IAN HOLLOWAY says all his Christmases came early when he was announced as QPR’s surprise new manager after ten years away.
The former Crystal Palace and Blackpool boss has replaced Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at Loftus Road who was sacked after just 11 months in charge, leaving the west Londoners 17th in the Championship.
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Holloway has agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal with QPR as it is his task to lift them away from the relegation zone and eventually into the top flight, having last been in charge between 2001 and 2006.
It came after five years as a fan-favourite player in the 90s, while as boss he oversaw promotion back to the Championship before leaving for Plymouth Argyle.
And the appointment came as a surprise even to the outspoken Holloway, who could not believe his luck.
Speaking to the club’s TV channel, he said: “You wait and you hope, you know you’re in the frame, you feel you can work the people at the club – but you’re waiting and waiting.
“I feel like when you’re young and its Christmas Eve, and you wake up and go downstairs you hope you’ve been good enough for Santa to drop you off what you want.
“And boy has he come early for me.”
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He also vowed to instil the close knit, family club feel to the R’s to his expensively assembled playing squad after investment by airline tycoon Tony Fernandes, after a sense of identity was lost during Hasselbaink’s failed spell.
He added: “I feel like I was born here, I lived here, ten years of my life was spent here.
“This club is famous and I want to leave a legacy of what QPR means to people. Unless you play with attacking optimism at times, it won’t really work.
“I don’t believe it takes money – we have seen here at QPR players come through this door who would not have worn that shirt for me, and I wouldn’t have given them the money they came here for, because they wouldn’t have deserved it, and I don’t like that.
“QPR is a unique, special club, does anyone know it better than me? I don’t think so.
“It may have a new foyer and new curtains, but you cannot take that and polish it, it’s what it means to people. It’s a working man’s club that people would die for and it will never, ever change.
Holloway’s last venture as a manager before joining Sky Sports was with Millwall in the Championship.
He appointed in January 2014 but had his contract terminated the following season after only managing to win 14 of his 62 matches in charge of the Lions, who were relegated that season.
But Holloway could not hide his emotion during the interview, and said to finish: “I’m back, whether you like it, whether you don’t. I care.
“I want to try and get our players to get what this club is about – I think they do, but they haven’t had a slice of met yet, have they?”
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