Ince sacked by Rovers

Stoke’s next opponents, Blackburn Rovers, have sacked their manager, Paul Ince.

I was hoping that a heavy home defeat by Stoke at the weekend would have been the final straw, but it seems that the Rovers’ board are not waiting for that result and have sacked the manager they only appointed in the summer.

Stoke fans will still remember last season’s defeat at Newcastle in the FA Cup just hours after their appointment of Kevin Keegan to the manager’s job. It eventually turned out that the so-called ‘Messiah’ was not the answer to the Magpies’ woes but the optimism that his arrival generated was enough to see off the Potters on that occasion.

Such changes at the top often result in a short term blip with better results as the team try and impress their new boss. With luck, there will not be a new manager installed by Saturday and Stoke will still have no problem overcoming a poor, demoralised Rovers’ team for our first away victory of the season.