Former Mariners boss: 'Whether I'd been stitched up, I'll never know with absolute certainty'

                                                               

Holloway's book - his time at GTFC was not a success

NOVEMBER 21, 2020: was this Ian Holloway's worst day as Grimsby town boss?

The scoreline: Tranmere Rovers 5 - Grimsby Town 0.

What went wrong?

In his revealing new book, Holloway said he had made the mistake of asking a member of his backroom staff to analyse a video of how the home side played instead of watching it himself.

He writes: "The end result was that he told me that Tranmere played a totally different way from the way they actually played.

"If I'd checked, I would have seen that they had a diamond and, if you play that formation well, they' outnumber you in the wide areas."

Evidently,  Tranmere played the wide areas well - very well.

Continues Holloway: "I tried to change from the touchline, but my lads didn't understand and, within 33 minutes, we were 4-0 down.

"I had picked the wrong team and had the wrong players in the wrong positions."

Holloway acknowledges he should have done his own homework, but he was evidently in unforgiving mood in the days that followed the match.

He confides: "Whether I'd been stitched up or not, I'll never be able to say with absolute certainty, but I made sure that the  staff member who had written that report never worked for Grimsby Town again."

One of the goalscorers for Tranmere that day was attacking midfielder Otis Khan, now with The Mariners.

* How To Be a Football Manager by Ian Holloway is published by Headline Publishing.