I regard Ian Holloway as the most talented manager we appointed between Martin O'Neill and Nigel Pearson. The failures of the relegation season were, I believe, largely down to the abysmal choice of Martin Allen as manager and the behaviour of Gary Megson.
Ian Holloway took over a club in crisis as the 4th manager of the season, with a squad that was huge but short of talent and totally unbalanced (right back united). He had no choice but to desperately try and bring in new players over the transfer window.
Of his four permanent signings two were excellent. Howard would become player of the season last year and Oakley would become team captain. Hayles was a sensible buy for backup. Harry Worley was a mistake. The bringing in of the two Hungarian wingers was an act of desperation that might have worked but did not.
Having read Holloway's book I was looking forward to seeing what he would do with a pre-season and was disappointed when he left as I expected his replacement would not be as able. Obviously with hindsight we know that his replacement has been very impressive. I have also come to realise that Milan was right, if Holloway had stayed a section of the fans would have blamed him for the relegation and we needed a new manager for a fresh start.
For me as a proud Leicester supporter the unsavoury and churlish chants at Holloway when Blackpool came here were disappointing. This was no Mark McGhee or Dennis w*s* who had behaved badly but a good man who had tried to save a club in trauma and failed.
One can never prove a what-if but I believe that it Ian Holloway or Nigel Pearson had been appointed instead of Martin Allen with his pre-season and his money to spend that relegation season would have been very different.