Holloway ready for a new year clear-out

IAN HOLLOWAY has moved to kick off his revolution at Leicester City by asking seven players to leave ahead of a major spending spree in the January sales.

Holloway has compared his unwanted duds to dead men walking in Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video and claims that if they stay they risk wrecking his hopes of hauling Leicester out of relegation trouble.

Former Republic of Ireland international Alan Maybury, Carl Cort, Shaun Newton, Rab Douglas, Hossein Kaebi, Sergio Hellings and Jimmy Nielsen have all been told to find other clubs by the new Leicester manager.

The players — five of which were signed by former manager Martin Allen this summer — have been warned they will be expelled from training if they fail to leave by the New Year.

And Holloway — who has only won once in eight games since taking charge — has pleaded with them to get fixed up with other clubs as he attempts to clean up the mess left by Allen.

He said: “You’ve seen the film ‘Thriller’ by Michael Jackson — well we’ve got some dead men walking here and we need to get rid of them.

“I’m asking these players to do that for their own sanity. I’ve given them until after Christmas to try and secure alternative employment.

“I can’t make them go. But if they don’t, then I will put on a separate training for at least five or six of them because I can’t ask my group of players, in an energy-based sport, to try and gather momentum if there’s somebody dragging them from the back.

“At Plymouth, we moved 10 players in and nine players out over 18 months. Here we have 41 players. I’ve inherited five players who were told by another manager that they were not getting a squad number and they’re still here.

“You look at Leeds United, and at Nottingham Forest when Gary Megson was there, if you can’t pay these people off, you’re in big trouble.”

Holloway looked on course for a welcome win after Iain Hume’s spectacular 25-yard free kick in the 4th minute.

But they failed to kill off the toothless Wolves and were punished when Matt Jarvis equalised on his full home debut 18 minutes from time.

Mick McCarthy is another Championship manager itching to splash the cash in the January sales — and has already seen a £2.5million (€3.4m) bid for Cardiff midfielder Joe Ledley rejected.

He said: “There’s no question we will strengthen the team in January. Individual players I won’t talk about but we are trying to bring people in.

“Up until the last four games you would have got a much better class report than you would have before. Having taken two points from them that’s clearly not good enough.

“It doesn’t make it right but every team has a tough spell. Charlton and Watford lost four on the bounce, whereas we’ve drawn two out of four.

“It’s not great or what I want but from all of us there has to be an acceptance. Are we going to bang at it every single week or get every decision? Probably not, so it’s how we react to it that will make the difference to whether we start winning again.”

WOLVES (4-4-2): Hennessey 7, Foley 5, Gray 4 (Ward 82, 5), Collins 5, Ward 5, Olofinjana 5, Gibson 5 (Keogh 69, 7), Henry 5, Jarvis 5, Bothroyd 5, Elliott 4 (Eastwood 46, 6).

Subs Not Used: Edwards, Ikeme.

LEICESTER (4-1-3-2): Fulop 6, Stearman 6, Mattock 6, Kisnorbo 7, McAuley 7, N’Gotty 7, Chambers 6 (Kenton 83, 5), Clemence 7, Hume 7, Fryatt 6 (Hayes 83, 5), John 6.

Subs Not Used: Henderson, Sheehan, King.

REFEREE: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 6: The official had only one crucial decision to make — and got it right, by spotting that Jay Bothroyd was offside when Neill Collins struck late.

MATCH RATING: ** The game was chosen for television because both teams were expected to be battling for promotion — but it was a damp squib.