Ian Holloway said that his Swindon Town team need to learn how to be winners if they are to continue to improve.
After ending the first 18 games of the League Two season rock bottom of League Two, Holloway has executed a massive turnaround which has seen them pick up the fourth-most points in the second 18 games, with only Colchester United, Walsall, and Bradford City collecting more.
As he looks to turn this terrific run of form into a stable recipe for competing towards the top end of the division, Holloway has started to look for the small areas of improvement which can help them do that.
Despite making another comeback to earn a point against Doncaster Rovers at the weekend, Holloway said that one thing that he wants to see his players develop is the mentality of winners and a more ruthless edge.
He said: “Our resilience is great and we have got that now, but I just don’t think we gee each other up badly enough when we need to.
“When it is not going well, we are too nice; I am not as nice as that and I told them that when I don’t get what I want, then I am not very nice at all, because I will not accept it.
“I have ended up winning things and before I thought that winners were born that way but they are not.
“They are losers who never give in, who keep going, and who are determined to win.
“That is what a winner is. So, are we winners yet? No we are not, but they are learning.”
Holloway said that with himself and many members of the squad not knowing what they were doing next season, they are all on trial and having to prove they are worth right until the end.
He said: “Every minute of every day [I am thinking about next season], we are all on trial, aren’t we? That is how I look at it.
“Until things are signed, crossed, and dotted every one of us is on trial, including me, and that is the way it is.
“I don’t think there is a lot wrong with that, I think that all of the politicians and world leaders should still be on trial and you should be judged on what you do today.
“We will keep enjoying what we are doing, keep working hard, and keep learning, me as well, learning about groups and how they are taking it and what we are like when we don’t get what we want.
“We will see where that takes us, but I am glad that we don’t have to win six more games than a few teams like other people have and we were lower than the two at the bottom a couple of months ago.
“I am very grateful for when we have done this, timing is absolutely vital, and do I see us capitulating and getting it all wrong? No, I don’t.”
Leave a Reply