SWINDON Town Football Club train at the Beversbrook Sports and Community Facility in Calne, but the air there could soon smell of sage as team manager, Ian Holloway, has said he believes a run of poor form could be down to angry spirits at the sports grounds .
Holloway, has suggested the struggling League Two club’s bad fortune could be because the ground is haunted.
Swindon, who are a point above the relegation zone after two league wins all season, are without their captain, Ollie Clarke, after he ruptured a tendon in his ankle during training last week. Holloway claimed there are “some really, really strange things happening” and said he would be asking his wife, Kim, to “cleanse the area” because the training ground in Calne, is near an ancient burial site.
“I’m absolutely devastated so I’m going to try to cleanse the training ground area because people are telling me it’s haunted,” Holloway told BBC Radio Wiltshire. “Seriously, there’s a graveyard somewhere near. I’m not joking."
Although we can't find any evidence of an ancient burial site at Beversbrook Sports Facility, there is an entry on Historic England detailing a medieval settlement 520m north east of Lower Beversbrook Farm.
The official list entry states: 'The monument includes the earthwork remains of a medieval settlement located to the north east of Lower Beversbrook Farm on low lying land on the outskirts of Calne. Flanking this to the north west are a series of long rectilinear platforms. At the north east end of the hollow way, the earthworks broaden into a series of well defined square platforms and enclosures. Most prominent of these is a square platform 1.5m high surrounded by a moat 1m deep and 4m wide. Ridge and furrow abutts the earthworks to the north and east, the best preserved areas of which are included in the scheduling. The village is listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Beversbroc and was presented a chapel in 1298.'
The nearest graveyard to Beversbrook is the Curzon Street Cemetery - 1.6 miles away on foot .
Holloway has said he would not be taking things as far as former Birmingham manager Barry Fry, who reportedly urinated on all four corners of the pitch at St Andrew's to break a reported curse on the club.
He added: "I don't want to do what he did, I think he had to urinate on the corners of his pitch but I'm going to get my wife to come up with her sage."
"I've done the Glastonbury stuff and the hail and welcome - great if you believe it. Do I? Really I'm not sure but I'm going to get it just to help because there's some strange things happening."
How about you? Have you used the facility and experienced any strange goings on? Let us know!
Want to know what’s on in Calne? Visit our local events page for listings and to find out how to add your own events for free. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news. Have you got a story for us? Email editor@calnenews.com or contact us here.
