EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

41 year old Paul Ince joined the Rovers from MK Dons last June with a 3 year contract; while the Rovers finished 7th last season they are currently in relegation at 19th place. Rovers Chairman John Williams felt strongly that action needed to be taken to save the club: “Three wins in 17 games has seen a squad which finished seventh last season fall to 19th place. We are currently in danger of becoming detached from the pack.” Ince used to play for West Ham (1985), Manchester United (1989), Inter Milan (1995), Liverpool (1997), Middlesbrough (1999), Wolves (2002-2005). He managed bootom league club Macclesfield in 2006, appointed manager of MK Dons after they finished fourth in the 2006 season, the next season he led MK Dons to the League Two Title. He then joined Blackburn.

Graeme Souness could be considered potentially assisted by former Blackburn midfielder Tugay. Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley may also be considered. “The survival of the club in the Premier League is paramount and our focus is on finding a replacement who will be able to maintain our top-division status. Paul will bounce back, he is a fighter and we wish him well. The board, having selected Paul Ince back in June, were desperate for him to succeed and wanted to give him as much time as possible in the unforgiving environment of the Premier League, where time is such a precious commodity.” Blackburn have lost their last 6 games and only have 17 games left in the season.

Part-time defensive coach Nigel Winterburn commented on Ince’s departure:
“I would have loved for him to be given time in the transfer window in January to bring in his own players. I’m positive that he would have seen results improve but the board have decided that isn’t the case. I think people were starting to panic. The results have not picked up and they’ve decided they need someone else in place to drive the club forward.”

“I thought he would get a little bit more time, maybe to get into the transfer market, spend a bit of money and see how it went,” said Gallagher. “But having seen the chairman’s face on the TV at the weekend that told a massive story.

“The club have a trust fund and they have been trying to sell the club. If the club go down that’s a lot of money lost and the valuation of the club goes down as well. I think they’ve been possibly putting a lot of pressure on the board. The board have been trying to back Paul as much as they could but the display at the weekend was the final straw - the pressure told and something had to give. Unfortunately it was Paul. Who’s going to want to turn to the club now, sitting second bottom? They’re struggling a little bit, there’s not a lot of finances there, there are quite a few injuries. Steve McClaren was mentioned but he’s doing very well in Holland (at FC Twente) and I’ve heard a small rumour about Roberto Mancini, there’ll be a lot of names brandished about. The CVs that were put in a cupboard six months ago when Paul got the job will be coming back out again.”