Warm Profile of QPR's Former Manager, Ian Holloway

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Much of it has been said in previous profiles and interviews, but still evokes the positive aspects of Ian Holloway.

Daily Mail -Football Pilgrim's progress on the Holloway road
By IVAN SPECK 3rd November 2006

Ian Holloway was late - and not just because he had forgotten the security code for the back door to Plymouth Argyle's offices.
One of his coaches was ill and he had taken the extra workload upon himself. He wasn't about to renege upon an appointment, though, so he went further and offered the opportunity to shadow him in the morning team meeting and on the training pitch.
It is the attitude of openness and consideration that enchants all those who meet this snapper dog of a Bristolian beloved for his way with words.
Holloway's quips are the stuff of football legend. There is no need to repeat any of them here because every day offers up new pearls of Hollowisdom.
"The biggest problem I've got down here in Plymouth is seagulls s****ing on my car," he offers. By way of illustration he points to a particularly large deposit and adds: "He must have been six foot four, the one that did that."
The team meeting is characterised by passion, commitment and an acceptance of guilt that he had missed out on giving his team one vital piece of information before Tuesday's 1-1 draw against Ipswich, which saw them into sixth place in the Championship.
He assesses Saturday's opponents at Home Park, Birmingham City, and dissects their team. Without divulging secrets, suffice it to say that Gary McSheffrey was described as "the Duracell bunny on drugs" and strike partner Cameron Jerome is the "tumble dryer".
Before the players left for the training pitch, Holloway conducted an open vote for the wearer of the "Joey Barton shorts" that he has had made in tribute to the Manchester City midfielder who showed his backside to the Everton fans recently. Striker Cherno Samba was less than enamoured with being the butt of the jokes throughout the session.
The atmosphere at Home Park, whether in the offices or on the pitch, has a warmth that is wholly of Holloway's making. The man is perpetual motion personified. He cannot sit still on the team coach - and every away day is a long trip from Plymouth. So much so that he has suggested getting a karaoke machine installed in the coach.
Do not think that the 43-year-old is just a flippant motivator, though. He is a deep thinker whose family life has given him a perspective for which he is grateful.
Of his four children, three - 17-year-old twins Chloe and Eve and 14-year-old Harriet - suffer from a congenital deafness. Their condition and their spirit have made him a better person, he says.
Holloway also learned humility when his wife Kim was diagnosed with cancer years ago. Thankfully, the illness has been overcome.
He said: "I was one of the nastiest people you could meet. I was so self-centred. But being made more aware of some people's problems broadened my horizons and made me a nicer person. I like myself now.
"Having deaf children is like doing a jigsaw puzzle without a picture on the box. But they have enhanced our lives. I wouldn't be where I am now without them showing me what life is all about."
Life now is about Devon, Plymouth, working for decent people.
Holloway saw the shallow side of football when he was placed on gardening leave by QPR earlier this year in spite of having taken the club into the Championship.
"I met Kenny Dalglish when I was totally disillusioned. He said: 'It's all about dignity. You kept it at Bristol Rovers and you've kept it now. You'll meet someone you want to work for. Don't let your enthusiasm for the game die off.' I didn't need the job at Plymouth. I was still stinging a bit from QPR. But halfway through the interview, I thought: 'I could work for these people'. And I started to get nervous and started swearing.
"If we went any further south than Plymouth, we'd get our toes wet. But should it matter where we are in the country? If we could get in the Premiership that would just be the start of things here.
"People speak to you here. In London you're a mad person if you speak to someone on the tube."
Ask Holloway for his opinion on all things football and he will offer it - from the heart. On matters West Ham and the possible takeover that could affect manager Alan Pardew's position: "This geezer who's going to buy the club is a complete lunatic for me.
"For him to come in and start talking about giving the job to somebody else when Alan Pardew has done what he has, the bloke is a lunatic. I don't care how many millions he's got. He cannot be real."
On David Beckham and a possible knighthood: "He's done fantastically well and been an ambassador for our country but does being a famous footballer and having a famous wife deserve a knighthood? There's a lot more people more deserving. Doctors, nurses. Maybe at the end of his career but why now?"
There is one thing Holloway cannot accept, however. The Bristol Rovers fanatic, who played for and managed in the blue half of Bristol, still won't tolerate the colour red.
"I'm never going to like red, I have to say, because of the Bristol City-Bristol Rovers thing. I don't like red pens, red seats, red cars. Even Ferraris in red. It's a bit strange.
"My wife cured that one Christmas, though. She bought some red underwear and that's the only thing I've ever liked."
A nutcase? Without doubt. But with a heart we should all cherish.
Daily Mail