Former Premier League manager Ian Holloway claims his new club Swindon Town is ‘haunted’ and has asked his wife to ‘cleanse the area with sage’.
After nearly four years away from the dugout, cult-hero Holloway recently made his managerial return to take charge of struggling League Two side Swindon.
His arrival has yielded a turnaround in form, with the Robins winning two and drawing one of four games under the new boss.
Both victories have come in the cup competitions however, with Holloway needing to improve the league form with his side just a point above the relegation zone.
But while most managers in his position will look to sign new players or coaches, the 61-year-old is instead in search of an exorcist amid claims that Swindon’s training ground in Calne is cursed.
This belief has only grown stronger thanks to a string of first-team injuries. Ollie Clarke is the latest to fall victim, with the midfielder ruled out for a month with an ankle issue.
‘I am absolutely devastated [by Clarke’s injury], so I am going to try and cleanse the training ground area because people are telling me it is haunted,’ Holloway said.
‘Seriously, there is a graveyard somewhere near, I am not joking. My wife watches this bloke on YouTube, Caspersight, and he goes “It was built on a graveyard!”.
‘I think that our training ground is very close to an ancient burial site, so I am going to get my wife to come up and say sorry to all of these people and hopefully we will have a bit more luck.’
Superstitions are nothing new in football, with legendary Leeds manager Don Revie notably having an exorcism on Elland Road in order to lift a ‘gypsy’s curse’.
Former Birmingham boss Barry Fry was also concerned that a ‘gypsy’s curse’ was plaguing their ground and reportedly urinated on all four corners of the St. Andrews pitch in order to ward off evil spirits.
The eccentric Holloway, who previously managed Blackpool and Crystal Palace in the top-flight, revealed he was inspired by Fry’s story but would not be taking such drastic action.
‘I don’t want to do what he did, I think he had to urinate in the corners of his pitch, but I am not doing that,’ he added.
‘I am going to get my wife up with her sage, I have done the old Glastonbury stuff, the “hail and welcome” and all of that stuff – it is brilliant.
‘It is great if you believe in it. Do I? I am not sure. But I will get her to try just to help because there are some strange things happening, there really are.’
Only time will tell if the cleansing works, with Swindon next in action on Saturday when they host relegation rivals Morecambe.