Blue watch: Alan Shearer can learn from Paul Ince’s graft

Jun 19 2008 by Mark O'Brien, Liverpool Daily Post

THERE are few people who seemed to have much time for Paul Ince, the player.

Opposing fans obviously could never stand him, but even those of the clubs he played for rarely seem to have much affection for him either.

Give him his due now though, after he finished playing he chose to go about a career in management in the old-fashioned way, starting at Macclesfield Town and then moving on to the MK Dons.

That level of football is almost as far removed from Old Trafford and Anfield as you can get without having players who turn up for training with paint in their hair and a ladder on the top of their car.

If he does get offered the vacant job at Ewood Park then he deserves a bit of respect for ‘paying his dues’, especially when you have the likes of Alan Shearer, with no management credentials whatsoever, seemingly turning good jobs down left, right and centre.

Just how much is the BBC paying the ex-England man when he can afford to sit there and declare himself ‘not ready at this point’ for a Premier League management position whenever Gary Lineker dutifully brings the topic up?

Ince is apparently the preferred choice now of many Blackburn supporters, who perhaps see someone has served their apprenticeship and is ready for a bigger stage, almost in the David Moyes mould.

Then again, when Sam Allardyce and Steve McClaren look like the only other options, perhaps no one should be that surprised that they would rather their club take a gamble on the self-styled Guv’nor.

Whoever is in charge at the Rovers faces a stern test with their first league match in charge – away to Everton.

The fixtures have obviously been published now, although any excitement is tempered slightly by the fact that there’s no point in starting to make plans for hedonistic weekends that take in a game because a huge chunk of matches are clearly going to be switched to accommodate the telly schedules.

Still, Everton’s opening fixtures look entirely reasonable, although playing away at the three newly-promoted sides so early on probably isn’t what anyone would have hoped for in an ideal world.

The Hawthorns, for instance, is going to be bouncing on what will be their first home game. Far preferable is to play the likes of the Baggies, Hull and Stoke when they have been hammered for months and are already making plans for next season’s promotion push.

Everton will have to make sure they start the season well and take plenty of points from those trips though, as the schedule is going to start taking its toll at the turn of the year, with eight games scheduled in November alone. League games against Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United promise to make January a gruelling month too, although those encounters in particular are going to be prone to rescheduling.

On the plus side, the run-in looks more than reasonable, with every game after the visit to Stamford Bridge in April looking eminently winnable. And that includes the visit to Craven Cottage on the final weekend.

Hopefully at that point we will be fielding a team of reserves, resting players for the FA and UEFA Cup finals, with Champions League qualification already secured.

What? If you can’t be hopelessly optimistic in June, when can you?