In the early aughts in Stalybridge, England, a group of grade-school boys ran around a pitch strewn with molehills, knocking them down as a makeshift warmup session for their Sunday league game. Amongst them was Rob Holding, oblivious to his future that saw him walking out to tens of thousands of fans on polished fields without a molehill in sight to distract from securing three points against Premier League giants.
Today, Holding calls the Colorado Rapids’ fortress of DICK’S Sporting Goods Park home after signing an 18-month contract with the Major League Soccer original side.
The 29-year-old defender acquired on Aug. 3, comes from a rich footballing career. He signed to Bolton Wanders at the age of 7, made his professional debut with them when he was 20, and was signed to a contract with Premier League giant Arsenal just one year later. After nearly a decade in England’s top flight, he’s ready to bring his talents to the other side of the pond, strengthening the backline a mile high with the Colorado Rapids.
A major influence on Holding’s game from the beginning has been his family. His grandfather nearly played professionally but signed up for the British Navy instead just days before getting the call that offered him a contract. Even though Holding jokes that the footballing talents skipped a generation with his father, Stu, it was him that drove him to training, watched all his games and convinced his son that his place on the pitch was on the backline as a kid.
“Always, always at the back,” Holding said. "My dad just said, ‘You're a defender. Just the way you move, the way you think about the game. You're better at the back’.”
Stu would take Rob to training and games at Bolton four days a week after he signed at age 7, continuing to be ingrained in his son’s budding career until he was about 16, playing with the reserve team full time and taking himself from his home in Stalybridge to Greater Manchester.
The adaptation from watching every one of his son’s trainings for nearly 11 years to just having a phone call recap was hard, says Rob. But the supportive father-son relationship never wavered. Stu made the trip out to Colorado to help Rob get settled into his new place, assembling furniture and making shopping trips more bearable. Rob anticipates the whole family to come back out in the new year, as well as his girlfriend, Sveindís Jónsdóttir, Icelandic international and striker for Angel City FC of the National Women’s Soccer League.
Having to wait to get involved fully with the team and training in a proper formation alongside teammates he’d be taking the pitch with became a blessing and a curse. Adjusting to a mile’s worth of altitude was done as Holding trained on a separate field at DICK’S Sporting Goods Park for two weeks while he waited for his visa to clear, but once he was finished with his conditioning each day, the new arrival was taking a seat on the edge of the training pitch to watch his teammates compete with one another—waiting for his turn to get into the mix.
Sneaking in some passes with teammates post-training gave a little reprieve to the adjustment process as he bided his time:
“It's easier as a footballer when people move around and go to new teams,” he said. “I don't know what it could be like in an office environment, where you’re just constantly around each other every day, but the best way for you to bond with the teammates is being out on the grass. It's so much easier when you can kick the football towards them...The guys are pretty simple in that aspect.”
That waiting period was a walk in the park compared to another stretch of time in Holding’s career—recovery from an ACL tear when he was 21 years old.
He remembers the day in December 2018 clearly, and how couldn’t he? It was his first time playing at Old Trafford, the pitch he’d watched so many icons before him take to as a childhood United supporter and academy player. Holding’s father used to be a steward at Old Trafford, bringing back match programs for Rob to read.
His whole family was there to watch him at the arena practically in their backyard. It was a 32nd-minute tackle from Marcus Rashford that proved enough to disrupt the mechanics of Holding’s left knee, the catalyst for a nine-month-long recovery process.
The recovery ended up reworking the way Holding used his body as a tool for better play, as well as his vision of progress as a pro athlete.
“I really focused in on my rehab and working on my body and using my body in a better way,” he said. “I'd never really developed my hips and glutes and stuff like that. You just started playing all the time. You just play.
“I always set little challenges in the rehab of like two or three weeks, so you feel like you're progressing, rather than saying, ‘Alright, in four months, I want to be running on the anti-gravity treadmill.’ Four months is a long time,so we just did small little steps on the ladder, we called it...and before you know it, you're back on the pitch, and things just seem a whole lot better.”
The patient, “small steps on the ladder” outlook reflects much of who Holding considers himself to be as a player and a leader. Relaxed, calm, confident and focused on the next move without allowing outside distractions to shape his approach. They’re what will set him apart on the Rapids’ backline and in the locker room.
“The day he walked in the door, even beforehand, when Zack Steffen and Cole Bassett and these guys heard that Rob Holding’s coming through from the Premier League and the level that is Arsenal—the whole bit—it's a big boost, confidence-wise,” said Head Coach Chris Armas.
That confidence translates quickly into learning experiences and guidance for younger players on the squad—which Colorado boasts many of. With one of the youngest rosters in the league and many players in their first five years of professional play, Holding’s impact cannot be understated.
He's already made meaningful connections with his new teammates, like Noah Cobb, the defender on loan from Atlanta United through the end of the season. Holding and the 20-year-old defender arrived to Colorado in quick succession and stayed at the same hotel in Commerce City until finding their own housing.
“I think bringing in another experienced player will help with the young lads as they look up and realize that every detail does matter, because that's what I had,” Holding said. "When I think back to Per Mertesacker being a great leader, I want to be doing the exact same things as the way he did with the way I felt, the way I was treated when I first went there.
“I want to be in the role for someone coming into the team that's a bit nervous, and make them feel at ease. But then they also don't take liberties, and they have to be at a certain standard, so they sort of learn quickly that this is great, people are helping me, but I can't be taking it easy.”
Taking it easy isn’t on Holding’s agenda, either. His long-term vision is more than just a quick stint in MLS. At 29 years old Holding is considerably younger than some other veteran European players coming to the top flight in America but he wants it that way. This stage in his career isn’t just a sundown period before retirement.
“The big hitters that have come over from Europe—Giroux, Lampard, they all came over at 34, 35. I want to come over here and spend five or six years playing,” he said. “Time will tell, but [I want to] leave a bit more of a legacy behind. If I did six years, it would be a massive part of my career, literally similar to my time at Arsenal. So when I look back at my career and say, ‘Oh, the two teams I played for were Arsenal and Colorado Rapids’.”
Off the pitch, Holding is adjusting to living in America and looking forward to all the things there are to do in Colorado. Taking his dog, Ace, out for hikes in Boulder, mountains that are reminiscent of the Pennines that span northern England, catching Avalanche and Nuggets games, and hopefully, making the Broncos his new NFL allegiance. He’s already caught a Rockies game, the 17-16 thriller against the Pirates in August.
Now that he’s living just under an hour from Morrison, Red Rocks concerts are on the docket—but none might come close to the experience in 2023 when he was brought onstage by country music giant Zach Bryan with 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey.
But with five games in hand on the season and a playoff spot to push for, the hikes and football games will have to wait a little longer. Holding is laser-focused on making a run in the playoffs that leads to a second MLS Cup for the club. The long-term goal?
“Winning it next year,” he laughs.
They're a far cry from the Pennines that he grew up with, but Rob Holding is ready to make his mark in the shadows of the Rocky Mountains.