Former Blackpool boss Paul Ince is not done with football just yet, despite his April 2023 sacking from Reading.
The 56-year-old had just 40 games in charge at Bloomfield Road and, more recently, a little over a year at Reading. He saved the Royals from relegation in 2021/22 but succumbed to the drop after a points deduction the following season.
He’s been out of work for eight months now, but he’s admitted in an interview with DAZN Bet that he isn’t done with football just yet. He is targeting a return, but despite the number of jobs coming up, nothing takes his fancy right now.
“There aren’t really any vacancies I’ve got my eye on at the moment,” said the former Manchester United midfielder. “Christmas is around the corner and that makes it tough.”
Ince, who tasted the sack at Blackburn and Blackpool, as well as leaving Notts County by mutual consent, confessed he doesn’t like the merry-go-round, as it means that someone is out of a job. Having been unceremoniously dumped by a few clubs, he understands the pain that causes.
“I know that sackings are a part of football, but I never like to see a manager lose his job, nor do I enjoy talking about it. I’d love to go to a club where I’ve got a chance of achieving something. A lot of the teams I’ve managed were struggling to stay up.”
One club Ince did well at was MK Dons. In 2008, he won League Two and the EFL Trophy, capping arguably his most successful season in the dugout. He left Stadium MK for the first time during the following summer but acknowledged that the club was a good fit for him at the time.
“MK Dons were a perfect fit for me. They’d just missed out on promotion the season before, and they had a very good squad – making it easy for me to go in there. They just needed a little bit extra to get promoted, and we did that in my first season in charge.”
For now, Ince, who also played for West Ham, Liverpool, Inter Milan, and Wolves during a long career, is biding his time, but once the festive period is over, he’s hoping he’ll be back in the dugout at a club that won’t just expect him to firefight.
“I’d want to go somewhere where I have a chance instead of fighting all the time! We’ll see what comes up, but I hope I’m working again after Christmas.”
Ince was capped 53 times for England and looked set for a big career in management after spells at Macclesfield and MK Dons. His time at Blackburn was a struggle, and prior to Reading, he’d had eight years out of the managerial game after spending just 40 games in charge of Blackpool.
Writer’s View
All Ince wants is a chance to go into a club that doesn’t really need a manager to do much of a job. That’s how the quotes sound, and surely, that’s every manager’s wish.
In all seriousness, Ince might be eyeing a return to the dugout after Christmas, but he won’t have the pick of the jobs. He’d had eight years out of the dugout and then oversaw a relegation, points deduction or not. There were many raised eyebrows when he got the Reading job – there would be a lot more if he walked into another EFL role.
Feasibly, perhaps a Salford or Forest Green might be willing to take him on, and with their resources, they might appeal to him. That said, it would be a massive surprise to see him managing in the EFL straight after Christmas, if at all.
