Jon Holmes exclusive interview: ‘Mr Leicester City’ has seen and done it all at the Foxes

Pioneering football agent Jon Holmes watched Don Revie’s Leeds as a student, while his most famous client Gary Lineker played for Everton when his goals at the 1986 World Cup changed their lives.

But there will be no split loyalties in Sunday’s relegation battle final. Holmes is known to friends as Mr Leicester City for a reason.

“I went to my first game when I was seven and have been doing everything at the club ever since,” he says. “Fan, stadium announcer, program editor, chairman.

‘A football club is nothing without its heritage. I get offended when I walk around town and see kids in Manchester United or Chelsea shirts.

‘There is a plaque of my father in the current memorial garden. He followed Leicester for 75 years and never saw them win the league or the FA Cup. I’ve been lucky enough to do both, but I’ve also been through eight relegations. And here we are again – win or bust on the last day.’

Holmes is eager to keep his beloved Leicester awake on a dramatic final day of the season

Holmes turns 73 next month and his sense of history makes him a natural co-host with author Colin Shindler for a nostalgia podcast called Football Ruined my Life.

But he knows how the modern world works. He has represented other top footballers such as Emile Heskey, Gary McAllister and Peter Shilton and now focuses on broadcasting with Mike Atherton, Ruby Walsh, David Gower and Lineker in his stable.

With a background as a financial advisor, his life changed after reading a book by American super agent Mark McCormack that made Arnold Palmer a star. Holmes tried to emulate McCormack while focusing on what he knew best: football and Leicester.

“I had always been close to the club. When I was in my twenties, I filled in for the stadium announcer. My first message about the Tannoy was to tell people that a vehicle had been left in the parking lot with the engine still running!

Shilts was my first client, but it was another Leicester goalkeeper, Mark Wallington, who led me to Gary Lineker. I chaired Mark’s testimonial committee and Gary was the helpful one who turned up for every event, cricket, snooker, you name it. I got to know him well.

“I didn’t think he was a very good player at the time – he missed chances and often fell over – but he learned quickly!”

Initially I didn’t think Gary Lineker was a good player – he missed chances and often fell over

Holmes led Lineker’s career through Everton, Barcelona, ​​Spurs and Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan. And then on to a successful TV career after retirement. When Leicester came to power in 2002, both men put money in to save them and Holmes became a stopgap the following year.

“Being chairman ruins it as a fan. Managers always want more players, supporters want you to put in more money, box holders complain that the sausage rolls are rubbish! We got promoted, but then I quit. I wanted to be a normal supporter again. I encouraged my son to make the fans scream “Get out your checkbook” so I would have to resign!

‘As chairman you live 24/7. As a fan you can be unreasonable. As chairman, you should congratulate the opposition in the boardroom and be nice to Ken Bates. Why would anyone want to do that?!’

At one point, Holmes was interested in appointing David Moyes as manager. By a strange quirk of fate, the Scot will be in the opposing dugout on Sunday with Holmes hoping to pick a weakened West Ham team so Leicester can get the win they need to stay afloat – and even then only if Everton fail to beat Bournemouth.

“There’s been a lot of frustration this season,” says Holmes, a regular. “Football is a good way for fans to blow off steam. I will be worried about the game from Saturday night and there will be a lot of hand wringing on my part, but I am trying to keep things in perspective. I saw Leicester win the league in 2016 that I never thought would happen. Even going down won’t take that feeling away.’

Holmes says this season has been frustrating but nothing can take away Leicester’s 2016 success

At one point, when he was Leicester chairman, Holmes wanted to appoint David Moyes

Brendan Rodgers saw the danger approaching Leicester and warned they needed a refresh

It’s unusual for a club to plummet so quickly with the Foxes.

They reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League last season when Holmes and Lineker took their sons to Italy to see them play Jose Mourinho’s Roma.

“The only person who saw the danger coming was Brendan Rodgers,” says Holmes. “He told those in power 18 months ago that they needed a refresh, but for whatever reason they didn’t buy anyone over the summer. Brendan foresaw that things would be difficult after Forest’s loss in the FA Cup, which was Championship at the time. Kasper Schmeichel and Jamie Vardy were brilliant for the club, but their time faded.

“We played well in the first game of the season against Brentford and were 2-0 up. Then we let two in and you had the feeling that something wasn’t right. Only Brendan will know the answer, but perhaps he should have said to the owners when they hadn’t spent any money over the summer, “Look, you got me in to challenge the top six, without a refresher we can, maybe it’s right that you give someone else the chance to continue”.

Holmes says being president of a football club ruins the fan experience

“I know you can find exceptions, like Unai Emery at Aston Villa, but in general the best time to change managers is in the season. During the campaign it is more difficult. But Brendan will get another job because he is a very good coach.’

Holmes does not try to hide his colors. The Audi in his driveway is Leicester City blue. His son Jack’s dog is named Wilf, after Ndidi. However, his wife and two daughters are not infected. ‘They came to a game and thought the audience was singing ‘Biryani’. I had to tell them it was “Blue Army”.

Holmes’ regular match partner is Showaddywaddy singer Dave Bartram, another lad from Leicester. TV magnate Jimmy Mulville, who runs Hat Trick productions, sent the text telling Holmes that Chelsea would be Leicester champions because Chelsea had equalized against Spurs. “I was too nervous to watch it,” he says.

Fortunately, at the start of the season, Holmes had put his name down to sponsor the last home game against Everton. It turned out to be a title celebration, with Holmes taking club legends Gordon Banks and Frank McLintock down the field to hear Claudio Ranieri’s friend, tenor Andrea Bocelli, give a spectacular rendition of Nessun Dorma.

Sunday’s occasion will be more exciting and possibly more bleak, but regardless of the outcome, Holmes will remain committed to his team.

“I think the 5,000-1 Leicester City story got the Premier League off the ground in America,” he says. “I know because it stopped people in the United States from saying, ‘Lie-sess-tur!”‘