking lady we ended up taking home but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let's have a coffee"
  - on the "ugly" win against Chesterfield. This is perhaps Holloway's most famous quote.

• "It's like the film Men in Black. I walk around in a black suit, white shirt and black tie where I've had to flash my white light every now and again to erase some memories, but I feel we've got hold of the galaxy now. It's in our hands."
  - Holloway on QPR's financial situation.

• "When you're a manager it's a case of have suitcase will travel, and I certainly didn't want to travel with my trousers down."
  - October 2006

• "It was lucky that the linesman wasn't stood in front of me as I would have poked him with a stick to make sure he was awake."
  - Holloway states his opinion about the linesman's performance in a game against Bristol City.

• "I call us the Orange club - because our future's bright!"
  - on QPR's potential.

• "He's been out for a year and Richard Langley is still six months away from being Richard Langley, and I could do with a fully fit Richard Langley."
  - on midfielder Richard Langley's injury rehabilitation.

• "It's all very well having a great pianist playing but it's no good if you haven't got anyone to get the piano on the stage in the first place, otherwise the pianist would be standing there with no bloody piano to play."
  - after being criticised for using defensive players in midfield.

• "I am a football manager. I can't see into the future. Last year I thought I was going to Cornwall on my holidays but I ended up going to Lyme Regis."
  - asked whether QPR would be able to beat Manchester City.

• "You can say that strikers are very much like postmen: they have to get in and out as quick as they can before the dog starts to have a go."

• "I always say that scoring goals is like driving a car. When the striker is going for goal, he's pushing down that accelerator, so the rest of the team has to come down off that clutch. If the clutch and the accelerator are down at the same time, then you are going to have an accident."

• "I've got to knock that horrible smell out of my boys, because they smell of complacency."

• "I have such bad luck at the moment that if I fell in a barrel of boobs I'd come out sucking my thumb."

• "Every dog has its day, and today is woof day! Today I just want to bark!"
  - Holloway after securing promotion to the Championship."

• "Sometimes it's time for hen fap, and now is one of those times!."

• "When my wife first saw Marc for the first time, she said he was a fine specimen of a man. She says I have nothing to worry about, but I think she wants me to buy her a QPR shirt with his name on the back for Christmas."
  - on QPR's new Danish striker Marc Nygaard.

• "Paul Furlong is my vintage Rolls Royce and he cost me nothing. We polish him, look after him, and I have him fine tuned by my mechanics. We take good care of him because we have to drive him every day, not just save him for weddings."
  - on veteran striker Paul Furlong.

• "We need a big, ugly defender. If we had one of them we'd have dealt with County's first goal by taking out the ball, the player and the first three rows of seats in the stands."
  - after a defeat against Notts County.

• "You never count your chickens before they hatch. I used to keep parakeets and I never counted every egg thinking I would get all eight birds. You just hoped they came out of the nest box looking all right. I'm like a swan at the moment. I look fine on top of the water but under the water my little legs are going mad."

• "There was a spell in the second half when I took my heart off my sleeve and put it in my mouth."

• "I don't see the problem with footballers taking their shirts off after scoring a goal? They enjoy it and the young ladies enjoy it too. I suppose thats one of the main reasons women come to football games, to see the young men take their shirts off. Of course they'd have to go and watch another game because my lads are as ugly as sin."
  - about the new rule restricting footballers from removing their shirts during a match.

• "Sometimes when you aim for the stars, you hit the moon."

• "I believe in what I am doing totally and once people speak to me they do too - I could sell snow to the Eskimos."

• "We've got a good squad and we're going to cut our cloth accordingly, but I think the cloth that we've got could make some good soup, if that makes any sense".
  - Despite popular belief, Holloway was in fact misquoted as saying "soup" but actually said "suit".

• "I want to try and spread the support with my Bristol connection. Rovers are in the bottom division so why can't I try and convert some of them into Argyle fans? We're in the West Country so it's not that far away. Only two and a half hours away in a slow car, an hour and a half in a fast one - or 10 minutes in a rocket! As long as you aimed it right, you'd be down here really quickly. Don't land it on the pitch, though, because you'd ruin it!"

• "It was a bit cheeky wasn't it? But I don't think it was that bad. It would have been worse if he'd turned round and dropped the front of his shorts instead. I don't think there's anything wrong with a couple of butt cheeks personally. (...) If anybody's offended by seeing a backside, get real. Maybe they're just jealous that he's got a real nice tight one, with no cellulite or anything."
  - on Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton mooning Everton fans

• "Hasney's bust his hooter. He can smell round corners now."
  - on an injury sustained by central defender Hasney Aljofree

• ""Sir David Beckham? You're having a laugh. He's just a good footballer with a famous bird. Can you imagine if Posh was called Lady Beckham? We'd never hear the end of it!"
  - on rumours about a possible knighthood for David Beckham.

• "Have you ever seen The Incredibles? They have a a kid and he's just so quick, like 'WOOSH' and he's gone, and they call him 'Dash'.
  - on Scott Sinclair, then on loan at Argyle.

• "And I think Mr. Incredible looks like Iain Dowie.
  - on fellow manager Iain Dowie.

• "If I was in there I wouldn't try to be everybody's friend. I'd have to say 'Excuse me, hang on a minute, I think you're wrong there. Don't raise your voice at her like that, don't get like that. It's just an Oxo cube, we got it wrong and we're all in this together'. It's like the Witches of Eastwick. They need Jack Nicholson to come in and sort them right out."
  - on the bullying of Shilpa Shetty on Celebrity Big Brother 2007.

• "I've ridden a horse but I'm rubbish at it. I look like a crab sat on a horse with my hunched back. I've got rounded shoulders so I'm in all sorts of trouble and the bloody horse seems to know it as well! Many a time my wife's seen me in excruciating agony when I've gone down instead of going up - let's just say those bloody saddles are rather hard."
  - on riding horses.

• "There was a woman in it who was quite well-endowed and two boys who used to get drunk and have a fight - it had everything for me."
  - on Dukes Of Hazzard.^[5]

• "He is the oldest swinger in town but at this level he will add a touch of class."
  - on veteran midfielder Teddy Sheringham.

• "Toad of Toad Hall ?."
  - on then Chelsea manager Avram Grant.

• " He's a complete fruitcake, that bloke, isn't he? We've got to be careful with him, he's after the old crazy mantle and he's going to win it hands down."
  - on Stephen Ireland

Notes and references

1. ↑ Holloway Column, BBC Sport: Football (website), retrieved 15 February 2008, page now lapsed.
2. ↑ Reported on The Football League Show, BBC 1, 26 September 2009.
3. ↑ Charles, Chris (14 October 2009). Sport quotes of the week. BBC Spot. Retrieved on 2009-10-14.
4. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Quotez
5. ↑ Holloway column. BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2008-11-12.