Ince Could Join Rovers ‘In Next Few Days’

It appears that the man who steered the MK Dons to a title-winning promotion into League One, as well as success in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, will be heading to Blackburn Rovers imminently.

Vital Dons understands that Paul Ince has held talks with Rovers’ chairman John Williams, and the two clubs have agreed a compensation package that will see Ince succeed Mark Hughes at Ewood Park.

The League Managers’ Association have also confirmed that they would support Ince if he were to be confirmed as the next Rovers manager, despite his lack of a UEFA Pro License.

LMA chief Richard Bevan told Sky Sports, ‘It’s a Premier League rule. The Premier League has made exceptions to it in the past and that’s up to them.’

‘From our perspective, if any manager wants help to get qualifications, either football related or non-football related, we are here to help.’

‘We would support Paul Ince if he got the Blackburn job.’

However, with exceptions given in the past to Glenn Roeder, Gareth Southgate and Avram Grant, it is not expected that the Premier League will stand in the way of a young English manager taking over at a top Premier League side.

The one remaining stumbling block to Ince’s appointment at the Lancashire club has been Michael Laudrup’s admission that he would be very interested in taking the hot-seat. It is understood that this has caught the eye of the Rovers board, who may now reconsider their options before putting pen to paper with Ince.

It had been assumed that the race was a three-way fight between Ince, Sam Alladyce and Steve McClaren, with the latter’s chances being extremely thin. However, Laudrup throwing his name into the hat is sure to put the cat amongst the pidgeons at Ewood.

Laudrup, 44, guided Spanish outfit Getafe to the Copa Del Rey final last season, as well as the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup, before resigning this summer after just a year at the club. The former Barcelona, Real Madrid and Ajax striker has considerably more big-time experience than Ince, a factor which could sway the Rovers board.