Blackpool manager Ian Holloway’s decision to make 10 changes to his starting XI in midweek has been the talking point of the Premier League this week.
Having seen Wolves fined £25,000 for making a similar number of changes last season, questions were raised about a possible punishment for the Seasiders following the 3-2 defeat at Aston Villa.
Following the match Holloway insisted he would quit if the Premier League imposed a fine on his club (you can listen to his explosive rant
here), and members of the football community have weighed in with their views.
Here’s what they had to say:
Blackpool forward Marlon Harewood, who started the game, told the Daily Mirror: “We have a 25-man squad and can play whoever we want from that list.”
Stoke manager Tony Pulis: “I think it should be left to the manager of the football club to decide what team they pick, and nobody else. Knowing Ian, and I’ve known him since he was 14, whatever team he picks he will expect to go out and have ago. I think they did that, they were very unlucky not to get something out of the game. Who is to say the other 10 players he left out would have done as well as the 10 that played?”
Fulham chief Mark Hughes: “He needs to be allowed to manage. Only he and his staff know the current state of his team and if he feels certain players need a rest and he could still put out a team to compete at Premier League level, which they did, then he has the right to do that. It would be wrong when people start stepping in and start telling managers who they should be picking... If you have outside people dictating of who you should pick, then it makes a mockery of it all.”
West Ham boss Avram Grant: “They did what they had to do for that (match). Also they have a bigger squad than us, and without injuries, so they could do it.”
Aston Villa manager Gerard Houllier told the Birmingham Mail: “That kind of team are going to have nothing to lose. They’ll throw everything at you. Suddenly their level which is normally so high will raise and it will be the level of the first team.”