Doubt Paul Ince if you dare!

12:56pm Monday 23rd June 2008

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By Gavin Gibbon »

ALL those who doubted Paul Ince could make the transition from legendary player to manager were handed a huge slice of humble pie to feast upon on May 5, 2007.

For while fellow England internationals Stuart Pearce and Gareth Southgate were able to dine at the top table of the country's managerial banquet, with Manchester City and Middlesbrough respectively, Ince was left to feed off the scraps - quite literally, at the very bottom.

The club with the lowest attendances in the Football League, Macclesfield Town, were starved of success, hungry for even a solitary win, seven points adrift of safety, and staring into the abyss that was Conference football.

Ince had just emerged from a spell as player/coach at Swindon, with his old friend Dennis Wise, and the snipers were out in force when the Silkmen's new Guv'nor' lost his first game in charge.

But a complete overhaul at the club, which included a review of players' diets; double fitness sessions with his own fitness coach, ex-Army man Duncan Russell; the appointment of two masseurs; and compulsory team lunches, helped to steady the ship.

And, after Macc secured their first three points of the season on December 5, Ince went on to pick up his first manager of the month award, engineering an amazing nine-match unbeaten run in the League and Cup, ended only in the Third Round of the FA Cup against eventual winners Chelsea.

When the Great Escape - of Steve McQueen proportions - was complete, in the words of Ince himself, he could quite rightly....

"Stick two fingers up at the people who questioned my sanity and my abilities."

The challenge had been set, and met with aplomb.

But challenges are nothing new to Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince, who has fought greater battles than relegation from the Football League, almost all of his life.

"I grew up in a two-bedroom council flat with my mum, brother, sister, cousins and aunties," he said. "I shared a bedroom with my brother, sister and cousin. But I didn't see it as poor; it was just the way it was. I had to fend for myself from a very young age."

Unfortunately, fending for himself saw Ince encounter the same temptations that have ruined promising careers and lives. Drink, drugs and gangs were rife, and breaking point came when, as a trainee footballer at West Ham, a punch-up with one of his ex-schoolmates saw Ince on the precipice of a period in prison.

Call this his first great challenge. Call it his greatest challenge. But Ince emerged from that testing period with a determination that would be the hallmark of his career as a professional footballer - a professional career that began as a 19-year-old at Upton Park.

But more challenges were always around the next corner.

Pictured in a Manchester United shirt while still a West Ham player; branded a "Big-Time Charlie" by Alex Ferguson during an acrimonious departure from Old Trafford; a transfer to Italy; slammed for refusing to take a penalty in Euro 96 - a penalty that ended up being taken and missed by Gareth Southgate - and refusing to watch events with his back turned, sat on the centre circle; a transfer to Anfield; a penalty save by Carlos Roa in the World Cup in 1998; and a controversial end to his career at Wolves, amid allegations of institutional racism.

Enough controversy to make a lesser person hit the skids.

A lesser person, however, Paul Ince certainly is not.

Ask the midfielders who were forced to come up against his energetic and ferocious style at any of his clubs.

In fact, ask anyone what they think of Ince and the word winner' becomes an almost tediously common reply.

At United, he claimed every domestic honour in the game: the FA Cup (1990), League Cup (1992), and League Championship in 1993. The European Cup Winners Cup was added in 1991 with victory over Barcelona. And he won the first of Fergie's league and cup doubles in 1994.

Titles and trophies may have alluded Ince in Italy but he won something arguably even more valuable - the backing and respect of the Inter Milan supporters, who took his tough tackling and tenacious spirit to their hearts.

The lad from East London even became two-footed, such was his desire to win over the paying public at the San Siro and find favour with his new, more cosmopolitan, team-mates.

At Liverpool, during a time when the League title alluded them - as it has to this day - Ince was handed the captain's armband, and during his stay, took his season's tally to eight goals.

The armband was again his at Middlesbrough and the adulation of the Teesiders, like the Scousers, Mancs, Italians and Hammers before them, was fulsome and richly deserved.

Even when he dropped down a division to answer the call from Dave Jones at Molyneux, the ageing star showed no signs of his maturing years, helping the West Midlanders reach the Premier League.

Perhaps the most enduring image of Ince, however, is that of him in Rome, his head heavily bandaged, bloodied, battered and bruised, having just turned in a man-of-the-match performance to help England secure a vital away draw against the Italians that guaranteed qualification for the 1998 World Cup.

With his playing days behind him, after Macclesfield Town came MK Dons. Another rung on the ladder was taken and more success followed.

The League Two title was won, as was the Johnstone's Paints Trophy.

Now, 15 years after becoming England's first black captain, Ince has become the first black English manager in the Premier League with Blackburn Rovers.

Very much a leader on the pitch, Brendon Batson, the FA's equality and diversity consultant, is now hoping Ince can be the leader off it as well.

He said: "Paul Ince is providing great encouragement to other black players who are looking to pursue a career in coaching or management.

"Hopefully those with the right attitude and qualifications will be inspired by what Paul is achieving and filter through in the next few years. We need someone to carry the flag."

But Ince is not there to satisfy a statistic. He is there on merit. He is there because every challenge he has faced in his professional career, he has met head on.

Rovers is his latest challenge.

Doubt him if you dare.