Holloway: Niklas Bendtner would have been 'great signing' for Palace, but chairman blocked deal

Book reveals Holloway's fall-out with club chairman

FORMER Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway has revealed how he fell out with club chairman Steve Parish over a prospective signing.

The former's target player was  Niklas Bendtner, a Danish striker who had been struggling to hit top form at Arsenal.

"I thought he would could be a great signing for us," says Holloway in his book which was published in paperback earlier this year. "I was thinking he could bring us that little extra bit of quality we needed."

He thought the deal had been sorted in the run-up to the transfer deadline - but it was not to be.

"I came in the following morning and sitting there was another lad."

When Holloway protested to the chairman that he had not been kept informed about the Bendtner situation and knew nothing about the alternative signing, the chairman was unapologetic.

He is quoted by Holloway as having responded: "What you've got to realise is that it's my show,"

The then manager's response was: "You're too close to this agent, and you've undermined me - he hasn't mentioned the player once to me and the kid isn't on my radar."

In his book, How To Be A Football Manager, confides: "That hurt me so much, but the golden rule here is that, if you fall out with the chairman, there's almost certainly going to be only one winner."

Within days, Holloway had left the club, shortly afterwards to be replaced by his friend, Tony Pulis, author of the foreword to the book.

Steve Parish is not identified in this section of the book, but it does not take an Einstein to work out that it is he is the 'chairman' referred to. 

Later, Holloway concedes: "In fairness to my former chairman, what he's done with the club up to the present day is fantastic, but working his way was not the way I wanted to manage.

"We'd been good for each other, but it was time to move on." 

Nor is the agent named but he is thought to be Will Salthouse (42), boss of the firm, Unique Sports Group.

Also unnamed is the player signed in favour of Bendtner but it is thought to have been  either Adlène Guedioura or Adrian Mariappa.

In his book, Holloway also reveals how, during Palace's promotion season, he became "needled" at press conference when he was constantly asked about Wilf Zaha when his ethos was about the "team" and "everyone being equally important".

In response to a question from one journalist, he snapped: "Why don't you ask me about Mile Jedinak who is one of the finest leaders I have ever worked with, both on and off the pitch?"

During the same session, the former manager went to bang the drum for Glenn Murray, Damien Delaney and Julian Speroni.    

Full of fascinating insights about his four decades in football - and plentiful witticisms - How To Be a Football Manager is published by Headline Publishing at £22.