The Managers Strike Back

Holloway is talking about Wayne Rooney and he's angry. Really angry.

Ian Holloway, manager of Blackpool, is passionate about football. His witty one liners and bizarre metaphors have endeared him to the press and fans alike.

He loves Blackpool, he is in fact dedication personified and said that guiding Blackpool into the Premier League was the greatest moment of his life (apart from the birth of his kids). For him, Blackpool is special. So how does he sum the place up?

"I love Blackpool. We're very similar. We both look better in the dark."

Sometimes he says words and you know that no matter how hard you might try, and no matter how much context you try to put them in, they will never make any sense.

"If you're a burglar, it's no good poncing about outside somebody's house, looking good with your swag bag ready. Just get in there, burgle them and come out. I don't advocate that obviously, it's just an analogy."

The Rooney story is explosive

This week Holloway has thrown his penny's worth into the Rooney debate and as you might expect there are fireworks. Great big Gandalf-style fireworks. Bosman, Fergie, barely supressed curse words: its all on display in the video below.

To be honest the whole Rooney thing has become a media frenzy - it's not just Holloway shouting his opinions, in fact they're all at it. Again, have a look at the video below for a taster.

As usual Mary Hannigan, with her intricate knowledge from footie (which we assume she funnels in great part from Football 365) has her finger on the pulse and in a few lines has summed up the story from financial, historical and humorous perspectives:

"The steps to the attic have nearly been worn away the past few years.

"Dumped there now is a whole heap of merchandisable memories of past loyalties, an Andrei Kanchelskis lampshade, a Jaap Stam alarm clock, David Beckham pyjamas, Roy Keane slippers, a Ruud van Nistelrooy dressing gown, a Carlos Tevez shower cap and, after yesterday, a Wayne Rooney duvet cover.

"And unless the duvet cover reconciles with the Alex Ferguson pillow case it will, alas, be available for purchase in the January transfer window."

Right on.

Premier League managers have been pretty scathing of Rooney and have started to circle the wagons. I suppose they get a rough deal a lot of the time.

I love Holloway. To bits. Please, please, please let him utter more quotes like this in future post-match interviews:

"To put it in gentleman's terms if you've been out for a night and you're looking for a young lady and you pull one, some weeks they're good looking and some weeks they're not the best. Our performance today would have been not the best looking bird but at least we got her in the taxi. She wasn't the best looking lady we ended up taking home but she was very pleasant and very nice, so thanks very much, let's have a coffee."