Lyle Taylor issues bold Southampton FC, Ian Holloway claim amid Will Still dismissal | OneFootball

The former Championship striker believes the current Swindon Town boss should be appointed at St Mary's

Former Charlton Athletic and Nottingham Forest striker, Lyle Taylor, believes currently managerless Southampton should look to appoint modern-day EFL icon and current Swindon Town boss, Ian Holloway, as their replacement for Will Still.

The 35-year-old revealed such thoughts on BBC 5 Live Sport's latest edition of the Football Daily's '72+ EFL Podcast' alongside Aaron Paul and former Reading captain and one-time Championship title-winner, Jobi McAnuff.

It has been a disastrous return to the EFL for the South Coast side, despite the fact the initial appointment of Still back in May was met with a wave of optimism and intrigue.

After accumulating a measly 12 points in the Premier League last season, Saints supporters hoped that the highly-rated 32-year-old could turn the club's fortunes around swiftly, especially as his side were viewed as one of the obvious candidates for automatic promotion in comparison to many divisional rivals.

However, those dreams couldn't have been any further from what transpired, as Still received his P45 on Sunday evening, with a 2-0 defeat to play-off hopefuls, Preston North End, extending his league record at St Mary's to just one win since the opening day of the campaign, leaving Saints marooned in the second tier's bottom-half for the time being.

Several high-profile names have been linked with the vacancy, including rather outlandish claims that ownership group, Sport Republic, could attempt to lure either Frank Lampard or Mark Robins away from Coventry City or Stoke City - both of whom currently make up the automatic promotion places.

It has since been claimed that sporting director, Johannes Spors, is looking towards Germany for his latest appointment, although no names on said front are yet to be revealed.

However, Taylor believes the club should look into League Two and appoint Holloway, who is well-known for his enthusiasm for the game at any level.

Lyle Taylor issues Southampton FC, Ian Holloway claim amid Will Still departure

Taylor, now of Chelmsford City in the National League South, made 93 appearances at Championship level, scoring 23 times in the process.

Assessing the situation which Southampton currently find themselves in - which includes a dire and well-documented run of form under Russell Martin, Ivan Juric and Still, ever since they achieved a first-time promotion in the play-off final against Leeds United two seasons ago - the 35-year-old name-dropped Holloway after Paul and McAnuff debated whether Still had the personality required to take the club forward and implement a winning culture.

McAnuff posed the initial question of: "Who is the manager these days that is a massive personality that's tactically, you know, technically really, really savvy?

Much to his disbelief, Taylor responded: "Ian Holloway,", with the Sky pundit quick to respond with: "Oh god here you go.

Paul then jumped to Taylor's defence, saying: "No. I think he's got a point.

"But, look at Swindon," the former striker then added. "Look at Swindon.

"I know it's a different league and I know things are different in the Championship now to what they are in League Two.

"But you're talking about a personality that has ability in coaching, that has the experience to be able to galvanise a team and a fanbase," he said, much to McAnuff's continued bemusement, who simply quashed the conversation with: "Lyle come on, come on."

Ian Holloway's current situation at Swindon Town amid Lyle Taylor, Southampton FC claim

Of course, it would perk the interest of many, was Holloway to land the St Mary's gig. However, the chances of such circumstances playing out would be quite extraordinary.

The 62-year-old does, to his credit, have experience of winning promotion from the Championship, having done so back in 2009/10 against all odds with Blackpool, before going on to manage in the Premier League with the Tangerines and later on at Crystal Palace.

At present, though, his focus is very much on returning Swindon to League One for the first time since the 2020/21 season, having taken charge 13 months ago.

The Robins are currently second to league leaders Walsall by virtue of goal difference, having taken 26 points from their first 14 games, and are next in action against Tranmere Rovers on Saturday.