Paul Ince and the Return of Proper Good Old Fashioned Sackings

By: Daryl | December 16th, 2008

First things first, I take no pleasure in Paul Ince losing his job. The Governer is literally one of my heroes from his Wolves and England days (which were sadly separate eras, but still…). The first black captain of England and the first black British Premier League manager. And if you’re an England fan than the fact that he was a promising English manager in the Premier League made him worth supporting, and that’s before you factor in the symbolic progress that would have been made had he made a success at Blackburn Rovers. So for all those reasons, I’m sad to see him out of work.

But here’s the one and only positive in all this: at least he was properly sacked.

Here’s the statement from the Rovers website:

It is with great sadness the Board announce that Paul Ince is to leave the club. After a Board meeting yesterday it was decided to relieve Paul of his duties.

The Board, having selected Paul back in June, were desperate for him to succeed and wanted to give him as much time as possible in the unforgiving environment of Premier League management where time is such a precious commodity.

Chairman John Williams said “Three wins in 17 games has seen a squad, which finished seventh last season, fall to 19th position. We are currently in real danger of becoming detached from the pack.

“The survival of the club in the Premier League is paramount and our focus now is on finding a replacement who will be able to maintain our top division status.

“Paul will bounce back, he is a fighter and we wish him well.”

Emphasis mine, because it’s about time clubs started to be clear and straightforward about exactly how and when managers lose their job. Hard to believe, but even Ramos’s sacking was worded to suggest it was mutual:

“The club can announce that Damien Comolli, sporting director, Juande Ramos, head coach and first-team coaches Marcos Alvarez and Gus Poyet have left the club with immediate effect. We wish them well,” the club said.

Hmm.

Blackburn aren’t messing about with any “left by mutual consent” or “agreed to part terms”, and certainly no implications that he quit of his own accord. Results weren’t good enough and Rovers were in trouble so Ince had to go.

So credit to Blackburn for appointing the first black English manager, and credit to them for dealing with it properly when things didn’t work out. Sacking Paul Ince left Rovers open to possible accusations of racism, so well done to them for having the balls to tell it like it was and not apply any spin.

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