fbpx
Connect with us

English Football League

Grimsby Town manager Ian Holloway dramatically resigns with immediate effect

Grimsby Town manager Ian Holloway resigns with immediate effect following yet another dismal defeat in midweek against Bradford City.

An overhead kick from Lee Novak put Bradford City in front at Blundell Park before Levi Sutton got a second on the verge of half time.

Harry Clifton hit back for the Mariners, but couldn’t provide his side enough spark to get a comeback, and now Grimsby slip to their 10th defeat of the league season.

Grimsby were quickest to settle and went close after 10 minutes when Luke Spokes sliced wide on the volley, while Montel Gibson also headed over.

The Mariners drop a place to 20th while Bradford climb to 18th in the League Two table, a point ahead of Grimsby and seven above the bottom two.

Ian Holloway wrote on social media on Wednesday morning: “To all the fans, It is with a heavy heart that I am announcing my resignation as manager of Grimsby Town Football Club.

“New wannabe owners are hovering over GTFC and John has told me he is selling his stake in the club. So it’s time for a fresh start across the board for this great club.

“As I said recently, I intend to be fully honest with you, the supporters. Contact was made by the new owners to me on several occasions before the takeover, which I felt was inappropriate, and told them as such. This is the key factor in my decision.

“Why? The relationship between the incoming new owners, board and manager is so so important. It needs to be strong for a club to succeed, and we got off on the wrong footing. Therefore, that relationship will be strained from the off, which is bad for the club.

“This is a club that, if everybody has its best interests at heart, can progress onwards and upwards. That is their challenge. That is their honour. I sincerely wish them all the best going forward and I implore them to communicate regularly and openly with the fans.

“For a myriad of reasons, on and off the pitch, it feels like we didn’t get a fair crack together, and I take me share of the blame too. I hoped for this to be a long, serious relationship but it hasn’t worked out that way, and that saddens me.

“I wish you every bit of success. The fans deserve it. God bless.”

Just a week ago, the Grimsby Town boss said he had no intention of leaving the club unless “told to” and called on the club’s board and prospective investors to stop “playing politics”.

Holloway, who posted his statement through a series of tweets, said: “Let me say, first and foremost, that I’m not going anywhere unless I’m told to.

“The love that you, the fans, have shown myself and my family since my arrival has exceeded even my highest expectations, on and off the pitch.

“However, of late, developments away from the football itself have made it increasingly difficult to work to full potential on a day-to-day basis and, most importantly, place this club on an honest, positive, front footing. This is as frustrating to me as much as any fan.”

He added: “We are where we are, but I’m not walking away from the fight.

“However, at the same time, I have been around long enough to know that you, the fans, need to know where I stand. And I stand with you.”

Despite the defeat, Olly was in a positive mood. Speaking on iFollow Mariners, he said: “I think from a coaching point of view we should have been alive for the second one, we can’t do a lot about the first one.

“They deliberately played it to Billy Clarke and we got done. Even if you get the first bit wrong where you’re not switched on to press it, it’s travelled 50 yards, and you’ve got to be aware of that and get there as a team.

“When he helped it round the corner, how come he wasn’t on that as well? And then he just lobbed it.

“A lot of teams would have been deflated by that, but we weren’t. I had to make some changes, I felt that helped us, got back in it, but in the end we didn’t have another goal in us.

“Plenty of positives around the place, great attitude. I thought Spokesy played really well. Obviously, another downer that Mattie Pollock has got a sore groin so we couldn’t keep the same team.

“But that’s the way it’s going. We’re just a little bit short up front at times.

Holloway added: “We’ve got to keep going, plenty of games left, and there were some very good signs. I thought we played better than we did on Saturday, but we won Saturday.

“I thought the balance of when to go forward and when to move it was a bit better, but we lost.”

As the Grimsby Town manager Ian Holloway dramatically resigns with immediate effect, we take a look back at some of memorable interviews whilst with the club, his rant about Project Big Picture was up there with one of the all time best…

He also gave a motivational speech to some school kids!

Fans reacted after seeing Grimsby Town manager dramatically resigns with immediate effect via his social media account…

@FplMariner: Bottled it

@wrigdog: Losing to Bradford is to be fair a low point for anyone, you’ve made the right choice.

@ironbru_net: But will you be getting your £500 back?

@AbladeRay: Great manager, great character, football needs you Ian, hope you get fixed up soon, good luck

Pete: I could see Holloway having to resign as Grimsby Town manager, especially with that form!

@AdummCroy: Said it from day one when you walked into the job. I saw what you did at Millwall. Gave you the benefit of the doubt. Hoped for the best for my club and you’ve now dropped us right in the shit just before the jan transfer window. Talk about trying to save face

@JonathanOxley25: Really sorry to see you go Ollie, thank you for being part of our club, gutted you’re going but understand your reasons. All the very best to you and your family

Jason: A shame to see Ian Holloway resigns as Grimsby Town manager, wanted it to work out so well for him as well

@mgell1s: Can you not blame the EU for this?

@HertsGTFC: I thought you said you where going to stand and fight @IanOllie7? I speak for myself but it feels like you’ve not given any new owner a chance either. Good luck stay safe but please don’t bad mouth us in the media as you’ll hurt the feelings of many of us.

Related Topics
Click to comment

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

More in English Football League