Holloway puts faith in his most experienced quips for Foxes’ relegation scrap

LEICESTER CITY boss Ian Holloway will place his faith in his most experienced witticisms this week, as he attempts to save the Foxes from relegation to League One. With Leicester needing at least a draw away at Stoke to guarantee Championship survival next Sunday, Holloway intends to rely heavily on his most war-worn hilarious turns of phrase to inspire his players to glory.

"When you're scrapping for your life down at the bottom you need punchlines which have seen it all before and will inspire your players" said Holloway, demonstrating his new strategy by adding: "Right now, everything is going wrong for me – if I fell in a barrel of boobs, I'd come out sucking my thumb." This wisecrack made its debut in 2005 after a 3-0 FA Cup drubbing for QPR by Nottingham Forest, and has remained a first team regular to this day.

Holloway has been employing this new approach for a number of weeks, with eagle-eyed press conference analysts noting his reaction to Leicester's improbable 4-2 win against West Brom last month: "I'm as chuffed as a badger at the start of mating season". This joke was unveiled after a Bristol Rovers win over Peterborough in the qualifying round of the 1999 LDV Vans trophy and has been used 411 times since, being granted a testimonial season in 2006.

During his stormy tenure at Leicester. Holloway has attempted to blood new one-liners such as "Ricky Sappleton's got a bigger desire to win than my grandma's lips, and I'm not talking about the ones on her mouth" and "I'm as depressed as that Ian Curtis after one too many epileptic fits," but they haven't produced the results the West Country manager had hoped for, and his squad lies perilously close to the drop zone.

"In time, I fully expect my young jokes to have a big impact, they've clearly got all the raw wordplay that you need to succeed at the highest level," said Holloway. "But it would be unfair to put too much pressure on them, and expect them to produce a laugh at this stage of the season."

Leicester chairman Milan Mandaric is rumoured to be losing faith with Holloway's antiquated quip-based managerial techniques and, if the Foxes are relegated, may seek to replace him with a manager that will not look for laughs in a post-match press conferences. Mark Lawrenson and Ian Wright have been installed as surprise bookies' favourites.