Ince makes the step up with Blackburn.

Filed in archive Managers on June 22, 2008

Paul Ince has been unveiled as the new Blackburn Rovers manager and the dejection felt by the fans when Mark Hughes left to go to Manchester City will have been replaced with renewed hope and optimism.

Mark Hughes has made Blackburn a force to be reckoned with in the top half of the Premier League but there was a fear that the club could suffer in the wake of his departure in a similar way to Bolton when they lost Sam Allardyce.

I feel sure now that a similar thing won't happen at Ewood Park as I believe they have made an exceptional appointment. Ince is a charismatic personality who has earned his managerial stripes in the lower leagues with Macclesfield and MK Dons and is now ready to rub shoulders with the Fergusons and Wengers of this world.

He is tactically astute, knowledgeable and experienced. I would be very surprised if he wasn't able to take the Lancashire club on to the next level.

Paul Ince will absolutely revel in the challenge of trying to break into the big boys club. He will particularly enjoy locking horns with his old boss Sir Alex Ferguson who has been less than complimentary about Ince in his autobiography.

It will be interesting to see Ince come up against Roy Keane as well. That would have been a titanic midfield battle when they were both at their best and it will be fascinating to watch them on the touchline.

I am absolutely thrilled that an exciting and promising English manager has been given a chance at one of our top clubs. Maybe, we might be watching the start of the career of a future England manager.