Hythe manager Ira Jackson recalls the time he challenged Ian Holloway while playing under him at Grimsby Town

Hythe boss Ira Jackson wasn’t afraid to call out Ian Holloway when he felt the legendary manager had abandoned his principles during their time together at Grimsby.

It was Holloway, one of the game’s great characters, who gave Jackson his big break in the Football League when he signed the forward from Folkestone in the summer of 2020.

Jackson was a huge admirer of the former QPR midfielder, who led Blackpool to promotion to the Premier League, and that was a major reason for signing for him.

So he wasn’t going to stand by and accept not playing as pressure mounted on Holloway, now in charge at Swindon, following a slow start to the season.

Jackson was finally handed his league debut in December, coming off the bench to score against Mansfield.

A first start followed, against Southend, and Jackson scored again.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned from him is just honesty and integrity,” said Jackson, who was named Hythe boss in May.

“For a long period of his tenure, while I was a player, he kind of stepped away from his principles because of the pressure and stuff like that.

“One of the conversations we had, two days before my debut, was about that, honesty and integrity, and I kind of called him on it, and he apologised and ended up giving me my debut.

“So one of the things I’ll take from him is always be honest, always have integrity and I’ll take that from Neil Cugley (ex-Folkestone manager) as well.

“Cugs cared more about the person than he did the player and that’s something that’s very in line with my values and I think that’s why we got on like a house on fire.

“They’re definitely things I’ll take from both Cugs and Ian Holloway.”

It could be considered brave of Jackson, then in his early 20s and new to the Football