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Your thoughts On: “Blackpool Legend Reveals What Swindon Town Fans Need to Know About Ian Holloway – And Shares a Surprising Message of Gratitude!”
Blackpool legend Brett Ormerod has shared his thoughts on Ian Holloway’s return to football – with the legendary Seasiders manager preparing to take full charge of his first Swindon Town game this weekend.
It’s great to see him back. Not only is he a fantastic manager, he’s one of the great characters of football.
There’s certain people who have that aura of not just being a good manager, but being an entertaining one.
We’d go in for a team meeting at 10am, and sometimes you wouldn’t finish until quarter to 12.
I think his bubbliness at times might’ve been mistaken for clowning about, but that was never Ian Holloway. He’s a very astute manager and a very clever person.
He knows his stuff. He’s got that charisma and personality that can bring the best out of players.
Football has missed him. When Blackpool were in the Prem, he was a big thing with his interviews and stuff – I think the whole country looked forward to hearing from him.
I’ve been asked many times what he’s like when he’s doing his team talks, and I’d say “he’s worse.”
His man management is up there with the best of them, and that’s massively important, even more so nowadays when you’re trying to give younger players the confidence to go out and play.
Brian Clough was very similar in terms of getting the best out of players, but he would knock them back down to earth, whereas Holloway has the opposite approach, he builds people up and finds a way of getting them to play for him.
Man management is about identifying which players need a kick up the backside at times, and those who go into their shell and need an arm around their shoulder.
He could offer the shot in the arm Swindon needs, and he’s shown what he’s about straight away. The game at the weekend against Gillingham, he was meant to be just a spectator, but by half time he was down pitchside, organising the team.
He looks like he’s itching to get back in, so I’m sure they would’ve had a really good week in training with him.
His impact at Blackpool was almost instant, it was pretty much a fairytale from the moment he walked through the door. He changed the mentality straight away, from hoping to just survive in the league to thinking ‘why not.’
To quote Oscar Wilde: “We’re all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
He took everyone by a whirlwind on his first day with a 4-3-3 formation and a style of play he’d learnt from watching Spanish football. It was like he had reinvented the wheel.He put that into us, along with the belief.
I remember him saying he’d get me back into the Premier League, and I sort of laughed out loud. My career seemed to be on the decline, but then I think I finished that year as second-top scorer and got the winner in the final.
I’m indebted to him for what he did for me, and what he did for Blackpool. He took everyone with him.
We beat Wigan 4-1 in the EFL Cup – we battered them, and that’s when everyone started to take notice. It was one of the best seasons of my career.
