Blackburn appoint Ince

[Joe King]

Blackburn appoint Ince as manager

Blackburn Rovers have appointed MK Dons boss Paul Ince as their new manager.

The 40-year-old Ince, who has been given a three-year contract, was Rovers' number one target following Mark Hughes's exit to Manchester City.

Former England manager Steve McClaren, ex-Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce and former Getafe coach Michael Laudrup had all been linked with the Rovers post.

Ince led the Dons to the League Two title as well as the Football League Trophy in his first season in charge.

[dww]

I think the first black British top flight manager deserves his own thread.

[desertscouser]

I'm happy for him. He's done very well in his managerial career thus far but let's hope he doesn't do a Souness and is able to curb his legendary bad temper.

[-V-]

Good for him but i think they should have gone for Laudrup

One very funny thing though, Notice how Fat Sam "pulled out" of the running for the job

How thick do him and his advisors think the football public is? He knew he wasn't getting the job, we all knew he wasn't getting the job and then he 'pulls out'

Retard

[kemm1]

I think the first black British top flight manager deserves his own thread.

History made today, good luck look to you Ince

[Joe King]

I think the first black British top flight manager deserves his own thread.

Its been a long time coming.

[Imy]

Barnes battles for post as boss

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/7463038.stm

During Paul Ince's rise to the rarefied heights of the Premier League, John Barnes has been struggling to even get recognition in the foothills of the game.

Ince became the top flight's first black English manager when he was appointed as Mark Hughes' successor at Blackburn on Sunday.

Barnes, on the other hand, has been applying for vacancies in the lower leagues without success.

It is a situation that has left England's finest black player perplexed, frustrated and angry.

"I've applied for numerous jobs and sometimes I haven't even had the courtesy of a reply to my application letter," Barnes told BBC Sport.

"Perhaps I could understand it if I was applying for jobs at the top level but these were clubs in League One."

Barnes, whose playing career included spells at Watford and Liverpool, did get a big break when he was appointed head coach of Celtic in 1999 in tandem with director of football Kenny Dalglish.

He was sacked eight months into his troubled tenure, the final straw being the now infamous 3-1 defeat by Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup.

The former England winger admits he made mistakes in at Celtic but not enough to consign him to the managerial scrapheap forever.

"There aren't many managers who have never made mistakes, especially early on in their careers," said Barnes.

"You learn from your mistakes and come back stronger and better from them. There are also plenty of managers who keep failing but continue to get employed.

"I'm passionate about football and management and am willing to make my way up from the bottom but I'm not getting any opportunities."

While the 44-year-old is delighted by Ince's appointment, he is sceptical about whether it will herald a new dawn for black bosses.

His experiences, as well of those of other aspiring black managers like Luther Blissett, have persuaded him that there is not equality of opportunity.

"I believe the situation for black managers is like it was for black players back in the 1970s," he stated.

"Black players used to be put out on the wing because it was deemed they could run fast but not think too well.

"They weren't trusted to be a playmaker in central midfield or to wear the captain's armband.

"Now I think there is an analogous situation in management. Chairmen don't believe we can do the top managerial jobs.

"I look at someone like Luther Blissett, who is a former England international and has played abroad at the top level.

"He has been applying for manager's jobs in the Football League for 15 years and not got anywhere. This is all about opportunities."

Although Ince's appointment has been heralded as a major breakthrough for black managers, there is still a dearth of coaches of non-white bosses in the game.

Keith Alexander, who succeeded Ince at Macclesfield, is the only other black manager in the Football League.

Even more startling is the statistic, provided by Warwick Business School, that there are only seven other black coaches of any capacity in the league.

This constitutes only about 1% of the total number of coaches.

Perhaps drawing on his own experiences at Celtic, Barnes says it is unfair to hold Ince up as a pioneer for all black managers.

He said: "If he doesn't succeed, does that count against all black managers? I don't think so, just as if he does succeed it doesn't mean all black managers are good."

Barnes, who is currently working as a television pundit and a part-time scout for Sunderland, says he has the utmost respect for what Ince has achieved.

"He has done things the hard way, proving himself with Macclesfield and MK Dons," commented Barnes. "While Roy Keane and Gareth Southgate were given chances at the top, he went to the bottom club in the league.

"I really hope he can succeed at Blackburn."

===

Poor Barnes, him signing Raphael ****e still sticks in people mind.

[BFG]

I think Ince will do really well. He seems a lot more humble in interviews these days than when he was a player too. Good luck to him.

[dww]

To a degree I would like to think that in this day and age we wouldn't have to talk about the race of a football coach but it really does appear to be a genuine issue still. I find this very sad. It is though to some extent a numbers game - the more who try, the more will eventually succeed but some sort of critical mass has to be reached to make both clubs to come into the modern world with their attitudes and more players to consider it a viable career choice.

In terms of Barnes I think he has been unfortunate but he underestimates the fact that League one is a very tough league where all the clubs are **** scarred of failure as the crowds in League two are generally considerably lower and this breeds a conservatism in and the re-hiring of managers who have done it there before. I think that all young coaches/managers should look to the conference for opportunities - a big name ex-player will genuinely enhance gates at that level giving them a much better chance of getting a job.

Ince has done very well in his managerial career thus far and only two jobs in has got a wide range of experience having done the scrapping against relegation and big favourites with lots of cash ends of the lower divisions. If he hadn't had the playing career he did then you would question whether he knew enough about coaching top players but as it is you have to back him being at least as knowledgable about these things as say Harry Redknapp.

The one question for me would be about the fact that unlike someone like Mark Hughes in his learning job he wasn't able to build a backroom staff of top quality or use the most modern technical innovations. Hopefully his reputation, connections in the game and the money of the PL will allow him to pick up the coaches etc. he need to be a success.

[Reece]

To a degree I would like to think that in this day and age we wouldn't have to talk about the race of a football coach but it really does appear to be a genuine issue still. I find this very sad. I

It makes me feel uneasy hearing them go on about it in the media so much.

Good luck to him anyway.

[slimbimjim]

Was Jean Tigana white?

[Pablo]

Was Jean Tigana white?

No, but he wasnt British.

[tommyg]

Great stuff