The owners of League Two Morecambe have confirmed they did hold informal talks with former Manchester United midfielder Paul Ince earlier this year, but chose not to progress after discussing with manager Jim Bentley.
Co-owner Colin Goldring admitted at a fan’s forum last night that they had spoken to Ince, but as part of a wider exploration of possibilities when it came to helping manager Jim Bentley.
The Visitor reports those talks were never official and, when Bentley expressed concerns, they were shelved immediately.
“There was a conversation with Paul Ince; it was in a period where the boys were finding their feet, playing good football but not getting the results,” said Goldring.
“We spoke to Jim and asked what we could do to help him; we raised Paul Ince as an option but there were a few guys we were looking at as an extra pair of hands. Jim said he felt it wouldn’t work and we appreciated that. We felt we’d put our faith in him and he’s got our absolute trust.”
“The consensus was it wouldn’t work well and the view of the board was we didn’t need a director of football. It isn’t that Paul Ince is a bad guy; he’s done a good job as a manager at other clubs but we stand firmly behind Jim.”
51-year old Ince has been out of management since leaving Blackpool in 2014. His previous clubs include Notts County, MK Dons, Macclesfield and Blackburn Rovers.
Our View
It’s a grand job this never got off the ground, it smacks of ‘Big Ron Manager’ all over again.
Jim Bentley is a good manager, working with his hands tied financially, the last thing he needed was valuable budget being eaten up by an ego.
That’s no disrespect to Ince of course, but he’s simply got no place at a club like Morecambe.
