Holloway Apologises To Mike Dean…

Ian Holloway is back. He’s been missing for a good while, but he’s back now. The Ollie that we know and love.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but Ollie hasn’t been his normal self for a while. Over the summer he looked and sounded deflated as our ‘transfer policy’ backfired, whilst over the first few weeks of the season he seemed to be too concerned with what others thought of him and thus toned down his behaviour

Perhaps the jibes that he’s more of a joker than a manager got to him, and he wanted to prove those people wrong by showing that he is a proper football manager in the greatest league in the world, I don’t know.

What I do know is that last Saturday saw a return to the Ollie that we know and love, kicking every ball himself from the touchline.

True, he may now face a touchline ban for calling referee Mike Dean ‘fucking useless’ (a pretty fair assessment from where I was sat), but it may just be worth it if it means that Ollie is back out of his shell.

Yes, everyone knows that Ollie is a joker, but after his achievement last season, everyone also knows that he’s not only a proper football manager, but a bloody good one as well. He has nothing to prove to anyone.

So what if Arsene Wenger thinks he’s a lunatic? Most people can’t stand Arsene Wenger!

Ollie got us where we are today by being himself; a mixture of a cracking football manager and a cracking person. To keep us where we are, he needs to stick to that.

Of course he could be his normal self away from the cameras and just playing some fantastic mind games infront of them, I don’t know, but what Saturday showed is that as much as he tries to bottle it up, he can’t stop being himself.

So yes, apologise to Mike Dean by all means for accosting him in the tunnel Ollie (especially if it improves your chances of avoiding a touchline ban), but we don’t need an apology.

We’re just pleased to have our manager back.