Ian Holloway has a long-time affinity with Rangers, having represented the R’s on no fewer than 147 occasions during a five-year playing stint in West London. The current Rangers boss served at Loftus Road between 1991 and 1996 as a touch-tackling midfielder, and carried over his ensuing popularity into the off-field post he holds today.
Outspoken and never dull, Ollie is seen by many pundits and punters alike as a breath of fresh air in the modern game. Rangers fans hold him in particularly high regard, a status the 41-year old cemented after steering the Superhoops to promotion back to the 1st Division (or should I say the Coca-Cola Championship) alongside Champions Plymouth Argyle. After being beaten in the Playoff Final in Cardiff 12 months earlier it was a sweet ending to what had been a very stressful year. Fans expectations, loss of form and the pressure of leading a big club out of the 2nd Division could so nearly have got the better of the boss. After the Playoff Final, Ollie picked himself up, dusted himself down and dully launched a fresh assault on promotion which ended happily this May (2004).
Success brought about the West Country product his first significant managerial achievement to date, as well as atoning for the demotion he suffered leading Rangers three years ago. After earning his managerial stripes at Bristol Rovers, Ollie was handed the manager’s role following Gerry Francis resignation. Rangers were in a dreadful position at the latter end of the season. Only a miracle would have stopped the club falling through the relegation trapdoor. Sadly it didn’t happen. Fortunately for Rangers, Ollie is a fighter and he got straight into work and planned the future for the club and the best way to "bring back the glory days".
Following promotion Holloway can now plot a course towards the top-flight football that was last hosted at Loftus Road in 1996 (a memory the boss remembers well).
Ollie sees the future of Rangers in the top-flight of British football, thanks to him the supporters of this club can dream realistically of a return to the pastures that served the capital club so thrillingly for years.
He starred in the BBC Series "STRESS TEST" in early July 2004.