Swindon Town appoint Ian Holloway to replace Mark Kennedy | OneFootball

The League Two side announced that they'd be parting ways with their manager on Friday morning.

Ian Holloway has taken the Swindon Town managerial role after the club sacked Mark Kennedy on Friday morning.

The Robins were looking for a new manager, and Holloway was reported, by Football Insider's Pete O'Rourke, to be the leading contender for the role.

Swindon decided to part ways with Kennedy after 13 games of the League Two season. They are sat just outside the relegation zone on 11 points.

A statement released by the club said: "Everyone at Swindon Town Football Club would like to express their appreciation to Mark for his commitment and hard work during his time with the Club and wish him all the best in the future.

"A further update on the club's new head coach will be provided at the earliest opportunity."

They certainly acted quickly to get someone in after making the decision to get rid of Kennedy.

Ian Holloway lands the Swindon job

Two hours after the news of Kennedy's departure from the County Ground was confirmed, Holloway was officially appointed.

Speaking about the decision to bring in the experienced boss, Swindon's Head of Football, Jamie Russell, said: "We're delighted that Ian Holloway has agreed to join us at Swindon Town Football Club.

"We are confident that Ian's experience and leadership qualities which he has shown for many years across not just at Premier League level, but the top five divisions of professional football, will be a significant asset for Swindon Town Football Club.

"His passionate approach coupled with his location being more local to the South-West area along with most importantly, a desire to build a hardworking and entertaining side is a large part of what made us believe he would be the ideal fit for us."

The former Blackpool and Bristol Rovers boss is well versed in the EFL. He's managed many Championship teams over the years, and took the Tangerines to the Premier League in 2010.

His last position as a manager was with a League Two club. He was with Grimsby Town but he resigned in December 2020, just under a year after taking the job. Holloway left the club because the prospective new owners of Grimsby had contacted him in a way which he deemed to be "innapropriate."

The Mariners were 20th in the fourth tier at the time, having picked up 19 points in as many games in what would be their last season in the division before being relegated to the National League.

Swindon move makes perfect sense for Ian Holloway

The Gloucestershire boy's new club is only a short distance from his hometown of Kingswood. He's spent a lot of time in his coaching career in that south-easterly region of the country, with Rovers and Plymouth Argyle on his CV.

At his age, it's unlikely that he'd want to be too far away from family for the sake of getting back into management, but this opportunity at the County Ground looked to suit him perfectly.

He'll be a safe pair of hands for Swindon. The question will now be, can he guide them to safety? And can he be a long-term option for them?