Holloway resigns over Villa team selection

Blackpool boss Ian Holloway is standing by his pledge to resign if his team was fined for fielding a weakened side against Aston Villa in November.

Holloway made 10 changes for the match, in which Blackpool were only denied a draw by a last-minute James Collins goal giving Villa a 3-2 win.

After the game Holloway declared he would offer his resignation if the club was fined.

“If I got fined for picking a weakened team I would resign – I would pack it in,” Holloway said, arguing he should be entitled to pick whatever team he chooses from his 25-man squad.

Now 47-year-old Holloway, who guided Blackpool to promotion from the Championship last term, insists he will stand by the threat he made.

“He (the chairman) will be getting my resignation because that is how strongly I feel,” Holloway told the Blackpool Gazette. “It is up to him whether he chooses to take it.”

“I don’t know who I am working for. I have done the best job I could for this club and have tried to win every single game, including the game at Aston Villa.”

Blackpool Chairman Karl Oyston said he would not accept Holloway’s offer to stand down from his position.

“I absolutely would not accept his resignation and I would fight to the death to keep him in his post,” Oyston said. “He has done fantastically well and deserves to manage at this level for ever.”

“It would be absolutely ridiculous if Ian felt compelled to resign because of what is an unjust decision and he shouldn’t compound that by stopping doing what he is doing so well.”