- Ian Holloway says ‘strange things’ are happening at Swindon’s Beversbrook base
- He is calling in his wife, Kim, to try and sort out the ‘haunted’ training facility
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Ian Holloway is hoping his wife can flush out the ghoulies from Swindon’s ‘haunted’ training ground.
The Robins’ manager fears ‘strange things’ are taking place at Beversbrook Sports and Community facility, where the League Two club train.
Captain Ollie Clarke ruptured a tendon in his ankle last week and Holloway, who was appointed in October, thinks the supernatural could be targeting his beleagured side.
‘I’m absolutely devastated so I’m going to try and cleanse the training ground area because people are telling me it’s haunted,’ he told BBC Radio WIltshire.
‘There’s a graveyard somewhere near. Honestly, I’m not joking.
Swindon Town manager Ian Holloway says he is calling in his wife, Kim, to ‘cleanse’ Swindon’s ‘haunted’ training ground (pictured while he was managing Blackpool)
Holloway was appointed manager of struggling League Two side Swindon back in October
The ‘haunted’ site: Swindon train at Beversbrook Sports and Community Facility in Calne
‘I think our training ground is very close to an ancient burial site so I’m going to get my wife to come up and say sorry to all these people and hopefully we’ll have a bit more luck.’
Mail Sport is unsure which graveyard Holloway is referring to, though the Beversbook facility borders a vast network of fields. Curzon Street Cemetery is 1.6 miles away on foot – quite a distance for a ghost to traverse, one might think.
Swindon are actually undertaking work to find a facility to house all of the club, with the women’s team and academy mostly training at Foundation Park.
Former Birmingham manager Barry Fry reputedly urinated in the corners of the club’s St Andrew’s ground to dispel a 100-year-old curse, though Holloway insisted he would not be going that far.
‘I don’t want to do what he did. I think he had to urinate on the corners of his pitch but I’m going to get my wife to come up with her sage,’ Holloway said.
‘I’ve done the Glastonbury stuff and the hail and welcome – great if you believe it. Do I? Really I’m not sure but I’m going to get it just to help because there’s some strange things happening.’
Holloway’s wife, Kim, has been by his side during a chaotic career in football.
In 2022 he revealed that they had moved house together 48 times.
Holloway has won two of his four games in charge of Swindon but they are battling the drop
‘That’s too much for me to ask, it’s almost a bit selfish,’ he said.
Since then he has taken up his job with Swindon, his 10th managerial job, almost four years after leaving Grimsby Town.
With the Wiltshire club 22nd in League Two, Holloway will be hoping for at least one more favour from Kim to keep his managerial career on track.
At least his record so far might go some way to dispelling the figurative demons – of two wins, a draw, and a defeat in four games is hardly the most horrifying.
