Ian Holloway has claimed that he wants to improve the players of Swindon Town as much as he can as he attempts to drag the club away from a relegation battle.

After a disappointing 19th placed finish last season, the aim for the club this year was to push for a much stronger league position and possibly achieve a play-off spot, but as it stands, the Robins are a long way from that mark.

After the removal of Mark Kennedy, the former Crystal Palace boss spoke to TalkSport and said how he’s determined to get the best out of a young squad and improve them.

“There was a feeling of a lot of disappointment for quite a while because they only won three games and lost eight.

“They [the players] look disappointed, but for me I’ve gained where the poor manager’s lost his job and that’s the way things are these days but he’s only just brought these people in.

“What my job is now is to try and encourage them and be enthusiastic and help them grow into a shape, and the more I get them to buy into each other and where they’re going and the more they enjoy it, the better it’s gonna be!”

The experienced manager used veteran Neil Warnock as an example of how he put older managers back onto the map.

The former Cardiff boss came out of retirement to join Huddersfield in 2023 and Holloway used his tenure as an example of how older managers can bring back a feel-good factor.

“If you look at Neil Warnock a couple of years ago when he went in at Huddersfield, he did us senior managers a massive favour because he made everyone enjoy themselves and kept them up.

“Then the following year they give it to somebody else, what on earth?

“I feel like a brain surgeon who hasn’t done an operation for quite a while because they’re giving it to people who haven’t done any brain surgery yet and just passed their exams!”

The former Blackpool manager was born just three miles away from Bristol and has explained that the location of the role was a key factor in him taking it.

“At the end of the day, I’ve got to start from the bottom and work up and why not do it in a west country team?

“I’m a west country person, it’s up the road and why can’t I make this lot believe that they’re better than they are and keep working and trying to improve.

“We need to make everybody happier around the ground, that’s what I wanna be, happy; I feel so alive right now, it’s completely insane.”

Despite only taking the job on Monday, he is already educated on the club’s history and discussed the Robins heroes of the 90s.

“I’ve got Glenn Hoddle behind me!”, he said whilst pointing at the picture of Swindon’s play-off promotion to the Premier League.

“How good was he? Paul Bodin too, this is what it’s all about!

“On Saturday, it was Don Rogers birthday, he was there and so was John Trollope, you have to buy into what you’re doing and as I’m west country they won’t need an interpreter to listen to me, that’s for sure.