Ian Holloway has made a surprise return to football after being confirmed as the new manager of Swindon Town.

Holloway has been out of work since resigning from his post at Grimsby in December 2020 and was widely assumed to have fully stepped away from management following a career in which he took charge of eight different clubs across 24 years, including Blackpool, who he led to the Premier League in 2010. But the colourful former Bristol Rovers and Queens Park Rangers midfielder is back, replacing Mark Kennedy at Swindon after he was sacked following the club’s poor start to the season. Swindon sit one place above the League Two relegation zone with only two wins from 13 games after Kennedy’s appointment in May.

“I’m delighted to be back working in football after a period out of the game as I wanted to get back into it if the right opportunity arose which, with this opportunity, I feel is the perfect fit for me,” said Holloway, who has signed a deal until the end of the season. “Conversations happened very quickly and both sides were very keen to get the deal done and of course, I was delighted to engage with a club like Swindon Town, a club of whom I know a lot about due to my location and knowledge of the local area.”

Holloway will be at the County Ground on Saturday for the visit of Gillingham but purely as a spectator as first-team coaches Marcus Bignot, Steve Mildenhall and Gavin Gunning take charge of the team. “I want to be able to bring everyone together to deliver success and positivity on and off the pitch and I look forward to a successful time working together,” added the 61-year-old.

Following Holloway’s appointment, Swindon’s head of football, Jamie Russell, said: “We are confident that Ian’s experience and leadership qualities, which he has shown for many years across not just at Premier League level but the top five divisions of professional football, will be a significant asset for Swindon Town. His passionate approach coupled with his location being more local to the south-west area along with most importantly, a desire to build a hardworking and entertaining side is a large part of what made us believe he would be the ideal fit for us.

“Additionally, Ian’s ability to help grow, develop and nurture not only our first-team players but also the dedicated coaching staff we have at Swindon Town was important to us.”