July 18 - Anfield Welcomes Incey | On This Football Day

AS the public relations exercise that is rehabilitating Paul Ince’s image from that of a player too big for his boots who went around making up nicknames for himself into the very model of a modern young manager is currently in full swing, we thought we would delve into the Guv’nor’s past.

Today in 1997 Incey made the move few players dare when the former Manchester United star joined arch rivals Liverpool in a £4.2m deal. He did not jump straight between the two as Alex Ferguson had sold him to Internazionale for £8m in 1995 as part of his strategy to clear out the established pros like Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis to make way for the golden generation of kids.

Still one of few Englishmen to try his luck abroad, Ince got stuck in at Inter with his usual verve and had a largely successful spell in Italian football with family pressures, rather than football reasons behind his decision to move back to England after two years on the continent.

His decision to join Liverpool raised eyebrows with many fans who were surprised he wanted to make such a controversial switch. Ince seemed to relish this and revelled in winding up the Manchester United fans in a match between the two clubs when he celebrated wildly in front of the Kop after scoring an equaliser against the Red Devils - even kissing the Liverpool badge.

Ince was at Liverpool at the wrong time and the club failed to win any trophies in his time there and in 1999 he left for Bryan Robson’s Middlesbrough, before winding down his career with Wolves and Swindon.

Now he is being extolled as one of the best young managers in the game having served his apprenticeship with lowly Macclesfield, and gaining promotion with MK Dons. Now Blackburn boss Incey has taken over from former Old Trafford teammate Mark Hughes at Ewood park where he now as the frankly impossible task of taking the club on to the mythical ‘next level’ that all football fans dream of for their team.

He has said his dream is to return to Inter as manager and at the rate he has been rising through the ranks you wouldn’t bet against him doing just that, or one day even leading the Three Lions.

Managerial hot stuff he may be, but his general knowledge leaves a bit to be desired as the pointless quiz below demonstrates.

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