Ian Holloway, the manager of Swindon Town, unleashed a passionate critique against the Football Association and the English Football League, expressing his frustration over the last-minute suspension of his captain, Ollie Clarke.
Last December, Clarke faced a seven-match suspension and a substantial fine after the FA charged him with committing two serious fouls against unnamed opponents during an August 2025 match with Cardiff City.
Despite the suspension, Holloway included the 33-year-old Clarke in the lineup for Swindon Town’s EFL Trophy match against Luton last month. However, the club was subsequently prohibited from allowing Clarke to play in their League Two game against Barrow on Saturday.
“They’ve put me in a difficult position as a manager,” Holloway voiced to BBC Wiltshire. “How can they inform us that he’s banned for tomorrow (Saturday) without giving me any time to prepare my team?”
He continued, “I’ve contacted the LMA (League Managers’ Association). You know what I can do about it? Absolutely nothing. And now we have another hearing on Monday regarding fielding Aaron Drinan against Luton when he wasn’t on the team sheet, which is a complete farce.”
Ian Holloway was incensed after the final whistle on Swindow Town’s victory over Barrow
The manager had fielded Ollie Clarke for an EFL Trophy tie despite the player having been banned by the FA
Holloway questioned the officials, asking, “If I attempted to substitute someone at halftime who isn’t listed on the teamsheet, whose fault is it if they’re allowed to play? I could just as easily use one of the others.”
‘They said, quite honestly, ‘Yeah, it’d be ours’. I said, ‘Well, don’t do that again today, then’. Why are we blaming everyone else? It’s disgusting.
‘They want to fine me? Good,’ Holloway continued defiantly. ‘They want to ban me? Good. Do it. Have a look at yourselves, every god damn one of you. Absolutely disgusting.
‘I care about my team. I care about my captain. I care about my players. And I should be allowed to prepare, professionally.
‘And if anybody wants to say, ‘Oh, you should have been professional’. I tell you what’s professional.
‘She (the Swindon club secretary) looked on the portal. She made one mistake by pressing the wrong button, and the wrong name went down on these horrible computers that are going to take over the world in the end.
‘So I forgive her that mistake. But the referee and the fourth official let her down at half-time. And the portal let her down. Apparently, she should have checked, with the handbook.
‘Sort your lives out, every single stinking one of you. That’s how I feel.
‘We’re going to get absolutely not listened to, they’re all too big to admit… and the pair of them don’t even get on anyway. The FA and the EFL. They do not get on. They do not like each other… it’s a joke.
‘I’ve been in front of them God knows how many times, because I’m passionate. And I’m not having our club secretary dragged through the coals, left, right and centre. You have a look at yourselves first. I know how wrong you all are. Cowards.’
Holloway, who has managed at the club since 2024, was similarly bullish when Clarke’s charge was initially handed down.
Shocking details of the FA’s investigation were published in the aftermath of the investigation, revealing that one Cardiff player was left ‘very emotional and struggling to speak’ after the incidents, which occurred in the 57th minute and the 94th minute of the match, occurred.
One of the victims was described by the referee Elliot Bell of approaching him ‘visibly upset’ to tell him about what had happened.
Bell included the detail in his official match report and an Independent Regulatory Commission heard evidence from the Swindon captain. Clarke admitted the charges in the hearing and gave explanations for them, arguing that both incidents were unintentional – a claim rejected by the panel.
There was ‘no plausible explanation’ for Clarke’s behaviour, said the panel, insisting that ‘touching an opponent’s private body parts during a game’, especially when the ball was out of play, was a ‘highly invasive, intrusive and violating’ act.
But the 62-year-old manager said: ‘I vouched for his character, and I know he’s competitive, and he wouldn’t have meant anything that he’s allegedly done.’
‘We tried to fight it. It took so long, it was disgraceful. They drew it out, and now he’s got such a hefty ban. It was an unfair decision, in my opinion. But there you go.
‘For me, it hasn’t affected the way I feel about him, not in any way, shape or form. I saw what he did. I’ve watched it back. And for me, it was nonsense. That’s the way the game is these days, and that’s the way they see it.
‘But I would have rather they reported him to the police, and the police would have let him off, because there’s no evidence, simple as that.’
Swindon Town beat Barrow on Saturday 3-1, and currently sit sixth in the League Two standings, but the investigation into Clarke and Drinan’s inclusion in the EFL Trophy could yet threaten the team’s progression in the tournament.
‘It’s a siege mentality in my head now, absolutely totally and utterly,’ Holloway concluded.
‘And if Luton go through, good luck to you. We beat you fair and square.’
