So Paul Ince got the bullet at Blackburn. No surprise there. He spoke a couple of weeks ago about not feeling under pressure because real pressure he said was only to be found at places like Macclesfield where the players' future mortgage repayments depended on their ability to keep the club in the football league.Unfortunately that seemed to be the problem at Blackburn. Incey didn't appear to be under any pressure and his team weren't exactly scrapping like they had much on the line either. Paul Ince's ambition was to manage in the Premier League or as he'd put it himself "to be the first black manager to manage in the Premier League" whatever that has to do with anything.
To achieve this he started right at the very bottom of the managerial ladder by taking over a team who lay adrift in 94th and last position in the football league. He was suitably bitter and twisted over not getting the Wolves job and he felt (possibly with some justification) that there was a reluctance by clubs to hire black managers. Whether any of this is true or not, it certainly gave him the serious motivation necessary to focus a team and force them to get results. There is nothing quite like a siege mentality to get everyone pulling in the one direction and no one is quite as dangerous in football as someone who feels they've been shafted and have a point to prove (unless that someone is Ian Dowie that is).
Sure enough Incey somehow managed to keep Macclesfield up and having done so he took the job at MK Dons which he would rightly have seen as the promotion he deserved. It still wasn't where he wanted to be but it was another opportunity and a better one to show the world what he could do. Unprecedented success followed for the Dons who up to Incey taking over were in free fall and at one point looked like they might be passed by their former incarnation AFC Wimbledon who were moving in the other direction. Incey not only stopped the rot, he actually led MK Dons to their first and second trophies, the League 2 title and the FA vase or some other trophy which means a lot to teams with low expectations.
Paul Ince was equally ambitious as a player. He was famously photographed wearing a Manchester United shirt while still a West Ham player. He moved from United to Inter Milan before to returning to a Liverpool team I'm sure he thought were going somewhere. Now as a manager he was showing the same hunger and thirst for recognition. There isn't anything wrong with that. It's just that as a player he wanted to win everything, as a manager the height of his ambition was to manager in the Premier League.
Blackburn Rovers offered him that chance during the summer and Incey jumped at it. Finally he'd arrived. He'd achieved what he had set out to do. He was now a Premier League manager after only a season and a half in the dugout. The problem is that when he got the Blackburn job, his demeanour seemed to change. He was more contented, self satisfied almost. I felt like he was enjoying the experience a bit too much. In fact I got the impression he was wallowing in it.
Maybe he thought he was invincible having been so successful in his previous two jobs or that Blackburn's squad was so much stronger than the promoted teams that they couldn't possibly go down. Either way I had my doubts whether Incey fully appreciated the scale of the challenge he was facing or maybe he just didn't care seen as by becoming the Blackburn Manager he had achieved all he had set out to achieve.
He was hardly in the job when he lost Brad Friedel to Aston Villa. Ince didn't seem overly concerned at losing Blackburn's saviour on so many occasions. He probably thought Friedel was too old or that he was entitled to have one more shot at the big time before he retired. It's fine to think like that if you have a replacement lined up otherwise you should make a point of doing everything you can to keep him.
The signing of Paul Robinson in itself wasn't such a bad move. £3.5 million for a well established England International looks like good business on the face of it but Robinson is just not a good goalkeeper and no amount of long kick outs are going to change that. He is far too slow for the top flight and I think his form has shaken the confidence of the previously solid Blackburn back four. It was obvious from Robinson's performances for Spurs that he wasn't agile enough for this level but still Ince put his faith in him. Still even if he'd bought Scott Carson or Ben Foster instead of Freidel, I doubt the results would have been much different. It's hard to find a good keeper these days.
Ince was unlucky in that he also lost David Bentley. There wasn't much he could have done about that and again Bentley was one of Blackburn's key players in previous seasons. His loss would have been a massive blow to whoever took over. His replacements have failed to fill the void. Grella and Villanueva might be good players but I've never heard of them and it's asking a lot of these players to replace Bentley and adapt to the Premier League so quickly. Both have shown flashes of quality but neither have had any real impact. Another example of players signed by Ince who were happy to be in the Premier League without having any particular pressure on them to perform now that they'd arrived.
Jermaine Pennant would have been available this summer and would have proven an established if lesser replacement for Bentley. At least you know what you're going to get. Keith Andrews has looked the part at times but like Blackburn's season, the games pass him by and he rarely seems to be where the action is. He is Premier League quality but like the rest of the Blackburn players he should take more responsibility and get more involved in the play. It's not enough just to be there.
The hallmark of Blackburn teams in recent years was that they were defensively strong, difficult to play against and sharp on the attack. They didn't show any of those qualities this year. Defensively they were a mess. The full back Olsson in particular but they have all been guilty of basic errors and they have obviously lost confidence in themselves and each. Although having heard Nigel Winterburn's assessment I would be inclined to lay the blame for that firmly at his door but then Ince shouldn't have brought in such an inexperienced and obviously incompetent coach. The man was a full back after all.
There was little fight in them either and the way they lay down against Man U at Ewood Park was symptomatic of how they have played all season. The mentality seemed to be "If you take it easy we will". They have shown no ruthlessness at all. They lost to a shambolic Sunderland and were thrilled to take a point at West Brom.
Santa Cruz and Benny McCarthy haven't looked fit this year or maybe they just lost interest. Pedersen isn't and probably never was the player we thought. He had a poor se
ason last year too and is a player Ince probably should have moved on in the summer if he needed to raise funds.
It is Ince's job to motivate the players, organise them and get them playing to their potential. He didn't do that and that was why he had to go. He didn't tackle the job as if his life depended on it. He let certain things slide and having finally "arrived" he took his eye off the ball. There is no doubt that Ince will be back. There is no shame in being sacked at this stage of his managerial career but he didn't fulfil his potential at Blackburn because I don't think he fully appreciated that there was a job there to be done.
Blackburn Rovers offered him that chance during the summer and Incey jumped at it. Finally he'd arrived. He'd achieved what he had set out to do. He was now a Premier League manager after only a season and a half in the dugout. The problem is that when he got the Blackburn job, his demeanour seemed to change. He was more contented, self satisfied almost. I felt like he was enjoying the experience a bit too much. In fact I got the impression he was wallowing in it.
Maybe he thought he was invincible having been so successful in his previous two jobs or that Blackburn's squad was so much stronger than the promoted teams that they couldn't possibly go down. Either way I had my doubts whether Incey fully appreciated the scale of the challenge he was facing or maybe he just didn't care seen as by becoming the Blackburn Manager he had achieved all he had set out to achieve.
He was hardly in the job when he lost Brad Friedel to Aston Villa. Ince didn't seem overly concerned at losing Blackburn's saviour on so many occasions. He probably thought Friedel was too old or that he was entitled to have one more shot at the big time before he retired. It's fine to think like that if you have a replacement lined up otherwise you should make a point of doing everything you can to keep him.
The signing of Paul Robinson in itself wasn't such a bad move. £3.5 million for a well established England International looks like good business on the face of it but Robinson is just not a good goalkeeper and no amount of long kick outs are going to change that. He is far too slow for the top flight and I think his form has shaken the confidence of the previously solid Blackburn back four. It was obvious from Robinson's performances for Spurs that he wasn't agile enough for this level but still Ince put his faith in him. Still even if he'd bought Scott Carson or Ben Foster instead of Freidel, I doubt the results would have been much different. It's hard to find a good keeper these days.
Ince was unlucky in that he also lost David Bentley. There wasn't much he could have done about that and again Bentley was one of Blackburn's key players in previous seasons. His loss would have been a massive blow to whoever took over. His replacements have failed to fill the void. Grella and Villanueva might be good players but I've never heard of them and it's asking a lot of these players to replace Bentley and adapt to the Premier League so quickly. Both have shown flashes of quality but neither have had any real impact. Another example of players signed by Ince who were happy to be in the Premier League without having any particular pressure on them to perform now that they'd arrived.
Jermaine Pennant would have been available this summer and would have proven an established if lesser replacement for Bentley. At least you know what you're going to get. Keith Andrews has looked the part at times but like Blackburn's season, the games pass him by and he rarely seems to be where the action is. He is Premier League quality but like the rest of the Blackburn players he should take more responsibility and get more involved in the play. It's not enough just to be there.
The hallmark of Blackburn teams in recent years was that they were defensively strong, difficult to play against and sharp on the attack. They didn't show any of those qualities this year. Defensively they were a mess. The full back Olsson in particular but they have all been guilty of basic errors and they have obviously lost confidence in themselves and each. Although having heard Nigel Winterburn's assessment I would be inclined to lay the blame for that firmly at his door but then Ince shouldn't have brought in such an inexperienced and obviously incompetent coach. The man was a full back after all.
There was little fight in them either and the way they lay down against Man U at Ewood Park was symptomatic of how they have played all season. The mentality seemed to be "If you take it easy we will". They have shown no ruthlessness at all. They lost to a shambolic Sunderland and were thrilled to take a point at West Brom.
Santa Cruz and Benny McCarthy haven't looked fit this year or maybe they just lost interest. Pedersen isn't and probably never was the player we thought. He had a poor se
ason last year too and is a player Ince probably should have moved on in the summer if he needed to raise funds.It is Ince's job to motivate the players, organise them and get them playing to their potential. He didn't do that and that was why he had to go. He didn't tackle the job as if his life depended on it. He let certain things slide and having finally "arrived" he took his eye off the ball. There is no doubt that Ince will be back. There is no shame in being sacked at this stage of his managerial career but he didn't fulfil his potential at Blackburn because I don't think he fully appreciated that there was a job there to be done.
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