Paul Ince

Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of EFL Championship side Reading.

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.

Lyall helped Ince through troubled school times eventually signing him as a YTS trainee, on leaving school, in 1984.

A former midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1986 to 2007, starting his career with West Ham United and later representing Manchester United, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Swindon Town and Macclesfield Town in England, as well as Inter Milan in Italy.

With a combined total of 271 league appearances for the two, Ince is one of the few players, especially in the Premier League era, to have represented both of arch rivals Liverpool and Manchester United.

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.

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.

West Ham's relegation sparked inevitable speculation that Ince would be sold to a First Division club, with Manchester United being among the clubs being linked to Ince's signature.

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 abuse from West Ham United fans for many years afterwards.

Ince spent the majority of his playing career at the highest level; after breaking through with his then-Second Division boyhood club West Ham United, he joined Manchester United in 1989 where he would win the Premier League twice, the FA Cup twice and the Football League Cup once during his six-year spell at Old Trafford.

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 said:

"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 crap 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 by Manchester City.

Ince became a strong presence in the United midfield alongside Bryan Robson and Neil Webb, although the first season of this midfield partnership saw Robson and in particular Webb miss many games due to injury.

Ince found himself partnering Webb in the centre of the United midfield for most of the 1990–91 season, with Robson absent from the close season until just before Christmas due to injury, with Mike Phelan appearing during Robson's absence.

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.

After falling out with manager Alex Ferguson, Ince was sold to Inter Milan of Serie A in 1995, where he was a runner-up in the 1997 UEFA Cup.

After two years in Italy, Ince returned to the Premier League with Liverpool, later also representing Middlesbrough and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the top flight before beginning to move into coaching in the mid-2000s.

After a spell as player-coach of Swindon Town, he retired from playing while player-manager of Macclesfield Town in 2007.

He went on to manage Milton Keynes Dons (twice), Blackburn Rovers, Notts County and, after an almost-two-year break, Blackpool.

He was capped 53 times by England, scoring two goals.

As a player, he won numerous honours with Manchester United, and became the first black player to captain the England national team.

His son Tom is also a footballer.

Ince was born in Ilford, Greater London.

He 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.