By Chris Charles

Holloway started his managerial career at Bristol Rovers

New Leicester manager Ian Holloway has defended his decision to walk out on former club Plymouth.

Some Pilgrims fans are angry at what they see as a betrayal but Holloway said he had done things by the book.

He told BBC Sport: "My chairman wouldn't give me permission to talk to Leicester, so I resigned.

"It was a massive gamble but it would have been a bigger gamble to lie to Plymouth and tell them my heart was still in it and take a new contract."

Now I'm just trying to build a team, not a ground and a training ground as well Ian Holloway

Holloway was unveiled as Leicester's new manager on Thursday and admitted he was stunned by events over the last few days.

"I'm still a bit shell-shocked, but that's life," he said.

"It all happened very quickly but there was a lot of dialogue before that between myself and my chairman which hasn't been documented.

"He spoke to me and said: 'I've just had someone ring up from Leicester asking if they could speak to you - how do you feel about it?'

"So I got off the phone, went home to think about it, rang him back and told him how I felt.

The only lies were that we weren't allowed to say I'd had permission turned down Ian Holloway

"I felt I'd like the opportunity to meet Milan and have a chat, which caused a rift, and it was never going to be the same after that because that's not the answer my chairman wanted.

"My feeling was that I wanted to do it and I wanted to talk, whether I got it or not. It was a risk but what I didn't want to do was not be as committed to Plymouth as I have been.

"I'm driven by ambition. I'm not being disloyal, but my ambition didn't match Plymouth's.

"Unfortunately there's been a lot of stick flying about - 'Hollowhead' and that. I meant all the things I said about Plymouth at the time, but sometimes in life things change.

"As a football manager you've got a briefcase and you've got your family and you're going to drag them around on your backside.

"We're going to have to all move up to Leicestershire now because my wife was abused in Morrisons supermarket on Thursday. They said 'what's it like living with a liar?' - and I'm not putting up with that.

"The only lies were that we weren't allowed to say I'd had permission turned down.

"It's nobody's fault. I love Plymouth and I love the chairman and he's going to go on and do a brilliant job but now I'm just trying to build a team, not a ground and a training ground as well, and I hope people will see it that way."