'Taught me everything' - Swindon boss Holloway on Bristol Rovers return

Ian Holloway might have begun his career at hometown club Bristol Rovers but there will be no time for sentiment when he returns on Saturday in the opposition dugout for a competitive fixture for the first time.

It was almost 30 years ago in 1996 when Holloway first stepped into the Memorial Stadium as a manager and, while his career since has taken him all across English football, he has never returned with another club until now with Swindon Town.

Yet the 63-year-old dismissed the notion of emotions getting in the way when he returns - the focus is solely on getting all three points for the Robins as they try to close the gap on League Two leaders Walsall.

"I owe an awful lot to that football club but that was then and this is now," Holloway told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"I owe an awful lot to Swindon now and I'm very glad to say that people I see in and around the ground, I go away, they're just like [fans at] Rovers used to be - absolutely incredible so I want to do well for them."

Holloway even jokes it has been so long since he was with the Gas that most of their fans will be too young to even know who he is and his significance to the club.

"Half of them don't even know who I am - you've got to be over 25 by quite a long way to know who I am," he added.

Holloway was born in Kingswood, just to the east of Bristol, and credits Rovers, who he joined as a player in their youth set-up aged nine, with turning him into the person he is today.

He went on to make 397 appearances for the club as a player over three spells, before moving into coaching with them when he hung up his boots to cement his status as a bona fide Gashead.

"Am I proud of what that club, when it was the club that I was with, taught me when I was growing up? Yes, I am. Am I proud that I selected them instead of Bristol City at that time? Yes, I am," Holloway said.

"The pros made me a pro, the senior players were absolutely excellent and I'm still friends with a lot of them now.

"They taught me everything I needed to learn from my footballing experience; how to deal with the ups and downs, how to keep going, how to have longevity, how to be nasty and want to win and how to be humble and say well done to the opposition.

"I learnt a lifelong things there, I believe if I went somewhere else I might not [have]."

Holloway's Swindon are flying high in third place in League Two, a stark contrast to Darrell Clarke's Bristol Rovers who are dropping like a stone towards the relegation places, on a club-record losing run of nine consecutive league games.

What reaction Holloway will get from the home fans when they come out onto the pitch, however, is also not something he is thinking about.

"Their club's in the worst run it's ever been on, they've got to deal with that," Holloway said.

"I don't know what their fans are going to be like when we turn up and I don't really care because it's none of my business, is it.

"I care what our fans are like singing our team on trying to get us three points."

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