Ivan Hollett has died and with him part of my youth. He was a seriously good centre forward. How Mansfield failed to get the best out of him it is difficult to appreciate, but if it had been left to our manager Tony McShane then we would never have seen him flourish either. McShane managed us in an era when we had no spare cash and were reduced to signing a new set of cast-offs every season. Ivan Hollett's signing for us was literally a car crash, one in which our centre forward Ralph Hunt had been tragically killed. Even then it took us a while to realise what we'd got. But Ivan Hollett did eventually become a Saltergate Spion Kop hero.
We'll remember his headed goals, we'll remember his ability to bring the rest of the forward line into play and perhaps most of all we'll recall that he didn't just limit himself to ploughing down the middle. That's why he needed support up front. He needed to lead the line and would also quite often find himself receiving the ball out wide too. That gave defenders a problem. They were never quite sure who should be picking him up. Though he wasn't slow, he wasn't a speedster either, so when he received the ball out wide you'd think that would have been a recipe for an attack going nowhere. Nothing of the sort. He'd look a little hesitant and would draw in his defender. Then, it wasn't a thing of beauty, it wasn't a Ronaldo step-over or a Cruyff turn, but he'd do his shuffle first one way then the other, his feet would tango, then he'd be off. he'd gain a yard or two on any defender and depending on the circumstances would either whip in a surprisingly dangerous cross, or cut inside himself towards goal.
I wish someone had mentioned that in the piece on our website. I've never seen anyone else do it in quite the same way. Had the right people seen him at the right time he could have played at a higher level. He enjoyed playing and I was one of those who loved watching him. Almost no-one now has even heard of him, but I'll never forget him. RIP dear man.
We'll remember his headed goals, we'll remember his ability to bring the rest of the forward line into play and perhaps most of all we'll recall that he didn't just limit himself to ploughing down the middle. That's why he needed support up front. He needed to lead the line and would also quite often find himself receiving the ball out wide too. That gave defenders a problem. They were never quite sure who should be picking him up. Though he wasn't slow, he wasn't a speedster either, so when he received the ball out wide you'd think that would have been a recipe for an attack going nowhere. Nothing of the sort. He'd look a little hesitant and would draw in his defender. Then, it wasn't a thing of beauty, it wasn't a Ronaldo step-over or a Cruyff turn, but he'd do his shuffle first one way then the other, his feet would tango, then he'd be off. he'd gain a yard or two on any defender and depending on the circumstances would either whip in a surprisingly dangerous cross, or cut inside himself towards goal.
I wish someone had mentioned that in the piece on our website. I've never seen anyone else do it in quite the same way. Had the right people seen him at the right time he could have played at a higher level. He enjoyed playing and I was one of those who loved watching him. Almost no-one now has even heard of him, but I'll never forget him. RIP dear man.