sport news Paul Ince admits Premier League management came 'too early' for him trends now
Just a couple of weeks. That was the plan. Just hold the fort until they can find someone else. ‘That old chestnut,’ smiles Paul Ince from behind the desk in the manager’s office at Reading’s training ground.
He is into his eighth month in charge. Back in his natural habitat after eight years out of football. The competitive fire is back in his belly and his team are third in the Championship, with 18 points from 10 games, despite operating under a transfer embargo.
‘In my head, the plan was two or three games and I’d be on my merry way,’ says Ince. ‘I was thinking, steady the ship, get some standards in the building, get some fun back in the building — never easy when you’re not winning — and change the culture a bit.’
Paul Ince is loving his return to managerial life with Reading after eight years away from the dugout
When Reading lost his fourth game 4-0 at Nottingham Forest, Ince thumbed the newspapers for names linked to the job but found nothing. Football’s grapevine was silent so on he went, into a run of only one defeat in seven games. The threat of relegation eased and when owner Dai Yongge asked him to stay until the summer he accepted.
‘One of my biggest achievements as a person,’ says Ince, when he reflects on last season. ‘You listen to people criticising, doubting, punters coming out and saying it’s a big risk, and I get that.
‘When you’ve been out for that long it is a risk, but I know I can lift players who are down and need some guidance. That’s something I’ve always done, going into clubs like Macclesfield and Blackpool.
The former Manchester United and his England midfielder has Reading flying in the Championship
‘It felt good to keep them up because this was a Premier League club not long ago. You look at the stadium, the training ground, and the staff and you know if you go down into League One you’ll have to start cutting costs and making redundancies.’
He enjoyed working with his son Thomas again, who had just joined Reading on loan from Stoke, and a familiar sensation was taking hold. Incrementally, he was drawn back in. ‘That little feeling of nervous excitement in your stomach before a game, like I used to have when I was playing,’ says Ince. ‘It’s funny, because if they’d asked me at the start to be a permanent manager, I would have probably said no.
‘Eight lovely, stress-free years then all of a sudden everyone has an opinion on you, “Don’t do this, do this, you’re rubbish, put him on, get him off”. Why would you put yourself back into the pressure cooker?
Sir Alex Ferguson is not his main source of inspiration he revealed, with his wife Claire taking that mantle
‘There was no director of football, no scouting system, the club wasn’t how it should be. I knew the budget would have to be sliced enormously.
‘We can’t buy players. We’re patching together a team with loanees and free transfers because we’re under this embargo but we know if we can stay in the league this year, we might have two or three years to build something special.
‘Managers always talk about projects when they know they could be out the door in six games, but I do feel with this owner I’ve got more chance of achieving this project than I’d have elsewhere.
‘He’s receptive, he’s put a lot of money into the club and wants to do it right.’
Reading, after a difficult few years that saw them flirt with relegation, are flying towards the top of the division
This could not be further removed from his previous managerial experience at Blackpool, when he was sacked by chairman Karl Oyston while at St George’s Park taking his UEFA Pro Licence.
‘I came out to find about 50 missed calls from my wife,’ says Ince. ‘I called her back, worried something had happened to one of the kids. She said, “Haven’t you heard, Karl Oyston sacked you”. He’d not even told me face to face.
‘That was disappointing. We were mid-table with one of the lowest budgets in the Championship and it left me feeling despondent, wondering if I could be bothered with it all any longer.’
Ince, 54, may have
