Former Blackpool boss Ian Holloway has recently been involved in a new documentary looking at the different experiences football managers go through.
Ahead of the release of The Hotseat, the 60-year-old reflected on his tenure at Bloomfield Road, which saw him lead the Seasiders to the Premier League.
He also discussed the highs and lows on management, and revealed how talking to others in the job benefitted him.
The Hotseat, brought to you by Sky Bet, can be found on The League of 72 YouTube Channel.
Ahead of the release of The Hotseat, the 60-year-old reflected on his tenure at Bloomfield Road, which saw him lead the Seasiders to the Premier League.
He also discussed the highs and lows on management, and revealed how talking to others in the job benefitted him.
The Hotseat, brought to you by Sky Bet, can be found on The League of 72 YouTube Channel.
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00:00 So, yeah, first of all, Ian, how's the documentary been?
00:04 Have you enjoyed sort of delving back into management, looking back over things?
00:08 Mate, honestly, it's like pulling a plaster off a cut that you got on your arm
00:13 and it was cathartic.
00:17 It was wonderful.
00:17 I never believed I'd feel that emotional standing on
00:21 Bloomfield Road again, Centre Circle.
00:25 I went in there myself and it was weird.
00:28 I went back to the arm field stand being built and I had tears
00:33 rolling down my face.
00:34 It was really weird.
00:35 And it was like all of a sudden you can remember, you know, like you
00:39 you remember times for music.
00:42 I stood there on my own and I went I had goosebumps.
00:45 Mate, it was it was fantastic, honestly.
00:48 And some of the things I want to ask to see if I'm
00:52 there's anybody else in the world like me.
00:55 I I feel quite healed, you know, because everybody, everybody
01:01 I interviewed, I understand how they feel.
01:04 They understand how I feel.
01:05 And you a bit like Tigger, you think you're the only one and you're not.
01:09 You know, so Mick McCarthy, I was chatting to up there, obviously. And
01:13 when he talked about his family and he talked about his wife and he talked
01:18 and it was so
01:19 moving for me and emotional, which I didn't
01:24 anticipate it to be, but it was quite wonderful, honestly.
01:28 Yeah, was it therapeutic in a way, going over all those memories,
01:33 sharing memories of the managers?
01:35 Yeah, it's also
01:38 because the game is
01:41 I'm glad it's called the hot seat, you know, because that's how you feel
01:44 when you're in it.
01:46 But also it I would call it managing chaos
01:50 because football is chaos really these days, you know, and
01:55 and I thought my thoughts were I had them alone.
01:58 But I think we all have the same ones, the ones who do that job in.
02:02 And it's how you try and deal with it and how you think you're dealing with it.
02:06 And and I literally thought I was the only one who would have had these issues
02:11 back home, going home.
02:12 And, you know, we all take it home. We don't mean to.
02:15 We take that score and we become that score.
02:18 And that was quite quite an emotional, moving thing for me,
02:22 because when you haven't got that in your life, you're not judging yourself.
02:26 All of us judge ourselves because of how we got on last week and really.
02:30 We know the process.
02:33 You do it and you review it and then you redo it.
02:35 But you never feel that emotionally it gets you like it doesn't.
02:40 And every one of them really got that out to me.
02:44 And and because my questions were coming from someone who's done it, done the job,
02:49 they sort of got it as well.
02:51 Do you get what I mean? It was quite a.
02:53 Quite a wonderful feeling, you know, to to to know that I'm not the only one.
02:58 I'm not the most competitive person in the world.
03:00 They're exactly the same.
03:02 And, you know, it's something about all of us that we've ended up being managers,
03:06 really. And. Yeah.
03:09 I'm relieved I am not mad, you know, because I am not the only one who's mad.
03:16 There's a couple of us or a few of us, you know, so there we go.
03:20 Yeah, I was interested about that.
03:20 You mentioned obviously going home the result of the two sides of managers.
03:24 Is there a public side and a home side or is it all just muddling to one
03:27 when you're in that intense job?
03:30 No, I do believe we have a persona that we have to live up to
03:34 when we're represented in the club and and when you when you're going to work,
03:38 when you're on your way to work.
03:41 You have to be ready.
03:44 To get into that suit, I call it a manager's suit, you get in
03:47 and you know what you want to do, you've reviewed whatever you're doing
03:50 and you go again and and you have to be the one that picks everybody up,
03:54 you know, and you can never switch off.
03:56 And I find that after the success we had,
03:59 I had to do that all the time.
04:02 I had to be that person all the time because every time I took my wife
04:05 out anywhere, people would stop you and you then become that.
04:09 That piece of blackboard FC that they want to think that they can belong
04:15 and talk to and own, you know, and and I never gave up on that.
04:20 I always spoke to everybody and in the end we had to move
04:23 because it became too much.
04:25 And when I asked the other managers about that, you know, do you take it?
04:29 And what's it like?
04:29 And, you know, particularly Mick McCarthy, with some of his experiences,
04:33 he had a lot of success at Wolves and then they turned on him a little bit.
04:37 And, you know, it it does.
04:40 It does harm you slightly, and I felt it helped him
04:44 talking to me because he realized that we've all been through it, you know,
04:49 and some of the young ones I spoke to on this
04:51 traveling around the country like I've done.
04:55 It was quite, I don't feel like that, you know,
04:58 that Liam Rossini said, I don't feel like that.
05:01 I don't, you will mate, how are you going to deal with it?
05:04 You know, and that's the weird thing.
05:05 You don't know how you you don't know what the job is
05:08 until you've done it for as long as we have, you know.
05:12 Ross, you have to be strong in that persona as a manager.
05:15 How hard is it for your family when they're out with you as well?
05:18 Can they sort of have that impact as well?
05:20 And they might not be in as a good place to deal with it,
05:23 but they need to be strong for you.
05:26 Yeah, that's that's where I've been very, very lucky.
05:29 I have to say, my daughter's being deaf.
05:34 I think that helped because they couldn't hear what people were saying at school.
05:40 They got really confused because they thought I owned QPR.
05:45 I was a QPR manager and they, in their mind, they thought QPR was mine.
05:49 When I got the sack and all the kids at school, a lot of them were Arsenal fans.
05:54 They were all mocking my kids and they never wanted to go.
05:58 They never went to another game, ever.
06:01 Not any other club because they couldn't understand.
06:04 And it upset them. Do you know what I mean?
06:07 So, you know, when you talk about what it means to your family and
06:11 I moved my wife 48 times.
06:13 She had to change and make a home in a new building 48 times.
06:20 And that's too much for me to ask.
06:23 It's almost a bit selfish, isn't it?
06:25 So, yes, they have sacrifices.
06:27 They do. Get my son, remember, is getting taught at school,
06:32 you know, when I was a player for QPR.
06:34 Management, he's always dealt with it a lot easier.
06:38 You know, down to manager, you win some, you lose some, you get on with it.
06:41 But at the end of the day, it does affect them.
06:44 And what you don't want is to affect them yourself with your bad moods.
06:52 And I didn't realise I did that.
06:55 Honestly, I didn't realise I did that.
06:57 And doing this documentary, talking to my wife, sat at my kitchen table.
07:03 I was totally shocked what she said to me.
07:07 You know, honestly, I thought I handled it.
07:10 I thought I dealt with it and it really knocked me sideways.
07:14 And you can see it on there.
07:15 I was like, what?
07:16 Why didn't you talk to me about it?
07:19 But, you know, maybe I should have realised I do now.
07:23 And and that's a great thing that's come out of this.
07:26 I think it's like a healing thing for me.
07:29 You know, you do feel you're going a little bit crazy,
07:32 particularly when you're out of it and you want to go back into it.
07:35 That's how confused I was after doing this.
07:37 I missed so much of it.
07:40 And yet I don't miss so much of it, if you get what I mean.
07:43 You know, it's almost.
07:46 The devil's in the detail, like, do I want to do it again?
07:50 And oh, yeah, I'd love to.
07:52 It's almost the best job in the world when you win
07:54 and the worst job in the world when you lose.
07:57 And you've got a one in three chance of doing that.
08:01 You know, you're you're.
08:05 If you win, everything's fine.
08:07 Sometimes you don't know why.
08:09 If you draw, then to some supporters, you've let your team down.
08:13 And if you lose, you're definitely rubbish.
08:15 And if you lose too many times, you're likely to lose your livelihood.
08:18 So who else's job is that?
08:20 Hanging on a limb all the time, you know?
08:22 Hopefully yours isn't, son.
08:24 When hopefully yours isn't.
08:27 You've got the hard things to deal with, but taking off with this move,
08:30 you've also got the special times.
08:31 So just tell us about, you mentioned being back at Bloomfield Road.
08:34 How was it like having those special memories flooding back?
08:37 Did something in particular come back to you?
08:39 Of course, so many special days for you.
08:41 No, I think I remember, obviously,
08:44 Sir Jimmy Armfield was a great, became a great friend.
08:48 His knowledge was and the way he delivered it.
08:52 I'll have a cup of tea and he'd come down the training ground
08:55 and he'd just say something that was worth more than
08:57 millions. So how do you feel it went Saturday?
09:01 You know, what about that young fellow?
09:03 Do you think you should have a word with him?
09:05 Is he disciplined enough?
09:06 And it's like, I'm going to have a word with Carl, your chairman.
09:11 I'm going to go and tell him.
09:12 And he used to go, I'd get Carl on the phone saying he's been up again.
09:15 Have you sent him?
09:17 I'm going to tell him he doesn't know how lucky he is.
09:20 But those words of wisdom from someone who's been there and done it and seen it.
09:24 And it was quite special.
09:27 And for him at the end of it to say to me, thanks for the days
09:31 in the sun, that's that was his phrase that I will never, ever forget.
09:36 And it makes me feel.
09:38 So proud and so emotional to even say it to you now.
09:42 He sent me a lovely card, total class.
09:45 Thanks for the days in the sun.
09:48 Because it done have rain up there, mate, done it.
09:52 Yeah, so you get used to your waterproofs anyway.
09:54 No, but really, it was it was the.
09:59 All you try and do is create an environment for someone who can
10:02 for everyone to thrive in and what you need is is.
10:06 The work ethic to be united, for them to grab onto it.
10:12 You need some understanding from the supporters of what we're trying to do.
10:16 And I came there and bravely said, we're going to play a different way.
10:20 And I want you to you know, I want you to love it.
10:22 And they just this is the best trip we've ever been on.
10:26 No matter what the score was.
10:28 So they really made it a place for us to grow and to shine
10:33 and to not be scared to to express yourself.
10:38 Even if it's going wrong.
10:40 And that was what I wanted.
10:42 And the fans played a massive part in it for me, you know.
10:46 And so it was a collective.
10:48 Every member of the staff, we didn't have many.
10:50 They all played their.
10:53 Huge part in making it all work.
10:55 And, you know. It.
10:57 It will always, always, always be special in my heart, you know.
11:02 Of course, at Blackpool, there were problems between the fans and the ownership.
11:07 As a manager, how was that for you?
11:09 Trying that bouncing act, did you have to switch off from that?
11:11 Or you not get away from things out of your side of your control?
11:15 Unfortunately.
11:18 A lot of owners will find this, you know.
11:21 Expectation comes, you know,
11:24 they want to feel everybody wants to feel that their money is not being wasted
11:28 and they're moving towards it.
11:29 And particularly if you you read that your club's suddenly got
11:33 however many hundred and fifty million coming in and you want to see the club
11:37 grow for the future and the frustration from that.
11:41 I understood, but I couldn't get involved in that.
11:45 My working day relationships were what was what mattered.
11:48 I need to have a working relationship with the supporters.
11:54 But I also needed a working relationship with the chairman.
11:57 And and I can honestly say to you, I.
12:00 I had a fantastic relationship
12:04 with young Carl for me.
12:07 He was four or five years younger than me.
12:09 I thoroughly enjoyed working with him.
12:13 Yes, it was frustrating for me how stubborn he could be.
12:17 And it was also frustrating for him how stubborn I was.
12:21 So we had a bit of a bounce off.
12:24 But, you know, there was one member of staff who deserves a mention now.
12:28 Matt Williams, his name was who.
12:31 Who literally kept the both of us sane and not chewing each other's face off
12:35 every day, you know, because I don't muck about and.
12:38 Carl always said to me, tell me what you think,
12:41 and then I'll probably say no and you'll have to convince me.
12:45 And we had a few, you know, we had a few not.
12:50 Verbal fistfights, but it.
12:52 I always knew where I stood with him.
12:57 And I can't say that for any other chairman other than one
13:01 that I've worked with.
13:04 Before, so for me, he was.
13:07 As good a chairman as I've ever had, and I thought he was part of our success
13:12 because I used him as a bad cop.
13:15 I was the good cop.
13:18 My players come to me moaning, go and see the chairman.
13:21 Nothing to do with me.
13:22 And so I separated that.
13:24 I had this thing that I was going to build.
13:26 I had this thing where we were going.
13:28 I told the universe we were going to get to the Premier League.
13:32 And that was my goal.
13:34 I left all my family back in Bristol.
13:36 I drove down and picked my wife up.
13:38 And then really it was down to that, that he helped me, you know.
13:43 And that's all I can say.
13:45 I'm so sorry that the fans didn't feel that way.
13:48 And Carl didn't feel that way about when that, you know, at the end of the day,
13:51 I wish them all the success in the world.
13:53 But really, none of that was my problem.
13:56 I had to work on my working relationships.
13:59 After obviously doing the documentary,
14:02 has it made your mind up on whether you're going to ever return to management?
14:06 Do you want to go back or are you happy with where you are now?
14:08 Oh, my God, I'd be back tomorrow.
14:11 I'm not sure Mrs H would want that, though.
14:14 I'd have to have a word with the boss.
14:16 I miss it so much.
14:20 I miss it.
14:20 I had a reunion last night with QPR.
14:25 We got promoted 20 years ago, if you can believe that.
14:28 20 years ago, 2003.
14:31 I haven't seen some of these lads for that amount of time.
14:35 It was marvellous.
14:36 And the fans were loving it.
14:37 So I know I can go to my grave thinking happy days with some of the jobs I've done.
14:42 Sorry about that if it didn't work.
14:44 But I can honestly look in the mirror and say, who's that?
14:48 Oh, my God, what ugly bloke.
14:50 But he tried as hard as he could, you know, and I genuinely have.
14:54 None of us ever try and lose a match.
14:56 We all try and make the club in a better situation.
15:00 And sometimes it doesn't work.
15:02 It's not meant to somehow, you know, but never lose faith
15:06 in your own club that you support.
15:08 You know, what you are is an integral part of it.
15:12 It belongs to you.
15:13 It don't belong to your owners.
15:14 It belongs to you.
15:16 And you make sure that you keep on at them until you get what you want
15:19 and try and support your team and make it an area where.
15:23 The opponents don't want to come make it an arena like a gladiator arena
15:28 where you know that old crowd is against you, that it will really help
15:33 your team be successful.
15:36 So keep loving the game.
15:37 That's all I and I love it so much.
15:39 And I love it even more after doing this documentary.
15:42 Honestly, I don't feel.
15:44 That weird, you know, I know I'm different, I know I'm unusual,
15:48 but I know there's a few more people like me as well.