Ian Holloway has admitted that he feels 'the wheels were turning against him' during his final season as manager of Queens Park Rangers.
The Bristolian endured difficult circumstances during his second spell in charge at Loftus Road as he tried to forge a unity among the squad while those above him offloaded the high-earners in the ranks.
Despite this, Holloway managed to guide the Hoops to a 16th place finish in the Championship and massively aided the development of QPR's young stars by easing a number of prospects into the first team fold.
He was then sacked after the final game of the 2017-18 season, with Steve McClaren swiftly replacing him.
Holloway was a special guest on the live edition of the Open All Rs QPR podcast this week and admits that he did all that he could to keep the club challenging through difficult circumstances.
Speaking about his sacking, he said: "Whatever happens, happens and you don't know it's going to happen.
"I tried my best and while I was trying my best I feel that some wheels were turning against me behind the scenes, but I can't prove any of that.
"That doesn't matter. I did what I could and what I needed to do - you trusted me to do it. I had to knock it down a bit. I told the senior lads that I'm not going to give them anything (new contracts) because I can't, and every one of them played with their heart full of QPR for me and for you.
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"Nedum Onuoha, Jamie Mackie, Jack Robinson - who had overcome all sorts of things, James Perch - he had the odd wild tackle in him but he was wonderful. You can't do anything with too many young'uns because if it goes wrong they'll lose belief. You need the odd senior one.
"It wasn't until this season that we added a couple of quality players to help them, but it's all about what this place is about.
"I believe that deep down there's a fantastic core that will come through but you can't make the mistakes that we've made over the last however many years and mop it up quickly because it just won't work.
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"If we can create a stable base, show the young players that they're going to get through and maybe borrow one or two with the scouting network that we have without any interference from knee-jerky people then give it a chance to work.
"Get behind Les (Ferdinand), get behind Chris Ramsey who's done a brilliant job behind the scenes with the young ones, and trust. If you trust what they're doing we will get better."
You can listen to Ian Holloway's appearance on the Open All Rs podcast HERE
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