Managerial Merry-Go-Round 2020/21

[Son of Cod]

Ian Holloway rumoured, where's that Gif GTFCfish ?

He's got the job. Oh dear Swindon. Hope I'm not right but you're now the next BELT to be.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Dear oh dear. Holloway confirmed until the end of the season . He’s not managed for 4 years!

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Curious Swindon would choose to wait until the day before the next game to fire Kennedy. Was always on the cards you’d think but surely should have done it the day after they lost midweek. Not sure how big the queue will be to work with that owner though.

Considering there was only a 2/3 hour delay between the announcements of Kennedy and Holloway I’d suggest that he was told on Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning

 

[PaulHaddock]

Tbf to him, when he arrived he got us playing some good football. However, he is a wanker. It will end in tears.

 

[Master D]

Swindon look prime to drop to the NL, you could see them there.

 

[Agombar stool]

Tbf to him, when he arrived he got us playing some good football. However, he is a wanker. It will end in tears.

This is what I want to hear. The final bit not so much. Talk to me about the good football bit?

 

[Grimsby Road]

This is what I want to hear. The final bit not so much. Talk to me about the good football bit?

I'm not quite as hated towards Holloway as some so i will give you a more balanced view ish .

He came in and promised the earth + invested 100k and constructed a relatively decent team of established league 2 players Billy Clarke from Bradford who i thought was good and a few others , I can't really remember who now but it was decent football for a brief spell .

The unravelling started around Covid and the release of key players due to the club thinking the season wouldn't pan out , once it was established it was he went on a more adventurous mission of signing anyone he thought had potential below conference South/North with potential , putting them all together as a mish mash and getting pumped a lot . His demeanour and interviews were unhinged at best ; I actually think he might have been mentally unwell at the time .

But the main issue Town fans had/have was the more murky goings on at that time , it became known that the then owner & Holloway (allegedly) were in bed with a convicted fraudster who wanted to 'invest' in the club ; this was outed by local media and both The owner bought out & Holloway running away very quickly having never invested 100k in the first place

We got relegated a few months later


Other Town fans might have a better timeline / bits to add but that's my recollection of sorts with more bits that could probably be added with more thought

 

[Cloudy]

I am of the opinion that Holloway suffered some serious mental health issues during Covid. He just couldn’t cope with lockdown, no supporters, his wife ( who has huge influence on him) not being allowed into the club.

His first few months he brought in some decent players and had Grimsby playing some good, front foot football. He had fans eating out his hands as he is a skilled manipulator. Covid struck, he went off his head, signed unknown dross from 3/4/5 levels below league 2. One player he signed was so bad the 1st team squad thought he must have won a raffle to train with them. His selections were, at best, bizarre, he spun a lot of untruths. To top it off he was part of the group who tried to bring a convicted fraudster into the club, many believe he was due to receive a very large amount, if the takeover went through.

Who knows what Swindon are getting, but with a temporary team in charge of Bignot, Gunning and Mildenhall I wonder what the fascination is of ex Grimsby managers and players? Only Mildenhall is looked back upon with any fondness

 

[PaulHaddock]

This is what I want to hear. The final bit not so much. Talk to me about the good football bit?

He arrived at the start of January 2020 and signed some decent footballers in Billy Clarke, Elliott Grandin, Josh Benson and Anthony Glennon. Upto COVID, he got us passing the ball well and scoring a lot more goals. It wasn’t perfect, as we also regularly got hammered but it was entertaining and there was certainly promise. When COVID hit, it all went to shit. His recruitment was questionable to say the least. Signed a load of non-league shite (literally NPL-standard players) and some older players clearly on their way down (Kyle Bennett, Bilel Mohsni , your Danny Rose ironically). Didn’t bother with pre-season and we played catch up for weeks, scraping through to Christmas where we’d managed 4 wins. He then left under a cloud a few days after saying he was definitely staying, citing moral differences between the incoming new owners. These are the facts.

The rumours: according to some sources, he had only joined on the proviso that he would receive a personal windfall/profit from player sales/a new stadium/any other dodgy dealings that previous owner Fenty was up to. Him walking was coincidentally around the same time that Fenty was rumbled for nearly allowing a convicted fraudster into the club. It was all very fishy. Someone also claimed that the previous January recruitment was down to him asking around his higher up mates who was any good, which I can honestly believe because the contrast between the January and summer recruitment was ridiculous.

He also got the club fined for playing a darts tournament during COVID restrictions. Also claimed he was putting in 100k of his own money to join the board. It materialised the actual figure was £500 (this may or may not be true, my memory of that period is locked away in a dark corner of my mind).

Edit: clearly been beaten to it but it shows how strongly people feel about that period. If he’s still at Swindon by Christmas, his Blundell Park experience will not be a pleasant one hopefully.

 

[Son of Cod]

This is what I want to hear. The final bit not so much. Talk to me about the good football bit?

He had and brought in some good players. Really got a tune out of Billy Clarke, James Hanson and Charles Vernam up top. Brought Josh Benson and Anthony Glennon in on loan from Burnley who both had superb loan spells. Brought in Elliott Grandin who was a bit of a luxury player but could quite clearly play at a level above L2. Also had some decent defenders and hardworking mids at the club in players like Mattie Pollock, Elliot Hewitt and Jake Hessenthaler.

He completely lost the plot once COVID happened though. He's universally despised now after the way he ultimately left us. People are gonna be baying for his blood when we come to you in December now. Nothing against Swindon but I hope he fails miserably and you get him out in time to stay up.

 

[Agombar stool]

The murky past is interesting, not least as we've got quite a few questionable characters that hang around the club.

And thanks Grimsby fans for your honest appraisals.

 

[Son of Cod]

Edit: clearly been beaten to it but it shows how strongly people feel about that period. If he’s still at Swindon by Christmas, his Blundell Park experience will not be a pleasant one hopefully.

We go there in December mate. They don't come to us until Good Friday.

 

[PaulHaddock]

We go there in December mate. They don't come to us until Good Friday.

Shame! Though we might have a few more fans at Swindon than normal if he is still there come then.

 

[Son of Cod]

Shame! Though we might have a few more fans at Swindon than normal if he is still there come then.

Already seen a few "wasn't gonna go but I am now" comments. Said I was never going again after that hideous 5-0 defeat in the rain that took about 5 hours to get to from London but I might actually go now.

 

[クレイグ]

"Shut yer mouth, Bill!"

 

[RavenBish]

Swindon aren’t really in a great position to attract anyone good at the moment so rolling the dice on a complete headcase is about as good a strategy as any

You do get the sense Holloway is just one of those managers that football left behind though, great during the Soccer AM banter era of football (your Martin Allens etc…) but the game’s moved past mind games and shithousing on bad pitches. Players are different as people now and the game’s moved on tactically and professionally

 

[Stocky]

Didn't Holloway just want to reach some milestone in terms of games managed in the FL or something?

He's like 8 games away or something.

Just using Swindon for that. Reality is nobody gives a fuck who's managed x amount of games if you were shit in most of the jobs. Perfect job for him reall being from the South West I suppose.

I never liked him. Never passed the Stocky test.

Up his own arse and thought he was hilarious. But that's enough about me.

 

[Luke Imp]

Not surprised Kennedy's tenure has ended, but thought he might get a few more games than he had although having said that, when you start talking about Navy SEALS in your post-match interview, those weird anecdotes usually happen towards the end of a job.

 

[OneDecentLester]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1849786682985398304

 

[Si Robin]

Didn't Holloway just want to reach some milestone in terms of games managed in the FL or something?

He's like 8 games away or something.

Just using Swindon for that. Reality is nobody gives a fuck who's managed x amount of games if you were shit in most of the jobs. Perfect job for him reall being from the South West I suppose.

I never liked him. Never passed the Stocky test.

Up his own arse and thought he was hilarious. But that's enough about me.

Needs 11 games for 1000 in management apparently.

 

[Boz]

Off the top of my head, the only manager who seems to be under pressure is Nigel Adkins at Tranmere, which seems crazy. I know they're not doing well, but it's a whole lot better than last season.
On the other hand, does Adkins seem like a Donald trump lawyer / A$AP Rocky type of manager when the new owners finally take over? Maybe I'm leaning into a stereotype, but i see them wanting to shoot up the table instantly. (Mr rocky would only be a very small minority owner anyway. People are only going on about it to provide clickbait that Rihanna's going to spend her spare time watching Tranmere.)
Karl Robinson, Salford (or his contacts) seemed to be chucking his name around a couple of weeks ago.
.

It is unclear from Mark Palios' recent pronouncements, who the next owners will be (more than one group interested apparently, not just those in the media spotlight) or when any takeover will actually go through. Palios and Adkins are friends and the suspicion is that the extended contract Adkins was given last year is a guarantee of some compensation if any new owner want to bring their own man in quickly. Some murmurings of Benitez as DOF, no idea how much credence you'd give them. Robinson would not be viewed with much enthusiasm by Rovers fans. We'll see.

 

[GEORGE]

Ian Holloway -- Rovers legend. Would we have him back = NO

 

[pontoonlew]

My opinion is probably slightly different to most Grimsby fans. We were excellent when he started and it’s one of the most excited I’ve ever been watching a Grimsby side pre-covid.

Then Covid hit and everything was an absolute catastrophe, the difference in opinion I have is I’m not sure how much was his fault. It wasn’t his fault we were the only club to gamble on the season not finishing by putting out a pathetic budget and the famous ‘covid clause’ in contracts, it wasn’t his fault Vernam wasn’t retained despite us having a 1 year option on him and it wasn’t his fault he lost his mind a bit.

He did make some awful decisions but I don’t believe he would’ve done that if it was a normal season. We were dreadful when we went down but Hurst took us even further from safety, not closer. Holloway obviously built that squad but I don’t think he’s a bad tactician or motivator.

What I would say is he grossly underestimated the quality of the league, even if the players signed were with a tight budget in mind, there’s no excuse for signing Jackson Jr, Gibson or Mohsni.

4 years is a long time out, he might be an okay short term fix but if he hasn’t recovered from his obvious issues with us then you’re in serious bother.

 

[GTFCfish]

It’s a shame it ended so bad for Holloway here because as alluded to above he had us playing great football and also he was great in the community regularly turning up at peoples weddings, schools and stuff etc.
Then we as a club, not just him, gambled on the Covid season not finishing and slashed the budget and suddenly the season was carrying in and we were in the shit.
What pissed me off the most with him is that you cannot unfortunately trust a word that he says.

 

[Limerick Mariner]

Sorry to be imparting more of a downer for STFC fans; in the early part of his tenure he had Anthony Limbrick, now at Peterborough Academy, there as coach, who was then sacked as part of the COVID cost cutting. He’d done a decent job after the Michael Jolly sacking, with a very limited squad, and had just turned a run of defeats into a little unbeaten run. Holloway was able to attract some decent loan players in the Jan window. That certainly lifted the club.

Everything after Limbrick left was a chaotic disaster.

I hope Bignot has changed since his GTFC time, because otherwise the players may as well take instruction from a box of frogs. Tactical randomness got us a couple if shock wins but player power got him removed as manager.

This combination will be watched with interest by GY fans.

 

[Cloudy]

Sorry to be imparting more of a downer for STFC fans; in the early part of his tenure he had Anthony Limbrick, now at Peterborough Academy, there as coach, who was then sacked as part of the COVID cost cutting. He’d done a decent job after the Michael Jolly sacking, with a very limited squad, and had just turned a run of defeats into a little unbeaten run. Holloway was able to attract some decent loan players in the Jan window. That certainly lifted the club.

Everything after Limbrick left was a chaotic disaster.

I hope Bignot has changed since his GTFC time, because otherwise the players may as well take instruction from a box of frogs. Tactical randomness got us a couple if shock wins but player power got him removed as manager.

This combination will be watched with interest by GY fans.

Not sure if it was public knowledge but Holloway ‘insisted’ that Limerick was released from his contract, claiming he couldn’t work with him. Holloway had then publically praised Anthony, and expressed his disappointment at his release.

You simply cannot believe a word Holloway says

 

[Optipez]

Swindon look prime to drop to the NL, you could see them there.

I thought both them and Colchester have been playing relegation roulette for a few years. It really is the classic way to go down. Club stagnating, owners cut down funding but still expect managers to over perform, sack them and just go into a spiral of decline.
Holloway looks a proper throw of the dice in a time of stats based club management.

 

[Son of Cod]

My opinion is probably slightly different to most Grimsby fans. We were excellent when he started and it’s one of the most excited I’ve ever been watching a Grimsby side pre-covid.

Then Covid hit and everything was an absolute catastrophe, the difference in opinion I have is I’m not sure how much was his fault. It wasn’t his fault we were the only club to gamble on the season not finishing by putting out a pathetic budget and the famous ‘covid clause’ in contracts, it wasn’t his fault Vernam wasn’t retained despite us having a 1 year option on him and it wasn’t his fault he lost his mind a bit.

He did make some awful decisions but I don’t believe he would’ve done that if it was a normal season. We were dreadful when we went down but Hurst took us even further from safety, not closer. Holloway obviously built that squad but I don’t think he’s a bad tactician or motivator.

What I would say is he grossly underestimated the quality of the league, even if the players signed were with a tight budget in mind, there’s no excuse for signing Jackson Jr, Gibson or Mohsni.

4 years is a long time out, he might be an okay short term fix but if he hasn’t recovered from his obvious issues with us then you’re in serious bother.

I don't agree that he couldn't have stopped Vernam from going. He was the one that said it wasn't fair on the rest of the squad to agree to the terms of the deal. We'll never know but I reckon if he'd have his put foot down, Fenty would have honoured the trigger clause.

One thing that Holloway was most definitely guilty of was trying to get us to play out from the back on a cabbage patch of a pitch that had been neglected after we furloughed groundstaff. Utter madness.

I'm absolutely not having this Hurst was just as bad nonsense either. Said it so many times but we were far better under Hurst once he got his players drilled. The season goes on for just a few more weeks and Scunny go down in our place and we never beat Wrexham 5-4. If the Hurst side at the end of the season starts from day one then we finish midtable comfortably.

 

[chief]

Kicking myself, was supposed to bet on Swindon to go down at the start of the season and forgot.

 

[BlackHaddock]

Good Luck Swindon, you are going to need every bit you can get.

I will not add to the already overloaded Holloway saga at Grimsby, but he certainly 'lost the plot' and talked absolute tosh during Covid.