Holloway: 'That ghost didn’t head one in on Saturday'

Swindon Town boss Ian Holloway insisted he was not blaming ghosts on his team’s difficult start to the season – but still intended to get his wife to cleanse the training ground.

Holloway hit the national headlines this week following an interview where he claimed people had told him the club’s Beversbrook training centre was haunted.

The comments came following a 2-2 draw with Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

He told BBC Radio Wiltshire: “I'm absolutely devastated so 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 so 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.”

Holloway this week went on TalkSPORT to clarify the comments as part of the station’s breakfast show.

He said: “I am not saying that we have lost because of a ghost, you absolute chicken nuggets with barbecue pork.

“What I am saying is that the first meeting that I had here, this door behind me is very thick, I shut it and I walked back in and it had opened by itself. The lads went ‘don’t worry gaffer, that is just the ghost’.

“When you look up Beversbrook, it is an Anglo-Saxon burial site about 10 yards away from our training pitch.

“What I said is that I will help our lads in every way that I can and I will bring my wife up to cleanse the training ground.

“But that ghost didn’t head one in on Saturday. Can you imagine me letting the lads off with that?”

Speaking about his wife, the 61-year-old said: “She is a pagan, we go to Glastonbury and she believes in pagan rituals.

“What you do is make it (a spirit) an offering and you burn some sage to get rid of it, we are going to say sorry to the people that we might be trampling on in that area.”

Town, who are 22^nd in League Two, will be hoping for a spirited performance when they host Morecambe at the Nigel Eady County Ground on Saturday (3pm).

(Picture: Swindon Town FC YouTube Channel)