Ian Holloway speaks out after Chesterfield beat Swindon to clinch League Two play-off spot

Ian Holloway speaks out after Chesterfield beat Swindon to clinch League Two play-off spot on the final day of the season.

Not the end of the season Swindon will have wanted, Holloway fuming at his side’s 2-1 defeat to the Spireites, the Robins also only picking up 1 point from their final four fixtures.

The two sides battled it out for the final playoff places, Chesterfield went ahead on the 19th minute thanks to Lee Bonis before Ben Middlemas levelled just before half time.

But Chesterfield found themselves back in front, Armando Dobra squaring the ball Dilan Markanday to touch in on the goal line and send the away end wild

Chesterfield goalkeeper Ryan Boot also pulled off must see saves late on to keep Paul Cook’s side in it.

Holloway said, per Swindon Advertiser: “I can only apologise to all of the Swindon fans. I was in with them and heard their cheering, but we promised so much and delivered nothing in the end.

“You can see that I am bitterly disappointed, but it has been coming.

“We have been gradually getting worse since the [January] window, with the injuries that we have had in the group, and we promised so much and delivered absolutely zero in the end. I am devastated.

“I don’t want to make any excuses, because we have not been good enough, we have not done it well enough, and we should have done so much more with the ability that we have.

“But you have to build into a group and change things when they’re going wrong.

“You have to be able to help your teammate when it’s going wrong, and we didn’t do that well enough. So I’m disappointed I haven’t made the group what I wanted them to be.

“The injuries after that to the people, one after another after another, we’ve lost that momentum, and it’s been slightly happening and slightly coming, and in that you lose then belief. And as I say, I feel I’ve let everybody down.

“We haven’t done well enough, we’ve lost too many games, we haven’t won enough games, and we’ve ended up not good enough, which is hard to take right now, but that’s a fact.

“You can see how we missed Taf [Ryan Tafazolli], what he did today with a broken arm, we would probably have lost by more, to be perfectly honest with you.

“It is fine margins, we needed the first goal, our place would have erupted. The fans were great, but to lose a goal and go behind again absolutely killed everything we were trying to do.

“That gave them the momentum, and this is what has been happening.

“In the second half, how many chances did we have? We didn’t take one of them, and then we kicked a ball long, we lost a header, it comes back, and we leave a 19-year-old, one-on-one on the edge of the box. That made it impossible then.”

He added, per BBC Sport: “I feel like I’ve let everybody down because I wanted the group to lead the group. I wanted the senior ones to encourage the other ones but it wasn’t enough.

“This has been a failure to bond and get the balance right with who we’ve had and who we’ve lost, and who I’ve picked and why I’ve picked them.

“Five people that can defend corners – I haven’t been able to do that [select them] for weeks. It’s not an excuse, it’s [a] fact.”

Chesterfield assistant boss Danny Webb spoke on setting up a playoff with Notts County, a team the Spireites have done the double over this season. They also have done the double against playoff sides Salford and Grimsby.

He said, per Derbyshire Times: “Great. We’d rather have that than losing doubles of course.

“It’s Notts County isn’t it. It’s one for both sets of supporters to look forward to. Matches with them are always humdingers.”

On the win over Swindon: “There was a bit of numbness after their equaliser,. There was a lot of pressure on us and we stood up to the challenge.

“We missed a few chances but the players never stopped trying, never stopped creating and never stopped trying to tackle. They always tried to do the right things.”

Looking ahead to the first leg, at home: “It is important for our supporters, up until probably Wednesday, to enjoy this. Hopefully we can go a step further.”

Here’s the social media reaction as Ian Holloway speaks out after Chesterfield beat Swindon to clinch a League Two play-off spot…

@mth4891: Didn’t deserve to go up simple as that! When your ‘owner’ is a crook, manager is a dinosaur & the club is ran like a Sunday league outfit you aren’t going to be successful. In a perfect world this is the last we’d see of Morfuni & Holloway! #stfc

@DeanMcMackin: As a club and as a manager you’re bang on about January but that’s on you and them. You mention athletes and leaders and didn’t sign any in January . That’s no one else’s fault. #stfc

@PaulCottle: Ollie if you read these like we are led to believe this club won’t go anywhere unless you get your own coaching staff in gunning and mildenhall should be top of you’re summer clear out and a full time physio!!!! #stfc

@OJRestorations: I’ll be honest – forever grateful for Holloway performing a miracle and keeping us up last season. But the latter end of this season was an utter disgrace and no excuses. Fans backed the club week in week out. Back the boys blah blah. Time for clear out top to bottom

@scuba_thomas: And so you should be bitterly disappointed in yourself and the team. Utter bottlers. Spent the entire season in the top 7 apart from the last 2 weeks and finished 9th! More scandalous than Clem’s tax return! #ClemItsTime to GO! #STFC

@ChisieWeirdo: A failure as a manager this season – both on the pitch with the players and off the pitch with the supporters. I have zero faith in him now. He’s burnt too many bridges and made too many bad calls. Depressed he appears to be staying.

@muckled: Team selection, tactics and playing style have all been dreadful for months and there doesn’t seem to be any acknowledgement of that, so time to move on.

@STFC2023: Holloway, please clear out the back room staff and bring others in. Gunning and Mildenhall need to go. They have been there every time we have a new manager and no change. Get them gone.’

@andyrichardson_: Couldn’t get past 40 seconds. Just go Ian. Ideally take “Clem” with you. We’re all utterly sick of this, absolute abject failure, incompetence from top to bottom, and as long as you clowns are running things it will only ever get worse. Go. Now.

@adesyko: Again stop going on about Munroe! The Luton fiasco and constant moaning about that. The players were impacted by your words in private and public. Sometimes you need to keep it shut.