New boss Holloway wants belief from Swindon players

Ian Holloway has returned to football management at Swindon

New Swindon manager Ian Holloway said he wants to see "confidence" and "belief" in his side after he watched them at the County Ground for the first time.

Holloway was appointed on Friday, hours after former boss Mark Kennedy was sacked after a poor start to the season.

Swindon scored a dramatic 93rd-minute equaliser to draw 1-1 against Gillingham, with Holloway watching on before taking charge of the team on Monday.

"I want to see some confidence, I want to see some belief, some work-rate with each other," Holloway told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"I want to see some connection between them and I want to see that they're enjoying their football and that's what I'll be working on.

"Making it more and more a movement that they're used to rather than something new that they've got to learn and they don't know each other."

The Swindon job is Holloway's first in football management since he left Grimsby Town in December 2020.

He comes to Wiltshire with the side hovering just above the League Two relegation zone in 22nd place, with two wins, six draws and six losses from their first 14 games this campaign.

Holloway said he had a talk with the players before and after the Gillingham match and that he was "delighted" to be there.

"I'm going to give them some patterns that they play to and principles that they live on and work on to make us more consistent and hopefully get some draws and victories, rather than defeats," he said.

'This week has been chaos'

Holloway is Swindon's sixth permanent manager since July 2021 after Kennedy's tenure lasted less than five months.

Goalkeeper Jack Bycroft said the week had been "chaos" with coaches Gavin Gunning, Margus Bignot and Steve Mildenhall taking charge for the Gillingham game.

"Not sure what was happening towards the end but we stuck together as a group and massive shout out to Gav and Marcus and all the team for having the game chucked on them and dealing really well with it," Bycroft said.

"Massive shout out to Mark because we all wanted it to work out for him, he's a fantastic guy and we wish him all the best.

"Completely different character to Ian, I'm sure he's going to extract a lot of energy out of us."

Holloway put on an energetic display during the Gillingham draw, moving between seats in the stands watching his new side.

"He's a small physical presence but massive in terms of heart, his character and what he is and what he represents as a person," said Gunning after the match.

"He's got massive knowledge on the game and although it's disappointing to lose Mark I think to have a coup of bringing someone of such experience is really fantastic.

"I think the young guys here are going to learn a lot, and myself I'm hoping I'm going to be really fortunate and learn a lot from Ian."