Congratulations are in order – both to Paul Ince and to Blackburn Rovers.
Whichever way you look at it, this is a bold move by both Ince and Rovers. Ince is thrust into the limelight, as a black manager (you know that’s going to get played by the media), as an inexperienced manager and as a former England international. Rovers are taking a calculated risk – in Ince they’ve gone for personality rather than pedigree, and it remains to be seen if they’ll be as lucky as they were with Hughes.
With Ince Rovers have gone with another former Premier League footballer who has, like Hughes, played abroad and like Hughes, is a strong character able to inspire respect and passion in those around him. He’s been given 3 years – and he will have to learn the ropes very quickly with teams around Blackburn constantly improving themselves in personnel.
Can Ince improve on what Hughes has built? What do you guys think?
Really pleased to see Ince comming in, we escaped from the McLaren muppet and this appointment shows real ambition.
Yes its a gamble, but Big Sam would have been hugely unpopular and isn’t about what Blackburn want to be, attacking football with flair. Ince is, though he has a fight on his hands with Bentley and Santa Cruz both about to go. (If you believe the press)
If McLaren had come in I would have eaten my season ticket, (not that easy when they are a credit card) with Ince its going to be interesting and hopefully money well spent.
Ince has done his time the hard way with Macclesfield and Franchise FC and has shown himself more than capable of leading players at that level. At the very least he deserved a shot at the Championship based on last season (yes, even though he managed MK Dons).
If anything, he’s probably a bit more experienced than Keane, Southgate, Coleman were when they first took a amanagement job and a lot more qualified than Alan Shearer whose name is constantly bandied without irony about whenever a vacancy comes up at any of his former teams.
Rovers have taken a bit of a gamble but a calculated one and I reckon it’s the right one. Good luck to Ince, he definitely deserves a shot at it.