Motivation is all about judging your players. There's no point harping on about playing for the team or the shirt (as Holloway tends to in public) because if they are not Leicester fans that will not motivate them. They don't care what happens to Leicester City. Their next move is the best way to motivate some, perform here and you can go on to better clubs, slouch around the pitch and you could end up in league one earning less ! The older ones can be motivated by the thought of one last move to aid their pension, or just the opportunity to play regularly, if they put in a performance, but a manager has to stick to his guns. If a player isn't performing then he has to be dropped, even if the other player on paper is worse. We have a big enough squad to be able to do this, yet Holloway doesn't use it. The younger players can be motivated by the thought of playing first team football, instead the chances are they are more likely to be loaned out and if they get another manager like Holloway all that will mean is reserve matches.
Of course the best way to motivate a squad is by playing them in a formation they have faith in. When Holloway walked through the door, one of his first comments was about changing the players to play his way, when in fact he should have been changing his style to suit the players we had/have. Holloway, as of yet, has failed to motivate.