Ian Holloway, the former Blackpool manager now in charge of League Two side Swindon Town, has called for Manchester City to be expelled from the Premier League and the EFL, and demoted to non-league. His comments follow the club being found guilty of breaching 114 Premier League financial rules, a decision City deny and have appealed.
Holloway's rant over 2010/11 season
The 63-year-old, who managed Blackpool in the top flight for one season during the nine-year period covered by the charges, was speaking ahead of Swindon's home game against Crewe Alexandra on Saturday. Asked whether he felt 'robbed' during the 2010/11 season, in which Blackpool lost to City twice by a one-goal margin, Holloway launched a passionate six-minute rant.
He accused City of 'seriously denting football' and 'still lying now' amid their appeal. Holloway does not believe former manager Pep Guardiola was implicated, but he wants the club's owners to 'get lost', and City to be relegated to at least the National League, the fifth-tier.
Claims of unfair decisions
Holloway said: "To be honest with you, in that whole season, I felt robbed. My team played so well against Man City. We scored three perfectly good goals. We had one disallowed for being offside, and they scored two. One was not a foul, and the other one was offside."
He added: "So they were given a penalty, and the other goal was offside, and the referee sent me a letter saying we cost you nine points this year because we expected, oh, that must have been a foul because that was Man City, let alone them now cheating. The game worldwide is being ruined by people who are rich, who think they can do God knows what they want to it."
Love for the game
Holloway also reflected on his grandchildren, saying: "One of my granddaughters has been playing for a while, Luna, her younger sister, Remy, has just started playing, she's 6 and Luna's 8. I watched her score her first two goals, Luna, last Sunday. It was a joy to see. I'm going to watch their training session tonight, really looking forward to it. And it's helping me remember why I love this game so much. And I always will love it."
He continued: "You can't ever control it. These new pundits are saying, 'oh, you've got to gain control'. That's all about what Pep has done inside the game with the new rules about playing out and going into your box. So you gain control and the more control you get and then you go, we can't all do that.
"That's not the way the game should be. You've got to try and find a way to be part of something and be with somebody. They have seriously dented football and I think it's harmed it and I would absolutely hammer ten bells out of the whole lot of them because they knew what they were doing."
Call for stronger rules
Holloway said: "They're still lying about it now, which is absolutely disgraceful. But how can you control who owns a football club? But you can certainly get stronger rules and regulations. You can certainly make sure that they're being tested and looked at."
He added: "It's even at our level. How can you have a gate of 2,000 people and you pay what Salford are paying? None of it makes any sense. How can you be Wrexham and get all of that? None of it makes any sense. And in the whole world, you find people who find loopholes and exploit that."
Holloway concluded: "For me, it's all too late now. I would absolutely take everything away from every single one of them and make them start again. Right now. It happened in Scotland, I would do it now. They are disgraceful and they're still not owning up to it. What type of people do they want to actually be?
"Is that Pep? Did he know it was happening? No, I don't think he knew that. It's the people at the very, very top who were trying to cheat this game and I would throw them in. Why have they still got the company? Why are they still owning? Why do they still do that? Get lost."
He finished: "Because they've ruined all of it. Completely and utterly ruined this game that they don't truly believe to be in if they're going to do that. And that's it. End of. Absolutely no respect for me, for you people. Get the hell out. Why can't we do that? That's what should happen."
