BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince born 21 October 1967 is an English football manager and a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder from 1982 to 2007. He was appointed manager of Blackpool on 18 February 2013.
Born in Ilford, Redbridge, Ince spent the majority of his playing career at the highest level; after leaving West Ham United he joinedManchester United where he played in the Premier League. After two years in Italian Serie A with Internazionale he returned to England to play in the top flight for Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Wolverhampton Wanderers. After a spell as player-coach of Swindon Town, he retired from playing whilst player-manager of Macclesfield Town in 2007. He went on to manage Milton Keynes Dons (twice), Blackburn Rovers and Notts County. He was capped 53 times by England, scoring two goals.
As a player he won numerous honours with Manchester United, became the first black player to captain the England team and was also the first black Briton to manage a team in the highest tier of English football.
West Ham United
Club career
Ince grew up as a West Ham United supporter. He was spotted playing, aged 12, by West Ham manager John Lyall around the time that the club was in the Second Division and achieved a surprise FA Cup final triumph over Arsenal.
He signed for the Hammers as a trainee, aged 14. Lyall helped Ince through troubled school times eventually signing him as a YTStrainee, on leaving school, in 1984. He is a product of the West Ham youth team and made his debut in English football on 30 November 1986 against Newcastle United in the First Division. He became a regular player in 1987–88, proving himself to have all-round qualities of pace, stamina, uncompromising tackling and good passing ability. He also packed a powerful shot, and was awarded with England under-21 honours to go with the youth caps he acquired as an apprentice. He firmly established himself as the successor in West Ham's midfield for the veteran Billy Bonds, who retired at the end of the 1987–88 season. Unfortunately for Ince, West Ham were not enjoying one of their best spells when he broke into the team. Despite having won the FA Cup in 1980 and finished third in the league in 1986, they had failed to sustain their challenge for major honours and finished 15th in 1987 and 16th in 1988, and worse was to follow.
In August 1988, an eventful season for Ince began. In a struggling West Ham side, he shot to national recognition with two stunning goals in a shock 4–1 win over defending league champions Liverpool in the League Cup, and continued to score goals as the Hammers reached the semi-finals while having real trouble finding any form in the League. West Ham lost to Luton Town in the semi-finals and, despite frequent displays of individual brilliance from Ince, were relegated at the end of the season, a disappointment which cost manager John Lyall his job after 15 years at the helm.
Manchester United
Ince played just once in the Second Division the following season before completing a highly controversial transfer to Manchester United for £1 million. Ince had been photographed in a Manchester United kit long before the transfer was complete, which appeared in the Daily Express. Ince received hateful abuse from West Ham United fans for many years afterwards. The initial move was postponed after he failed a medical, but was quickly completed on 14 September 1989 after he later received the all-clear.
In an article in Four Four Two magazine, he explained:
"I spoke to Alex Ferguson and the deal was close to being done. I then went on holiday, and my agent at the time, Ambrose Mendy, said it wasn't worth me coming back to do a picture in a United shirt when the deal was completed, so I should do one before I left, and it would be released when the deal was announced. Lawrence Luster of the Daily Star took the picture and put in the library. Soon after, their sister paper, the Daily Express, were looking for a picture of me playing for West Ham, and found the one of me in the United shirt in the pile. They published it and all hell broke loose.
"I came back from holiday to discover West Ham fans were going mad. It wasn't really my fault. I was only a kid, I did what my agent told me to do, then took all the c**p for it."
Ince eventually made his Manchester United debut in a 5–1 win over Millwall, although his next game for United came in a 5–1 Manchester derby defeat byManchester City. Ince became a strong presence in the United midfield alongside long serving captain Bryan Robson and (when he wasn't out of the team injured) fellow new midfielder Neil Webb.
United won the FA Cup in his first season, defeating Crystal Palace 1–0 in a replay at Wembley after initially drawing 3–3. In both of these games, Ince was selected at right-back in favour of Viv Anderson, with his favoured central midfield position being occupied by Mike Phelan. Ince was man of the match for the replay.
Over the next four seasons, Robson's United career gradually wound down until he finally left to manage Middlesbrough in 1994. During this time, Ince found himself playing alongside several other different central midfielders, including Mike Phelan, Neil Webb and Darren Ferguson. The arrival of striker Eric Cantona in November 1992 saw Brian McClair become Ince's regular central midfield partner until the arrival of Roy Keane the following season.
Meanwhile, Ince became United's key midfielder, with snapping tackles, raking passes and some tremendously hit shots, though he was not too prolific a goalscorer. One of his best games camePremier League.
in January 1994, when he scored twice in a 2–2 away draw with former club West Ham in the
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