Ex-QPR Manager Ian Holloway on Signing Players for Plymouth & being "at a place where I'm going to be supported (by the board)"

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This is Plymouth ARGYLE MAKE RECORD BID 05 January 2007
Plymouth Argyle could be about to break their club record transfer fee.Manager Ian Holloway has confirmed the Championship outfit have made substantial offers for two players with the opening of the January transfer window.
One is for a striker, although Holloway would not comment on whether that was for Oldham Athletic's 17-goal top scorer Chris Porter.
The second offer is for a 'utility player', believed to be Cheltenham Town's versatile full-back or midfielder Brian Wilson.
Wilson has rejected a new deal with the Robins and, as his current contract ends in June, he has been put on the transfer list with immediate effect.
He will be 24 in May and that means he could leave Cheltenham in the summer for no fee.
Wilson, who was signed from Stoke City for £50,000 in March 2004, can play both full-back positions and on either side of midfield.
Holloway saw Cheltenham draw 1-1 with Crewe Alexandra at Whaddon Road on Tuesday.
The Pilgrims' boss has also been linked with Crewe's talented 19-year-old defender or midfielder Billy Jones, who is also on the transfer list.
Like Wilson, he has snubbed the offer of a new deal and can leave his club in the summer.
Holloway revealed one of Argyle's bids had been rejected, but he confirmed they had not lost interest in that player.
And when he was asked if the two offers the Pilgrims had made were substantial ones, he was unequivocal in his response.
Holloway said: "They blow the spots off anything I have ever spent on anybody before so, yes, I would say they are substantial.
"Whether they will be accepted or not who knows, but I couldn't be happier really because I believe I'm at a place where I'm going to be supported (by the board of directors).
"They like how calculated I am and the fact that I don't panic and I take my time and try to get people right.
"They also know I can enthuse with the best of them."
Argyle's record transfer fee is £300,000, which they paid to Port Vale for defender Peter Swan in 1994.
Holloway said: "We have put written offers in for two people but I can't tell you who they are or what they are.
"It's a very stressful time for managers because you don't know what you have got and whether you can get it.
"All of a sudden, you get a few injuries and the picture might change again.
"We (Argyle) have had some problems in the past, geographically, about people wanting to come here, so that's another added worry for me.
"But the minute I can speak to certain people, I don't think it will be a worry."
He added: "One of the offers has been knocked back, and we might be revisiting it. The other one I'm waiting on. In the meantime, I'm still gathering some information.
"I know it sounds a bit cloak and dagger, but it's not really. I'm trying to bring some new players in. A striker, I believe, is a priority."
Holloway has enjoyed considerable success in the past at taking forwards from the lower leagues and selling them for massive transfer fees, such as Nathan Ellington and Barry Hayles, now playing for Argyle.
But he would not be drawn on whether he wanted to add 23-year-old Porter to his squad.
Holloway said: "I wouldn't tell you if I had because I don't give the names out of the people I'm going for.
"You can speculate all you like, but when Ian Holloway says he has done something he has normally done it.
"The last thing I'm going to do is tell anybody out there who I think is a good player, particularly a centre-forward, because normally I get them right. I'm not being arrogant. It's a fact."
Holloway has already signed three strikers for Argyle - Hayles, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and Cherno Samba.
He added: "I think our fans could tell me where the problems are because they are not stupid.
"What I have got to try to do, with my set-up, is make sure we don't make any mistakes because you are only ever judged on who you sign.
"And if you get desperate you can make mistakes."
Meanwhile, with the opening of the transfer window, two trialists have been training with Argyle this week.
One of them is 21-year-old defender Kamil Zayatte from French top division club Racing Club de Lens.
The 6ft 1in centre-back comes from Guinea and has made only one appearance for Lens this season, as a late substitute in a 3-1 win away to Paris St Germain on November 5.
The other is a Hungarian midfielder, but Holloway would not confirm his identity.
"I would rather not at the moment, because he was very impressive," said the Pilgrims' boss.
"I have got to decide by Monday what I'm doing, but I have got lots of irons in different fires."
Holloway has planned for more trialists to spend some time at Home Park during the transfer window.
He said: "We have got a whole stream of them. Penny (Argyle chief scout Gary Penrice) has been working hard and I need to see them. That will be ongoing." This is Plymouth