Ex-QPRs: Martin Allen Wants Swindon Job...Holloway on Roles of Breacker, Penrice and Bulpin

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Wiltshire Gazette - Allen: I can take Town to the Championship
Exclusive By Jon Boyle
Martin Allen is desperate to become Swindon's new manager after Paul Sturrock quit, and declared: "I could take them up this year."
The 42-year-old former MK Dons, Brentford and Barnet boss - dubbed Mad Dog for his fiery character - is out of work after being sacked by Leicester City earlier this season.
Allen, who would bring former Town player Adrian Whitbread to the County Ground as his assistant, sees the Robins as an exciting proposition despite the club's cash problems.
The former West Ham midfelder, who has guided his teams to the play-offs for the past three seasons, said: "It's definitely a job I'm interested in. I'll be applying.
"They are three points off the play-offs with a game hand and I want to manage in the Championship.
"It's been done before at Swindon and who's to say it can't be done again?
"Once you've worked at Brentford under tight financial constraints like I did, you learn to get used to it.
"Which football clubs haven't got financial problems? That's life."
Allen and ex-Burnley boss Steve Cotterill are the early front-runners for the job.
But Cotterill said: "I don't comment on speculation. I only know what I've read in the papers."
Meanwhile Sturrock said of his return to Plymouth: "At Swindon, it's been very zany, getting promotion and then having four months of turmoil.
"It has been the most difficult of my career but the lure of Plymouth was too strong to turn down." Wiltshire


Plymouth Herald -FAMILY MATTERS AS OLLIE REUNITES BACKROOM BOYS
BY BILL ANDERSON
City boss Ian Holloway welcomed his football family to Leicester yesterday with the appointment of Tim Breacker, Des Bulpin and Gary Penrice to his coaching staff.

It is the same team he had at Plymouth. Breacker was in caretaker charge of Argyle for their 1-0 win at Sheffield United on the same day Holloway was winning at Bristol City.

So it has been an equally hectic time for Breacker, who said: "It has all happened very quickly.

"This time last week I was preparing the Plymouth team for the game against Sheffield United.

"Then, the next day, I was told I was free to come and join Ollie so I am delighted to be here.

"It is a bigger set-up at Leicester. Even just in terms of training facilities, it is another world.

"Good facilities are the icing on the cake, but it is up to the attitude of the players and they can be good even if it is on a public park.

"They can have all the facilities they want but if they haven't got the desire to go out and train properly then they are wasting their time.

"This is fantastic here, but you have to get the culture right and I know Ollie will be working hard on that."

Holloway wasted little time in getting the group together although another of his main men, Gary Penrice, has not yet arrived.

The City boss said: "Penrice is the most vital piece in the machinery.

"He is the cog that is going to unite us all, the one in charge of recruitment.

"He finds players for me, I go and watch them and then I make the final decision for the positions we want.

"He is the biggest piece in our jgsaw, then we have got Tim Breacker and Des Bulpin. I have known Des since I was at Bristol Rovers, he then went to Spurs with Gerry Francis and then when Gerry went to QPR I was there. He has worked all over the world and is a fantastic coach.

"Tim is fairly new to it, he was a player with QPR when I was there.

"He has a degree in sports science, he is my boffin and hopefully the rest of the staff will get used to what I do. I need to spread it around.

"If people hear me all the time they will get a headache so I need to share out what I give to people, it has to be little doses of the Holloway medicine." Plymouth Herald

Plymouth Herald WHO ARE HOLLOWAY'S SIDEKICKS?
City's new assistant manager is 42, was born in Bicester, Oxfordshire, and played for Luton Town, West Ham and QPR as a full-back before moving into a coaching role.

He started as an apprentice at Luton, and made 210 appearances for the Hatters. He is best remembered for scoring the winning goal at Derby County which kept Luton in the old First Division.

He joined West Ham for £600,000 in 1990 and made more than 200 league appearances over nine years before joining QPR. Two years later he retired and became reserve team coach before being named first team coach and assistant manager. He followed Ian Holloway to Plymouth.

New coach Bulpin was Ian Holloway's first addition to the backroom staff when he joined Plymouth Argyle in July last year. He is a FIFA qualified coach who has coached at Spurs, Stockport and QPR. It was at QPR that he worked with Gerry Francis, whom he followed to Spurs to become first team coach. At Spurs he told Peter Crouch, who was struggling as a YTS trainee, he would play for England. Bulpin has also worked in Singapore and with Uzbekistan's national team.

City coach and chief scout Penrice, 43, went to the same school in Bristol as Holloway. The striker played for Bristol Rovers, Watford, Aston Villa and QPR. He scored 54 goals in 188 games for Rovers before Watford paid £500,000 for him in 1989. After a year however, Villa bought him for £1m but a broken leg limited him to 20 appearances. He teamed up with Holloway at QPR in 1991 and scored 20 goals in 82 games before joining Watford in 1995. He finished his playing career at Rovers and became Holloway's assistant. They have been together at QPR as well. LEicester Mercury