Ian Holloway has never been one to hide his emotions and, when he saw something he didn’t like during Tuesday’s EFL Trophy clash between Swindon Town and Aston Villa’s Under-21s, he did not shy away from pointing it out.
It should have been a day of celebration for the Hammers’ youngsters. And, in a way, it was.
George Earthy was ‘outstanding’ on his comeback with a goal and an assist inside 45 minutes. Ex-Celtic starlet Daniel Cummings stepped up his own return, while Greg Lincoln’s side became the first academy side to secure their place in the knockout rounds of the 2025/26 EFL Trophy.
Yet, as a brawl broke out between the two sides following West Ham United’s dramatic 3-2 victory over League One outfit Swindon Town, the home side’s head coach was left with a nasty taste in his mouth.
Swindon’s Joel McGregor and West Ham’s Luis Brown were both red carded after the final whistle. Holloway, meanwhile, took particular umbrage with what he felt was some pretty blatant play-acting from the visitors’ goalkeeper Krisztian Hegyi.
Ian Holloway slams Swindon and West Ham United brawl after EFL Trophy thriller
Speaking to the Gazette and Herald, in addition to Swindon’s official YouTube channel, Holloway did not absolve his Swindon players from their responsibility.
While he felt that West Ham’s youngsters have a lot to learn regarding their maturity and their conduct, he argues that a Robins side with plenty of experienced campaigners had no excuse for losing their heads.
“I am disappointed with my team for that,” Holloway said. “We should be gracious in defeat. We should have shaken their hands and walked off. That is now a problem, and it is how you behave. I am seething with what I saw.
“We all have a duty to teach young people how to behave. I don’t like my lads coming off the pitch wanting to fight people. That’s not what it’s about. We should have shaken their hands, said ‘well done, well played’ and all of this.
“And the ref should have done his job, which is not letting their [substitute] goalie walk all the way around telling the other goalie to go down and get some coaching on the side when we were totally on top.
“That is what I got booked for.”
Holloway felt that Hegyi, under the instruction of his back-up Reece Byrne, set about wasting time at a point in the game when Swindon were threatening an equaliser.
Holloway plans to ‘complain’ about Krisztian Hegyi time wasting
Just to add insult to injury, the Hungarian shot-stopper would then pull off a superb late save, ensuring that Josh Landers’ 15th goal in 20 youth team games would be the decider.
“At the end of the day, we as people need to educate them how to behave, what to do. Bitterly disappointed with that,” adds Holloway, who famously took Blackpool to the Premier League in 2010 before making himself a cult hero with his bizarre quips and thrilling football.
“Well done to them. They took their chances when they had them. At the top end of the pitch, they were all very sharp. That is probably why they are at West Ham!
“You’ve got to put your egos down [as senior pros]. They are Under-21s, so what? They are Premier League Under-21s! I would have liked to have seen [West Ham] smiling and shaking our hands saying, ‘you actually played quite well’, because we did.
“That was all wrong. All the way around. You don’t end a match like that, not in any shape or form.
But the referee got it all wrong [as well].
“You can’t do that, you can’t buy yourself some time with your goalie rolling around. And why are you letting your sub goalie walk all the way around, telling him to do it? Is that allowed? What’s all that about then?
“That’s what I will be complaining about. Dodgy.”
Earthy assisted Josh Ajala’s second before converting himself, via a fine Landers through ball. The prolific former Hibernian starlet secured the win on the 69th minute, via two strikes from Swindon’s Paul Glatzel.
Centre-back Luis Brown was shown a red card in that final whistle fracas, meanwhile, despite not having set foot on the pitch over the 90 minutes.
