Ian Holloway is one of the big personalities of English football, and he has always been (very) outspoken.
He played as a midfielder in his playing days, and the 57-year-old has managed eight football clubs, including Blackpool, Crystal Palace and QPR.
We remember him being quoted, when one of his players had been concussed and was on the sideline, the coaches told Ian he didn’t know who he was.
So Ian said tell him he’s Pele and get him back into the game.
That quote is up there with Sir Bobby Robson’s famous comment – “I would have given my right arm to have been a pianist.”
🙂
Ian has had a very long career in football, and we remember the interview he had with Rafa Benitez, just before we started in the Championship – it was one of the best interviews I have seen – manager to manager.
Of course, in the first two games we lost each of them to Fulham away and Huddersfield Town at home.
But in the next 15 league games, we won 13 of them and lost only one.
Ian Holloway – outspoken Grimsby Town manager
Get the Government to control football – not American owners
Holloway now manages League Two Grimsby Town and has been speaking to Grimsby Live, about the recent Project Big Picture that will alter English football dramatically and for the worse – if it is ever implemented.
Here’s some of what he said:
“What are Liverpool and Manchester United thinking? How selfish are you? Breaks my heart to say it, I don’t get it.”
“I listened to the Government’s man who’s in charge of it all, and at last he’s started to threaten them and say we’re going to have to step in.”
“I think they need to step in right now and tell them what we want, not what you think is right. Who are you to suggest that?”
“I think governance is absolutely vital right now, because money is going out of the game left, right and centre, billions and billions of pounds buying footballers, and it’s going out the game.”
“The game needs it, put it back in the game, get the Government to control our game and make sure the people at the bottom still have a club.”
“Greed is disgusting, and that’s what I’m seeing everywhere. It’s absolutely vile, and I hate it, so step in. Go and tell the top clubs that you can’t do that, please.”
“Somebody needs to.”
“Why do they need two less teams in the top flight? Bit of a threat are they? Not where you want to be in the league at the moment are you?”
“You should be under threat, the game doesn’t belong to you. The club might, but for how long? The game belongs to people in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.”
“It belongs to us.”
“Every community deserves it, and you’re just at the top of it, so who do you think you are?”
“Let’s make football strong and divvy it up fairly from top to bottom.”
Some excellent comments there from Ian.
Football is for the fans – not for two Billionaire American owners of Liverpool and Manchester United who want to reshape English football for their financial benefit.
There’s no way this should ever be allowed to happen.
But we do like the fact that EFL clubs need to be helped financially in some way, otherwise too many of them will go out of business.
We cannot let that happen either.
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25 comments so far
Geordie crappa
Oct 13, 2020 at 12:50 PM
Comment #1Holloway..
Outspoken, honest and right.
Tsunki
Oct 13, 2020 at 12:59 PM
Comment #2It doesn’t need the rich clubs to hold a gun to the games head – the leagues should have long ago sorted out support for the lower clubs who man the divisions that these big clubs are happy to be at the top of. These teams regularly chuck a weekly wage at elite players the sum of some of the smaller club’s annual turnover. It’s been unjust and obscene for a good while and this natural progression that they see it as is a further breaking up of the spirit of football as a sport.
Tsunki
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:03 PM
Comment #3It may all very well come to nought but the very fact that the idea is being mooted and publicised is proof enough they are dead keen on jacking up the business of football entertainment. I hope this gets shot down in flames and explodes under the depths of the deepest ocean.
Great White Hunter
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:08 PM
Comment #4If this Project Greed gets the thumbs up that me finished with football for good. I,ve lived and breathed the game since I could walk, but that will be the end game for me ! Within 5 years the game at grass roots level will die as the town,clubs the kids support will just be a nothing club, that will never progress or win a cup,trophy in their history etc…. the whole lots stinks of greed, corruption and deceit.
ScoopSouthAfrica
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:09 PM
Comment #5Not that I agree with the Project Big Picture leakage/proposal/cartel dvelopment/etc……
But the criteria they are using is in my opinion rubbish, if you take the amount of seasons each team has had in the EPL it reads like this:-
Arsenal 27
Chelsea 27
Everton 27
Liverpool 27
Man Utd 27
Spurs 27
Aston Villa 25
Newcastle 21
West Ham 19
Man City 18
Southampton 16
So Newcastle are the eighth longest EPL member in number of Seasons with Man City 10 and Southampton 11.
However I still abhor the attempt of RIck Parry amongst others to get this off the ground. Ar******s.
Paul141726
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:09 PM
Comment #6Someone, or a group of someones need to sit down and provide lower leagues the funding to stay viable and in business. How? I don’t know, I’m just an American who enjoys watching ANY games that are available to me.
But this blackmail instituted by the Bindippers with the tacit approval of their lapdog toadies (the Glazers) should be put into the porcelain convenience and FLUSHED.
Last comment —- hey FSG, this English game must NOT be turned into a reflection of what you and other professional sports team owners in the USA prefer. OMG, I do hate the greed and avarice show by them, under the guise of helping those less fortunate.
Optimistic prime
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:12 PM
Comment #7Clubs in huge debt shouldn’t be allowed to dictate league policy.
Leaving the inmates in charge of the asylum springs to mind.
Theyre desperate for this to go through because of the huge debts they have through chasing trophies.
They’ve bought titles and expect all other clubs to foot the bill.
Vask
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:15 PM
Comment #8Well said Ian.
Let’s just ban Americans from having any influence over what is a quintessentially a very English game. Or if we must have Americans let’s make a deal where we force them to replace baseball with rounders, grid iron football with rugby league and basketball with chucking scrumpled up paper at an office bin. See how they like it.
lochinvar
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:15 PM
Comment #9If the Americans get their way you will see Donald Trump at Old Trafford.
R.i.P. Man Ure.
lochinvar
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:16 PM
Comment #10Anyone inclined to list the date of year of formation of say the top 20clubs who were in the original Division 1.
Curious
Vask
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:17 PM
Comment #11Scoop
I saw that the other day but I’m not sure the Newcastle stat is correct. We have only had three seasons out of the top flight since the premier League was invented. So by my reckoning we should have had 24 seasons in the PL. I reckon some makem has been tampering with wiki.
Vask
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:19 PM
Comment #12Why don’t we just put a transfer ban on the top six and then we can get them to use their collective budget for one season to rescue the EFL?
Vask
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:20 PM
Comment #1314 votes to six on that surely.
Rotonda heights
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:20 PM
Comment #14So no issue with pif buying one of the top 6. It does really seem to be that cut and dried now.
Kevin Vegan
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:21 PM
Comment #15Rotunda
Who said that?
ScoopSouthAfrica
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:22 PM
Comment #16Vask… I stand corrected if you are right, however still 8th position.
Optimistic prime
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:22 PM
Comment #17We should handicap clubs to make it a more level playing field.
Every £50m in debt your club is you’re deducted 3 points at the start of each season.
lesh
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:23 PM
Comment #18Essex
An open letter calling for a herd immunity approach to Covid was recently issued and named ‘The Great Barrington Declaration’.
It was said to have been signed by more than 15k scientists and specialists.
However, Sky did some analysis of the signatories and found one who’d signed himself as ‘Mongolian Khoomi Singing’.
Was that you perchance?
😉
lesh
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:26 PM
Comment #19Vask
If you’re looking to votes to block Project Greed [14 votes to six on that surely], abstentions’ll tell the real story.
Optimistic prime
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:33 PM
Comment #20Chris Sutton on 5 live
Speaking directly about Newcastle, he stated that the top six simply wouldn’t allow the takeover to happen, as our prospective owners have the financial means to actually challenge them
Nailed it
Optimistic prime
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:35 PM
Comment #21If we deducted 3 pts for every 50m the bindippers are in debt next season theyd start on -24 points.
Seems fair to me.
Novocastrian66
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:36 PM
Comment #22Totenham’s deal with the Bank of England should come under some level of scrutiny. The lender of last resort funding a football club. Is this not insolvency? How does this fit in to FFP rules?
Rotonda heights
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:37 PM
Comment #23Kv
Nobody has actually said that but the implications are that the top 6 are ”untouchable” while the rest have to doff their caps in subservience.
giimps
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:40 PM
Comment #24Chelski owe Abramovic nearly 1 billion, they wont be in the top 6 for long going into the season -57 points
Rotonda heights
Oct 13, 2020 at 1:41 PM
Comment #25Novo
Exactly. The O + D’s test is meant to be for fiscally solvent people, not clubs who have got massive overdrafts.