[Archived] Paul Ince Gone

[LeChuck]

Does anyone know if Ince carried on trying to get his coaches badges after he left us?

He obviously thought he didn't need them when he was with us, I wouldn't be surprised if he's jacked it in now that we're not forcing him to do it.

[DeadlyDirk]

I remember while he was managing us and the club was firmly in the mire, he made some ridiculous comment about wanting to retire within ten years. Weeks earlier he commented how it was also his dream to one day become England manager...

I don't think that he was contradicting himself here, I actually think that he believed he could have a spell as England manager AND be able to retire within ten years.

Well to be fair to him if he does get a spell as England boss soon I'd say his retirement will probably kick in about 2 weeks later, perhaps not by his choice though!

It is a ridiculous comment though, I want my next club to be a succesful club with a lot of financial backing, hmm well so do I but I don't think any club is going to give me one until I've done something other than keep a league 2 club up and then get one promoted.

I think in managerial pedigree Ince will find himself behind the likes of Philip Schofield and Ronnie O'Sullivan (I have no idea why those are the first two names which come into my head!!!) and only narrowly ahead of Tony Adams.

[Amo]

What makes Ince think he is entitled to wads of money? His signings here were naff (Andrews, Robinson) until Sam took over and instilled them with confidence.

He should work on his man-management and tactical nous, maximizing player abilities such as Jose Mourinho & Mark Hughes did before they earned their king's ransom at Chelsea and City respectively.

[Eddie]

Andrews was no better or worse under Allardyce or Ince. Robinson improved once the defense actually started playing, he also needed a good run of games. Ince's signings were actually decent, he didn't address right back or right midfield, bring in any pace or then get the team to defend properly. We've been waiting on 3 of those 4 for a few years though.

[Amo]

Andrews was no better or worse under Allardyce or Ince. Robinson improved once the defense actually started playing, he also needed a good run of games. Ince's signings were actually decent, he didn't address right back or right midfield, bring in any pace or then get the team to defend properly. We've been waiting on 3 of those 4 for a few years though.

I have to disagree about Andrews. He's been less of a headless chicken under Big Sam. Limited player, but he's done okay filling the gap.

Robinson was Ince's best acquisition, but he didn't find form until the end of the season. Simpson & Villanueva failed to prove themselves. Grella missed most of the season with injury. Bunn is still an unknown quantity. And Fowler was a complete waste of time and money.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Andrews - Did the job he was bought for. Squad player. Criticised with venom but didn't react at all and gave 100% all the time.

Grella - Jury still out. Looked brilliant and terrible in equal amounts.

Robinson - Great business, it seems.

Villanueva - Was worth the risk considering his potential but just not strong enough.

Fowler - Waste of time.

Simpson - Rated highly at United is a worse header of the ball than my gran.

In retrospect, he wasn't actually that terrible in the market. He didn't have the Hughes/Allardyce contacts and hidden gem finding abilities though.

[den]

Andrews - Did the job he was bought for. Squad player. Criticised with venom but didn't react at all and gave 100% all the time. They give 100% on the local park. Doesn't make 'em good enough

Grella - Jury still out. Looked brilliant and terrible in equal amounts.Brilliant - when?

Robinson - Great business, it seems.

Villanueva - Was worth the risk considering his potential but just not strong enough.

Fowler - Waste of time.

Simpson - Rated highly at United is a worse header of the ball than my gran.

In retrospect, he wasn't actually that terrible in the market. He didn't have the Hughes/Allardyce contacts and hidden gem finding abilities though.

He was awful in the transfer market. Robinson has turned out well [so far], the other 5 aren't good enough.

[LeChuck]

I can't remember Grella ever looking brilliant either, he's ranged from barely adequate to plain awful. Certainly nothing like I'd expect for a £4 million midfielder.

Agree with your summary as well there Den, Robinson was the only transfer that could be called 'good'. Andrews did well considering he came from League Two, but the reason we were in a relegation scrap was that we had poor players like him playing too many games.

[Anti-Dingle-Brigade]

Brilliant is probably an overstatement. He looked like the £4m player we were supposed to have bought. And as for the games, I remember several but I'm getting names confused because we played Boro early on and I'm sure his best performance was later in the season. Newcastle was certainly a good game for him, he and Dunn seemed to work together well.

[BlueMonday]

Ince wasn't up to the job, simple as, and getting his media chums to try and re-write history wont wash with anyone. No top flight club will be calling on his services any time soon and that speaks louder than any half baked opinion from his mates.

If Owen Coyle had walked when Celtic were calling Paul Ince wouldn't even have got an interview! He'll slip back down the divisions into obscurity

[thenodrog]

To my dying day I will never be able to understand why JW employed him.

[Ronin]

An 11 game winless streak with Ince, and an immediate 9 game unbeaten streak when Sam took over with virtually the same team (Diouf and Givet were very good additions by Sam). Sour grapes from Ince, who should concentrate on getting his badges instead of bitching to the media all the time. He's not going to get too many clubs wanting him if he keeps complaining all the time.

[Jonnolad]

Andrews - They give 100% on the local park. Doesn't make 'em good enough

Do players on your local park get call ups for their country based on their performances though (and do they then put on match of the match performances for their country)? They don't do they.

Andrews cost around £800k. Based on his performances for us and the ROI last season, I think you'd be nuts to suggest that he wasn't worth at least £800k now (in truth it's probably at least double that). Do you agree? If not, you have a good long look at the entire transfers this summer and see what £800k will get you as far as midfielders go. Especially those with premier league experience, and can also score goals at top level, and are also established internationals, and who aren't at the end of their career. Come back to me if you see any better going for £800k or less. Let's be honest though, both you and I know you'll struggle to find any with that kind of experience for anything like that amount. £800k gets you nothing these days - for £800k you have to go abroad and take a risk to get players with zero premier league experience (and definitely aren't established internationals).

Therefore was Andrews a good buy for Ince at £800k? I personally think you have to be in denial to think otherwise.

The absolute best thing for Andrews would be to hand in a transfer request, which would let the likes of Hull, Stoke, Wigan or even Sunderland or Portsmouth (and certainly any of the promoted clubs) know he's available. Then he could go to a club where the fans would just appreciate him for what he gave to the club and not where he came from (and who bought him).

[thenodrog]

............ The absolute best thing for Andrews would be to hand in a transfer request, which would let the likes of Hull, Stoke, Wigan or even Sunderland or Portsmouth (and certainly any of the promoted clubs) know he's available. Then he could go to a club where the fans would just appreciate him for what he gave to the club and not where he came from (and who bought him).

And if they didn't come in for him jonno?.....

[dirty cons]

still out of work i see,even john barnes has got a job in football.

[broadsword]

To my dying day I will never be able to understand why JW employed him.

To smooth the way for Sam Allardyce?

[philipl]

Hopefully Rovers did the world of football a favour and Ince will never be employed within it ever again in any capacity.

[Jonnolad]

To my dying day I will never be able to understand why JW employed him.

I personally think he just listened to the fans too much. Firstly it was almost Shearer, the massive people's choice - thank god we never got him eh. After he turned us down, JW went to the next fans favourite - Ince. He probably saw similarities with Hughes in Ince; incredibly experienced as a player, including international club experience and some time under Fergie, and young, with decent managerial success albeit at a different level. He probably just thought he was worth the risk.

As it turned out it was a bad decision, but it was a difficult one to make. Look at some of the other main candidates and what happened to them:

Shearer - the fans overwhelming choice. Went to Newcastle and got them relegated (I'm not having it that nobody could have kept them up - a decent manager would have been able to)

Michael Laudrup - went to Spartak, did badly and was sacked by them a couple of months ago

Schteve McClaren - rock bottom of fans polls for next manager, went to FC Twente and has actually done really well with them (2nd in the league, lost on penalties in the final of the Dutch cup).

Allerdyce - again not a popular candidate at the time, in fact whatever's said now, Allerdyce probably dropped out of the running when he did in the summer due to fans hostility (which probably saved JW having to turn him down), subsequently came to Rovers and, for me, has done an excellent job.

Henk ten Cate - went to Panathinaikos, he's done OK but nothing amazing overall.

JW probably didn't want to completely fly in the face of fan's opinion when it came to the appointment, but he obviously should have when it seems that those who were least favourite with the fans are the one's who have done alright. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Let's be honest though, for a club like Blackburn, choosing a manager is going to be difficult, and is always going to include a fair amount of risk. In Ince's case the risk didn't pay off. I can certainly see why he went for him though (even if I didn't agree at the time), and in fairness I don't think anyone realised quite how inept Ince was when he first came.

[Jonnolad]

And if they didn't come in for him jonno?.....

Well what's the worst that could happen - the fans will dislike him for putting in a transfer request? I don't want to state the obvious here but the fans aren't exactly mad keen on him already

[tcj_jones]

Ince's signings were actually decent.

Wow, that's some comment and one I don't agree with at all.

Robinson - The only good Ince signing. He brought him in immediately upon selling Brad and paid a good price. Meanwhile, Robbo has gone on to play very well for the club.

Grella - The jury is still out on this guy. He's looked pretty good at times, and downright awful at others. However, it is absolutely criminal for a club like ours to spend £4m on a 29 year old of limited ability. His fitness has been poor as well.

Andrews - He's clearly in prime physical condition, but I don't care how cheap he was, he simply isn't good enough. As soon as he gets the ball, he passes it off, even if the next player is only a foot away. There is absolutely nothing to his game.

Vilanueva - Unless you're going to spend six months or so building this guys core up, he isn't going to succeed in the Premier League. He has a lot of trickery, but no pace and no strength. As he wasn't likely to make an immediate impact, a loan deal doesn't seem the sensible option. I feel he could be a good signing for a club in the future, but a future fee of £4m was far too high in any case.

Fowler - What an embarrassment.

Simpson - Another poor signing, albeit fortunately on loan.

With the exception of Robbo, his record in the transfer market was awful.

[den]

Therefore was Andrews a good buy for Ince at £800k? I personally think you have to be in denial to think otherwise.

If it helped get him sacked, yes.

Let's just hope KA isn't a starter next season, eh Jonno - don't you think?

[Blue blood]

for once I am speechless

Agreed - there's a wonderland missing a hatter methinks.

Paul would this be the same team that Allardyce got comfortably to mid table, and added 2 players who hugely improved the team - let alone the squad - for a fraction of the money you spent?

What on earth was he expecting if he needed mass money to get us better? (Incidentally Hughes seemed to do ok without loads of dosh before him as well as Sam after.) Bad as JW decision to employ Ince was, if Ince was disappointed that he didn't have wads of money to spent, he must have been even more dilusional in the application process.

Incidentally Ince was shocking in the transfer market:

- Robbo only came good under Sam

- I'm a better right back then Simpson (I've heard of a radical defensive ploy called marking)

- 4 million for a centre mid should give us someone of the ilk of Flitty or Savage for the DM role, not an injury prone clogger, who at best looks tidy.

- 1 million on andrews is a waste. the lad's done ok for us, but really given how slim our resources were it's not money well spent. Put in perspective Zurab and Bentley both cost similar amounts.

- Carlos - failed, money wasted.

- Fowler - least said the better.

Edit - if he wants significant backing he'll never get another job. All the clubs with millionaire owners wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

[roversinmyblood]

Agreed - there's a wonderland missing a hatter methinks.

Paul would this be the same team that Allardyce got comfortably to mid table, and added 2 players who hugely improved the team - let alone the squad - for a fraction of the money you spent?

What on earth was he expecting if he needed mass money to get us better? (Incidentally Hughes seemed to do ok without loads of dosh before him as well as Sam after.) Bad as JW decision to employ Ince was, if Ince was disappointed that he didn't have wads of money to spent, he must have been even more dilusional in the application process.

Incidentally Ince was shocking in the transfer market:

- Robbo only came good under Sam

- I'm a better right back then Simpson (I've heard of a radical defensive ploy called marking)

- 4 million for a centre mid should give us someone of the ilk of Flitty or Savage for the DM role, not an injury prone clogger, who at best looks tidy.

- 1 million on andrews is a waste. the lad's done ok for us, but really given how slim our resources were it's not money well spent. Put in perspective Zurab and Bentley both cost similar amounts.

- Carlos - failed, money wasted.

- Fowler - least said the better.

Edit - if he wants significant backing he'll never get another job. All the clubs with millionaire owners wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

All I can say is - thank god he didn't have much money to spend otherwise we could have been in DEEP debt with rubbish or injury prone players!!

[Billy Castell]

for once I am speechless

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

So he expects to be the next Villa or Chelsea manager then? What a stupid, arrogant, deluded tool. He was probably hired as he had previously worked with tight budgets, and then after failing so miserably at Blackburn he states that he wants to go to Man City, or some other team with shedloads of cash. He really must be so utterly thick if he thinks he can wait until such a club comes along after the mess he made here. Its like watching Alan Partridge or David Brent.

Just checked on Skybet and he is 50/1 to be the next Man Utd manager, and 16/1 to be the next Portsmouth manager. Either job would be fine by me!

[Whyoy]

Its about time the Andrews witch hunters started getting off his back. He made more contribution to the team last year than all but a handful of players. Crucial goals, never less that 100% commitment, willing to play in any role and more enthusiastic than most, only player still with us able to deliver a 30 yard pass.

For 800k we got a bargain by Premier league standards. Compared to the contributions made by other so called star midfield players at the club (Tugay excluded) he was a stellar player - Grella (1 good game), Dunn (how many appearances?), Villneauva (lightweight and oh so slow), Reid (injured), Emerton (injured), Warnock (excellent at times but ...)

Which other Premier League clubs want him? Well Wigan for one according to press reports