Alex Smithies reveals bizarre Ian Holloway story at QPR - 'No one could quite believe it!' | OneFootball

Alex Smithies played under Ian Holloway at QPR, and he took inspiration from Coach Carter when drawing up tactics

Ian Holloway is widely recognised as one of the more eccentric managers in English football, with a storied dugout career which has spanned 30 years.

The current Swindon Town boss's finest hour arguably came at Blackpool, where he led the Tangerines to an unlikely promotion to the Premier League, becoming just the second side to win the play-offs after finishing sixth. But the 63-year-old has plenty of accolades alongside that.

At Queens Park Rangers, Holloway spent five years as a player and a further five years in the Loftus Road dugout between 2001 and 2006, where he helped them out of the old second division and into what is now the Championship.

And a decade later, he returned to manage the Hoops once more as they navigated life following relegation from the Premier League a little over a year earlier. Only this time, he arrived with different tactical ideas.

Ian Holloway used ideas from Coach Carter in his second spell at QPR, says Alex Smithies

With over 1,000 games as a manager, there have been plenty of stories surrounding the quirks of Holloway, and QPR's goalkeeper for that second spell at Loftus Road, Alex Smithies, revealed yet another in an exclusive interview with Football League World.

The 36-year-old has been coached by his fair share of characters in the EFL, from Lee Clark during his time at Huddersfield Town to Neil Warnock while at Cardiff City.

But he admitted that the number of stories about Holloway exceeded his tales from his time under other coaches, and that began with one of the first acts he did when he returned to Loftus Road in 2016.

"On day one, he sat us all down, the club staff, the canteen staff, all the coaches, all the team, there was no team meeting, and we just watched Coach Carter from start to finish," he said.

"So yeah, that was a bizarre start, but he liked a couple of things that happened in that film, and he based his tactics on it. No one could quite believe it!"

Coach Carter was a 2005 film starring Samuel L. Jackson, which told the true story of a high school basketball coach in America. In the film, he returns to his former school and takes a struggling team under his wing, known more for violence and poor academia than actual sporting talent.

Part of his coaching style revolved around naming plays after his ex-girlfriends. Odd at first, but it ends up transforming the team's form, and Holloway took inspiration from that at QPR.

"We had a sort of high press, and when he shouted Linda, who was one of the girls' names in the film, we all would press high," Smithies continued.

"The opposition manager would look at him, shouting these women's names on the sidelines, confused, but we all knew what to do.

"It was bizarre, but I was thankful to play under him. It was a crazy time. A crazy manager at a crazy club."

Ian Holloway's quirky approach outlines the type of character he has become loved for

Unfortunately, unlike in the film, QPR didn't transform into a Championship-winning side from the 17th place they were in when Ian Holloway returned to the Loftus Road dugout in November 2016. In fact, the Hoops would finish 18th.

After a 16th-placed finish in his first full season back, he left his managerial post and has yet to manage again in the second-tier, next taking the reins at Grimsby Town and now at Swindon Town.

But his eccentric nature preceded his time back at QPR, and it clearly hasn't left him since.

Back in February, he hit the headlines for one of the most astonishing manager rants ever seen, following Swindon's win over Barrow, after he found out that Ollie Clarke couldn't play in the game.

He clearly divides opinion; some people will think that his tactics are nonsensical, but others see the successes he's had and buy into them.

Smithies was QPR's first-choice shot-stopper under Holloway and left for Cardiff the summer following the manager's departure. Evidently, he was one of those who enjoyed his time under the 63-year-old boss and took his "crazy" tendencies as part of his tactical style.