Plenty of eyebrows were raised when former Norwich City promotion-winner and Player of the Year Gary Holt took his first job in top flight football management in August when he became the new boss of Ladbrokes Premiership ‘relegation favourites’ Livingston.
The Livi Lions won an unlikely promotion back to the top flight last season by winning the play-offs before manager David Hopkin left the club and was replaced by Kenny Miller in the summer. The former Rangers striker lasted just two league games in the job before leaving the Tony Macaroni Arena, or Spaghettihad Stadium as some fans have comically dubbed their home ground.
In came former Norwich City midfielder Holt, a man with no previous top flight managerial experience, taking his first job at that level at the age of 45, eight years after hanging up his boots. Holt previously had a successful spell with second tier club Falkirk over four years ago which saw him win almost half of his matches in charge before working as a first team coach at former club Norwich City, a role which saw him assist both Neil Adams and Alex Neil.
There are some previous faint links between Holt’s current club Livingston and former club Norwich City. In the 2005/2006 season, Paul Lambert started his managerial career with the Livi Lions in difficult circumstances, a spell which certainly would have prepared the Scot well for his future in management. Lambert later went on to win back-to-back promotions as Norwich City manager, guiding the club from Sky Bet League One to the English Premier League. If Holt can follow a similar path resulting in him managing bigger clubs in the future, whether that be in England or another division across Europe, he will have made it in football management.
Holt’s spell at Livingston started with a real bang. A 2-0 win at ‘relegation rivals’ St Mirren in his first game set the tone for a fascinating seven-match unbeaten league run. Livi have taken points from Celtic and Rangers under Holt’s leadership, as well as the two well-established Edinburgh clubs, Hearts and Hibernian. Ahead of Livingston’s final match of 2018 against Aberdeen, they had conceded just three league goals on home soil, a truly remarkable record for a side tipped for an immediate relegation to the Ladbrokes Championship before a ball was even kicked.
In an interview with The72, Holt remains very cool about his achievements at Livingston so far and is continuing to target survival, a goal which his side will almost certainly achieve.
“I want the same again (in 2019)” said Holt. “I want the same desire, the same work-rate, the same hunger.
“We want to continue to pick up points.
“Our expectation is to guarantee 10th and until that’s done and dusted, we just keep looking at what is above us and we continue to go toe-to-toe in matches and give the opposition a good game.”
There are no easy games for Livingston this season with the club operating on a small playing budget and battling to survive on crowds which regularly see less than 2,000 home fans flock to the Tony Macaroni Arena. Having played under the likes of Bobby Williamson, Nigel Worthington, Gary Megson and Colin Calderwood during his career, Livi boss Holt has plenty of friends to call upon for advice when the going gets tough but he believes that focussing on the task in hand in West Lothian and simply working hard is the most important factors to get the desired results.
Holt added “The environment is very much about drawing a line under the defeats and moving on to the next one, put it to bed.
“If you keep beating yourself up, you are never going to achieve anything.
“We look at the areas which we can improve on both as individuals and collectively and that’s what we do.”
January is probably Holt’s biggest month yet at Livingston manager. His side face Hearts at Tynecastle in the William Hill Scottish Cup before travelling to St Johnstone and hosting Rangers in the Ladbrokes Premiership. Holt has his players well-organised and up for the battle though and this season’s underdogs have many more giant-killings left in them yet.
Holt’s calm, workmanlike approach to management is undoubtedly helping Livingston deliver the goods in what is becoming a truly extraordinary season for the side in black and gold. For now, the Livi boss will quietly take the praise which comes his way but it may just be a matter of time before his managerial talents are gracing a greater stage such as the English Football League.
