Grimsby Town fans believe Ian Holloway’s time at the club could be a cautionary tale as he takes over as the new manager of Swindon Town.

Holloway has had a long and largely successful career as a manager, having nine stints with eight clubs before joining Swindon. However, he had been out of the game for 1,406 days before arriving at The Nigel Eady County Ground and his time at Grimsby was his first ever role in the fourth tier.

The Adver asked Chris Mills from View From The Findus about how Holloway’s stint with Grimsby had gone and how that might translate to Swindon.

What was the reaction among fans when he got the Grimsby job?

Naturally when he was first appointed Grimsby manager the entirety of the fanbase was in disbelief and awe. He had such a proven track record in the game and we couldn’t quite believe or understand why he wanted to manage our club. He said all the right things at all the right times and his infectious personality and inspiring monologues united the whole community, let alone the squad of players. And then when results started to follow in his first few months in charge it all felt too good to be true. And so it turned out to be.

How do you look back on his time with the club?

The one caveat and asterisk that must come with all of these answers is Covid. It completely changed the football landscape and would go on to define Holloway’s era at Grimsby. Naturally, when things started well for him and the team, he quickly galvanised the fanbase and had a lot of adulation. But sadly the season after Covid hit, when he didn’t have the supporters at games to help encourage and inspire the players, the wheels started to fall off and that is when his true colours were shown. That is the Holloway Grimsby supporters remember with disdain. It was his blind loyalty to the then-owner and the universally disliked John Fenty that also didn’t sit right with a lot of fans and when our new owners were coming into the picture, Holloway seemed oddly suspicious of them despite them being a lot more genuine than Fenty. He resigned shortly after citing that as a reason but it felt as if he was very much clutching at straws by that point. 

What was the football like during his spell in charge?

The football was surprisingly basic, on the surface of things anyway. His big thing was diagonals. He liked us to switch play a lot and to try and move the opposition around the pitch. More often than not it was relatively effective at League Two level. But beyond that and from what we’ve since learnt from some of the players, it seems he didn’t care too much for training sessions and tactics. He was more of a motivator and came to life on match days.

How did he cope with managing a team that was towards the bottom of League Two?

He coped well at first. He brought in some shrewd loan signings but by his own admission had never seen any of them play prior. He had contacts higher up the game he trusted and we had a few young lads from Burnley that made an instant impact. But it seemed those contacts dried up pretty quickly and the gambles he started to take on unknown talent, particularly post-Covid when the budget was tighter, really didn’t pay off. It also seemed some of the methods that had brought him success earlier in his career were faltering and he either didn’t understand why or didn’t want to admit he was out of touch or incapable of turning things around.

How do you think he will fare at Swindon?

I was very surprised when he was appointed at Swindon as he looked analogue in a digital age by the end of his Grimsby tenure and after so much time had passed since I assumed he was effectively retired. But I do find it odd with the parallels between our ex-owner and Swindon’s current - both questionable characters seemingly rolling the dice one last time in a desperate attempt to get the fans onboard. And therefore I’m struggling to muster up the enthusiasm to think it will pan out any different at Swindon. Though having fans in the ground he can inspire and orchestrate again might be a redeeming factor.