Flashback 7 Years
QPR OFFICIAL SITE - November 11, 2016
‘Ollie’ returns to Loftus Road on two-and-a-half year deal ...
Ian Holloway returns to Loftus Road as new QPR manager
53-year-old signs a two-and-a-half year deal
Holloway back in W12 after 10-years
QPR have appointed Ian Holloway as the club’s new manager.
The 53-year-old has put pen to paper on a two-and-a-half year contract at Loftus Road, returning to the club he served as both a player and a manager with great distinction.
Holloway, of course, played for five years in W12, before spending five years as manager, leading QPR from League One to the Championship in 2004.
He has since enjoyed promotions from the Championship to the Premier League with both Blackpool in 2010 and Crystal Palace just three years ago.
Speaking exclusively to
www.qpr.co.uk, he expressed his excitement and pride about returning to ‘his club’, over 10 years on from his last spell as Rangers boss.
“I feel honoured, privileged and proud,” said Holloway, “It's a huge moment for me and I am delighted to be back here.
“I feel this is the right time for me. I feel like I'm back home now and I can't wait to get started.”
He added: “I care deeply for this football club and I want to help Les, Lee and our wonderful owners create something we can all be proud of.
“Does anyone know this club better than me? Probably not. Has it changed much? Maybe. But I know what it means to everyone out there.
“People would die for this club – and I want our players to show that in their performance, and our fans to show them that they care about the players as much as I will do as their manager.
“My job is to try and help this squad improve and create an environment that the players can succeed in, especially at Loftus Road, where the fans love to see players express themselves.
“I want to try and galvanise this squad and make my owners smile. Hopefully this is the start of something here.”
Director of Football, Les Ferdinand, welcomed Holloway’s arrival, commenting: “It’s an exciting appointment for the football club and one I am sure the supporters will fully embrace.
“Ian is QPR through and through and knows both what it takes and what it means to manage this club.
“He knows the club inside-out, but more importantly than that, he knows the Championship inside-out. He’s managed hundreds of games at this level and has enjoyed great success too.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have him on board.”
A further announcement regarding Holloway’s backroom staff will be made in due course.
In the meantime, welcome back, Ollie!
Read more at
www.qpr.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/ian-holloway-appointed-qpr-manager-3412596.aspx#q5IquLiDsEIpZ9TS.99[/blockquote]www.qpr.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/ian-holloway-appointed-qpr-manager-3412596.aspxGUARDIAN
QPR confirm appointment of Ian Holloway as new manager
• 53-year-old returns to Loftus Road to replace Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink
• ‘I feel like I’m back home now and I can’t wait to get started’
Press Association
Fri 11 Nov 2016 13.30 EST
Ian Holloway spent five years as manager at Loftus Road in his first spell. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
Ian Holloway has returned to Queens Park Rangers for a second spell as manager. The 53-year-old, who also made more than 150 appearances as a player at Loftus Road, has agreed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the west London club.
He replaces Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, who was sacked last week with Rangers lying 17th in the Championship.
Holloway said: “I feel honoured, privileged and proud. It’s a huge moment for me and I am delighted to be back here.
“ I feel this is the right time for me. I feel like I’m back home now and I can’t wait to get started.
“ I care deeply for this football club and I want to help Les [Ferdinand, director of football], Lee [Hoos, chief executive] and our wonderful owners create something we can all be proud of.
“Does anyone know this club better than me? Probably not. Has it changed much? Maybe. But I know what it means to everyone out there.
“People would die for this club - and I want our players to show that in their performance, and our fans to show them that they care about the players as much as I will do as their manager.
“My job is to try and help this squad improve and create an environment that the players can succeed in, especially at Loftus Road, where the fans love to see players express themselves.
“I want to try and galvanise this squad and make my owners smile. Hopefully this is the start of something here.”
QPR FC (@qprfc)
✍ ‘Ollie’ returns to the club he served as both a player and manager with great distinction:
t.co/viLHbLFv4Z #OlliesBack pic.twitter.com/NUOj8Tt1By
November 11, 2016
Rangers were also linked with the Birmingham manager, Gary Rowett, and Tim Sherwood, who thios week became director of football at Swindon.
Instead they turned to Holloway, who spent five years in charge of Rangers during a turbulent spell when they went into administration and were relegated to League One. He remains a popular figure at the club after guiding them to the play-off final in 2003 and to promotion back to the Championship the following year.
Holloway left in 2006 and has since led Blackpool and Crystal Palace to promotion to the Premier League.
But he has been out of management since a disappointing spell in charge at Millwall was brought to an end in March 2015.
www.theguardian.com/football/2016/nov/11/qpr-ian-holloway-new-manager
INDEPENDENT
Ian Holloway, and what awaits him back at Loftus RoadHolloway has been around English football since leaving in 2006 but hs ability to get teams promoted from the Championship has swung him the job at Loftus Road
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Millwall manager Ian Holloway believes he will bring Premier League football to The Den Getty
When Ian Holloway last left the Queens Park Rangers job, almost 11 years ago, they were 15th in the Championship, more worried about the bottom end of the table than the top. This weekend he is back at Loftus Road with the club slightly worse off, in 17th.
But while the club’s position, and their ground itself, remain stubbornly the same, that does not mean that nothing has happened in the last 10 years just off the Uxbridge Road. It has been a tumultuous time, in the boardroom, the dug-out and on the pitch. Gianni Paladini gave way to Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, who were replaced by Lakshmi Mittal and Tony Fernandes. There have been 14 managers between the two Holloway spells, including two spells each for Neil Warnock, Mick Harford and Gareth Ainsworth.
And of course, in the recent past, there have been two promotions to the Premier League and two relegations back down, the yo-yo spell for which the club is still paying a price.
Holloway announced as new QPR manager
What Holloway inherits, then, is a club which has come down from its era of excessive spending but now finds that too many other teams in the Championship are doing exactly that. Just as QPR rediscover financial sanity, the Championship is more financially overheated than it has ever been.
This is a league now scattered with £10million players and £50,000 per week salaries. Newcastle United, Norwich City and Brighton pay Premier League money in their desperation to get there. The only two QPR players still earning that much, Steven Caulker and Sandro, are there because the club could not move them. QPR’s new wage ceiling, of £20,000 per week, is very prudent. But prudence does not win you promotion.
This is a club, ultimately, with no margin for error any more. QPR are now run on such a tight budget that they are only minor players in the modern Championship. Their signings have to be either unknown bargains from abroad or picks they trust from the lower leagues. The club worked so hard this summer to bring in players who would improve them while improving themselves, but have been hit by awful luck. The two most promising of them, Yeni Ngbakoto and Ariel Borysiuk, have started just 10 Championship games between them this season, because of a combination of injuries and bereavement.
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Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink worked the players hard but they could never put a run together. The only time they won two straight this season was their first and second matches, back in early August. There is some potential in this squad, but for them to put a run together into the play-offs, which is what they hope for, they need a spark.
Which is why the club have turned to Holloway, an expert in getting Championship teams to punch above their weight. He took Blackpool into the Premier League in 2010 and Crystal Palace in 2013, both via the play-offs, after finishing sixth with Blackpool and fifth with Palace. Sixth is a long way away from where Rangers are now but it only takes a good run, some energy and confidence to get up into the play-offs.
Of course, Holloway lasted just less than a year at Palace, and just more than a year in his last job, at Millwall. Building a side, as he did in his first spell at Loftus Road, is so difficult now in the frantic panicky gamblers’ Championship. But Rangers need something different again if they are to leapfrog bigger spending sides and get back into the Premier League. It is unlikely, at best, but for Holloway the challenge has always been part of the fun.
Nov 12, 2016 at 5:12am
Co-Chairman Tony Fernandes Facebook
Tony FernandesMet many managers in my time. Never someone like Ian Holloway. A manager who wants to come for all the right reasons.
Passion , love for the club love for the fans . He breathes QPR. Been criticised for many things and rightly so but here's hoping.
Money can't buy passion and love. Ian holloway represents something that I though was dying in football.
He has brought back faith to me that football is still about passion first and not just money.
Many will say Ian will not take us forward due to old school methods. Wrong. He's as astute as anyone I have met.
Has played great great football knows so much about tactics ,analysis formations. Big personality. Big heart. Welcome home Ollie.
SKY
Ian Holloway
Football Expert
Ian Holloway: Why I couldn't say no to QPR return
Last Updated: 12/11/16 8:41am
Ian Holloway is leaving Sky Sports to take the QPR job
If this is a dream - then please don't wake me up, my little heart will break.
I remember when I signed my contract with Sky Sports, I told my boss Gary Hughes: "If QPR ever come calling for me, Gary, then sorry, I'm going."
And here we are. QPR did call and - 10 years after leaving the club - I'm back home.
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On Monday, I woke up expecting a normal day but little did I know my life was about to change.
I received a call saying Tony Fernandes was interested in talking to me, to see if I had any interest in the job. My heart started beating faster. Was this really happening?
An hour later, I spoke to Tony and was bowled over by his enthusiasm for the club.
It was a very emotional phone call.
I spoke about the club from the heart and he was on my wavelength very quickly. Despite a couple of bumps in the road, he's still got the desire and love needed to take this club forward.
Within a couple of hours, Les Ferdinand and CEO Lee Hoos came shooting across the M4 to speak to me at my home. Whatever I said during the meeting must have struck a chord with them, as luckily for me on Thursday, I got the call saying I was the man for the job.
I'll never forget that moment.
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It had been an honour to serve QPR for 10 years of my life, but to be given another opportunity working with people who have been my team-mates through the years - like Les and Andy Sinton, who is the club ambassador - is just amazing.
Barack Obama used the analogy of a relay runner to describe his tenure as US President and I can totally relate to that.
I'm delighted to pick up the QPR baton and run with it. I'm going to run as hard as I can and carry it with immense pride and try to make a difference.
I used to take penalties at Bristol Rovers because I didn't trust anyone else to care like I did. I feel like that about this job.
I've painted a picture in my brain of the QPR badge up on a mantelpiece covered in gold. It needs to be looked after and worshipped. Like with the penalties at Rovers, I don't think anyone would care for that badge as much as I would.
Holloway managed QPR to promotion to the Championship in 2004
Holloway managed QPR to promotion to the Championship in 2004
Although my work with Sky has been hugely rewarding, you can't replace the buzz of football management.
I've missed the excitement of being on that rollercoaster. The ups and the downs.
I watched QPR U23s play on Friday and it all came flooding back. I saw the hope, drive and passion in the players' eyes.
That's what I've missed.
Moments like when you see Gareth Ainsworth bang one in from 40 yards and see the look on his face or the passion in Kevin Gallen's eyes when he scored a goal to win promotion. You can't replace those feelings.
I've been away for so long, I'm going to have some butterflies stepping out onto the training pitch.
I haven't even got any football boots!
Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Nottingham Forest and QPR
Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Nottingham Forest and QPR
I'm also going to look fatter in my tracksuit than I did 10 years ago.
I'm so thankful for Gary giving me a chance to work with Sky Sports. There are so many people to thank - too many to name.
Adam Craig - who looked after me and bossed me around a bit on my first few trial shifts off camera - talented fellas such as Scott Minto and Simon Thomas, and Jayne and Laura, the make-up ladies. Even my mum said I looked smart on the TV. They were miracle workers.
I was so blown away by the immense size of the business yet everything works so crisply.
Everyone knows their role. It's such a well-oiled machine. They are top of the league for a reason.
Holloway working with Scott Minto for Sky Sports on a Football League game
Holloway working with Scott Minto for Sky Sports on a Football League game
The amount of work that goes into an outside broadcast is scary. It taught me about how the structure is so important in getting your product right - the relationship between producer and director is so crucial. I'll use that experience to help develop my working relationship with Les.
Covering games as a TV pundit has also opened my eyes to how much football means to supporters.
You never really get to feel the sheer passion from supporters when you're in the dugout as you're too busy concentrating on the game. But when you're in the studio at matches, you really appreciate the emotion in the stands.
I just hope I can convince my players to appreciate being professional footballers and to give their all for the fans that pay good money to come and support them week-in, week-out. I want my players to relate to the people - otherwise football will slip too far away from the working man.
I'm going to try and make every player that puts on the Hoops shirt aware of how I, Les, and all the fans feel about QPR.
Holloway (second left) was a familiar face to Sky Sports viewers on Football League games
Holloway (second left) was a familiar face to Sky Sports viewers on Football League games
At Blackpool, I created an environment where my players could go from unknowns to heroes. That's what I want to do at QPR.
You can make players better and that's what we're going to try and do. Give me that instead of overpaid, underworked, ageing, ignorant, mercenaries, who are just there to pick their money up.
QPR have made those mistakes in the past, but those days are gone.
I want players that roll their sleeves up and don't sulk. You have to wear that shirt with pride. Who knows where that could take us?
If I can end up being QPR manager - twice - then anything in life in possible
www.skysports.com/football/news/11688/10653120/ian-holloway-why-i-couldnt-say-no-to-qpr-return
A few days later...
Marc reunites with Ollie in W12 …
Marc Bircham has been named QPR’s new First Team Coach
Bircham’s arrival follows hot-on-the-heels of Ian Holloway’s return as Manager on Friday
Bircham describes appointment as ‘dream come true’
MARC Bircham has been appointed as QPR’s new First Team Coach.
The news sees Bircham – a boyhood Rangers fan who made 167 appearances for the R’s during his playing days – reunite with boss Ian Holloway, whom he last worked with during their time together at Millwall.
Bircham returns to the UK after spending the last 22 months working in America, initially as Assistant Head Coach at Chicago Fire, before a spell at Arizona United.
Speaking exclusively to
www.qpr.co.uk, Bircham expressed his delight at returning to QPR, commenting: “It really is a dream come true.
“QPR are the only club I’d have moved back to England for and the opportunity to work with Ollie again, at a club that we both know inside-out, was just too good to turn down.
“QPR are my club. I’ve supported Rangers all my life and I couldn’t be happier or more proud to be working alongside Ian, who gave me the best days of my professional career here.”
Bircham admits his last trip to Loftus Road, when he was inducted into The Forever R’s Club last month, pulled at the heart-strings, adding: “It felt like a bit of a homecoming when I was here with the legends in October – and I must admit that’s when it really hit home how much I missed Loftus Road.
“Now, thanks to Ollie and Les (Ferdinand), two men I respect and admire greatly, I’ve got a fantastic opportunity to continue my coaching career at the one place I’ve always wanted to be.”
Read more at
www.qpr.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/qpr-marc-bircham-ian-holloway-3416449.aspx#AMUEIdEfOct3catw.99 Holloway Returns
