Ian Holloway, the maverick Leicester City manager, was at the centre of a furious row last night after Plymouth Argyle, his former club, accused him of undermining the team before he left for Leicester.
Paul Stapleton, the Plymouth chairman, blames Holloway for an exodus during last month’s transfer window that has left the club reeling. Stapleton said that Holloway had “sown the seeds” for the departures. But Leicester hit back last night, dismissing Stapleton’s accusations as “mind games” before Plymouth’s visit to Leicester for a Coca-Cola Championship match on Saturday.
Holloway angered Plymouth fans by leaving for Leicester after 17 months at Home Park. Sylvain Ebanks-Blake, David Norris, Dan Gosling and Barry Hayles left, while Akos Buzsaky, the Hungary midfield player, made permanent a loan move to Queens Park Rangers. Hayles went on to join Holloway at Leicester.
In a six-part statement released on Plymouth’s website, Stapleton details Holloway’s role in the departure of each player. He said that Ebanks-Blake, Plymouth’s top scorer with 13 goals, had a clause inserted in his contract when he left Manchester United, allowing him to leave Plymouth if a club offered more than £1.5 million.
“What a lot of people do not know was that we tried to talk to his agent about a new contract, which would have seen that clause removed for due financial consideration,” Stapleton said. “But when the matter came up at a board meeting, Ian told us not to do it.” Wolverhampton Wanderers signed Ebanks-Blake for £1.5 million last month.
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Norris, the pivotal midfield player, signed for Ipswich Town on deadline day. “The problem began because last summer he was told by Ian Holloway that he could leave the club in January,” Stapleton said.
Stapleton also said that Plymouth could not stop Gosling, a promising young midfield player, leaving because the “seeds had already been sown by Ian Holloway”.
The Plymouth chairman said that Buzsaky had negotiated a new contract but that his agent wanted a “chunk of money”. “Ian then said he was not fussed if Akos went. He said he was not universally liked in the dressing-room,” Stapleton said. “I told Ian that he didn’t have to sell Akos. We would have kept him, but you have to back your manager.”
Paul Sturrock, Holloway’s successor as Plymouth manager, let Hayles join Leicester because he thought that the striker was determined to leave in the summer. “All these things happened during Ian’s tenure,” Stapleton said. “But we didn’t want Ian to go - we wanted him to see things through.”
Stapleton claimed that his attack on Holloway was not connected to Saturday’s match, but Milan Mandaric, the Leicester chairman, branded the criticism as “mind games”.
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“I am saddened and disappointed by Paul Stapleton’s comments and the timing of them just three days before our crucial game against Plymouth at the Walkers Stadium,” Mandaric said. “One thing their chairman fails to mention is the amount of quality players Ollie [Holloway] brought to Home Park and the team he built under difficult circumstances and financial constraint.”
Since Holloway’s move from Home Park, Plymouth have slipped from fourth in the Championship to twelfth. After their 1-0 defeat by Hull City on Saturday, Sturrock said: “We are going to have to work our tails off to mould a team again.”
Leicester are struggling in twentieth place, only four points above the relegation zone.