SPOOKED former Premier League boss Ian Holloway claims Swindon Town’s training ground is “haunted”.
The 61-year-old jumped at the chance to take over the League Two side last month.
Holloway’s positive spirit has seen Swindon rise from the brink of EFL death, with their ghastly form improving since the arrival of the former QPR, Blackpool and Crystal Palace manager.
He has overseen two wins, a draw and a loss amid the Robins rocking in relegation terror as they sit 22nd in the table.
A frightened Holloway has blamed their poor start to the season on Swindon’s cursed training ground as “some strange things have been happening”.
The veteran boss is now ready to go to drastic lengths to scare off the ghosts after doomed captain Ollie Clarke ruptured an ankle tendon during a session last week.
Following their 2-2 draw against Accrington Stanley on Saturday, Holloway told the BBC: “I’m going to try and cleanse the training ground area because people are telling me it’s haunted.
“There’s a graveyard somewhere near. Honestly, I’m not joking.
“I think our training ground is very close to an ancient burial site.
“I’m going to get my wife to come up and say sorry to all these people and hopefully we’ll have a bit more luck.”
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But Swindon‘s first goal had an element of fortune about it as something possessed Accrington’s ‘ghoulie’ to charge off his line and leave an empty net for Harry Smith to head in to.
Holloway’s “witch” wife Kim is now set to come to the training ground, or perhaps haunted house, this week with “sage” to end the jinx.
He has previously claimed his dad contacted him from the dead by changing the car dials on his car.
Holloway says a ghost turned up while a Mariah Carey song played on the radio and a light came into his vehicle to leave him “shaking”.
He explained: “The song was on and ‘shining down on me from Heaven’ got louder and louder and louder until it was completely top notch.
“I saw it go from 10 up to about 35 and it was deafening. The minute the song finished that went right back down to normal.
“I thought, ‘Has that really happened or what? Or is that me wishing that?’ Do you get what I mean? And I swear he came and showed me that, ‘Don’t worry son, you’ll be fine.’ Right?
“Now, I would never have believed that, I wouldn’t have thought for one minute that he would have ever have done that because he said it was all a load of garbage.
“So the truth is, I don’t know. And did I feel it? Did I want to feel it? Was it really there? I cannot honestly tell you. But I swear to you, I saw the dial move on its own.”
Back in his playing days, he scored in his first game after his dad’s death and he felt him “in his boots” that day.
Holloway is not the only manager to tackle a team’s spirit.
Ex-Birmingham boss Barry Fry urinated in all four corners of the St Andrews pitch – running from corner to corner mid-flow – to ward off a curse he had heard about.
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