Bristol Rovers legend Ian Holloway has revealed that he nearly re-joined the club to take on an upstairs role alongside former manager Joey Barton before his sacking in October.
Holloway, widely known as 'Ollie,' made over 400 appearances for the Gas across three separate stints during his 19-year playing career before taking over in the dugout in 1996, initially on a player-manager basis, until 2001.
Although going on to manage at an array of other clubs such as Blackpool, Millwall, QPR and Grimsby Town, the 60-year-old has remained a Rovers icon and is still associated with the football club having most recently featured in the Gas' away kit launch in the summer with the shirt celebrating inclusivity in football, sporting the message 'football brings us all together' in braille.
However, speaking to OLBG about all things Bristol Rovers, Holloway revealed: "To be honest, I nearly went in to work with Joey Barton (in an upstairs role). When they sacked him for whatever reason, I wasn't happy. At the end of the day, I'm a Rovers fan and I thought the way he was doing things and the squad he was building was right. I thought he and his staff got the club.
"Unfortunately, the club changed. The owner (Wael al-Qadi) sold a big percentage of it and they (the new ownership) saw things differently. I wanted to work with Joey and the job I was in discussions with Rovers over would have suited me down to the ground.
"It never happened and the new people came in. If they didn't, I would have probably been in a job and I think Joey would still have been. It's all about relationships."
Bristol Live understands that Holloway had been one of many potential candidates of interest to Rovers in the early stages of their managerial search before eventually hiring Matt Taylor following a five-week process.
On being linked with the job and Taylor's appointment, the club legend added: "I would have preferred the other role I was going to get (instead of management). I would have let Joey carry on being the manager and I would have overseen things and helped the club get to where I always wanted it to be in the first place.
"I don't want to talk about job titles because nothing happened. They wanted to speak to me for two-and-a-half years and absolutely nothing has happened! That's life. Crazy.
"The jury is out for me. I didn't want Joey to leave and while that may be a bit personal, because I was going to come in and work with him two days a week, the jury is out.
"Good luck to Matt Taylor, and I would never wish anything bad on anyone, but he's not who I would have picked in one million years.
"I would have picked myself. I don't think there's anyone better than me for that job. Maybe I'm sounding a little bit big-headed but I can't see how anybody could care more about Bristol Rovers than me.
"It breaks my heart that I got Blackpool promoted and not Bristol Rovers."
