Chris Samba reveals 'difficult' truth behind Paul Ince at Blackburn Rovers | OneFootball

The former Rovers man has opened up on his time at Ewood Park.

Given how underwhelming the past 15 years have been for Blackburn Rovers, it is easy to forget what a formidable side they were in English football.

From lifting an unlikely Premier League title in 1995 to beating Tottenham Hotspur to win the League Cup in 2002, Rovers have etched their name in the history books.

One man who experienced the best and worst at Ewood Park was Christoper Samba, who played for the club between 2007 and 2012 under four different managers.

Regarded as one of the least successful managers at Blackburn was Paul Ince, and the former defender opened up on exactly why his stint in Lancashire went so catastrophically badly.

Christopher Samba explains what went wrong for Paul Ince at Blackburn Rovers

Following in Mark Hughes' footsteps was never going to be easy.

The stern Welshman took charge of Rovers for four years between 2004 and 2008, amassing 82 wins in 188 matches with a win percentage of 43.62%.

During his time at Blackburn, Hughes reached Europe on two separate occasions by guiding his team to sixth in the 2005-05 campaign and via the UEFA Fair Play system in 2008.

Not only was he a success, but he was a no-nonsense type of boss and one who commanded the respect of his dressing room.

When Ince arrived, there were obvious similarities between him and Hughes as they were both tenacious midfielders for Manchester United, achieving great success in their playing careers.

However, Ince struggled from the outset when he was appointed as Blackburn manager in 2008, and now Samba has explained exactly where it all went wrong.

“I think it was too early for him, you know, he was not ready, definitely not ready to take the team at the time," he said while appearing as a guest on the Under The Cosh podcast.

“It’s difficult because, obviously, over time, when you’re in a group, there’s certain things that take place in the dressing room, a certain hierarchy, a little bit. Certain hierarchies that form naturally.

"I think when he came to the club as well, the players are a little bit more important in the dressing room, and then it collapsed.

“That was one of the problems. He didn’t understand that he had to put important players in his pocket first.”

Too much too soon for Ince at Ewood Park?

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At the time of Ince's appointment, it did seem like a bizarre move, given that he had been managing League Two side MK Dons, although he did do a stellar job there.

In his 55 games as Dons boss, he averaged 2.11 points per match, according to Transfermarkt, leading them to the fourth-tier title, but he essentially hopped three divisions in one career move.

Blackburn's dressing room was stacked full of big personalities, with the likes of Robbie Fowler, Benni McCarthy and Ryan Nelson all key figures at Ewood Park.

As Samba says, Ince failed to get his key players onside from the early days of his tenure and thus was unable to implement his ideas on an unconvinced squad.

Looking back, it could be argued that Hughes' philosophy did not need tweaking, but obviously Ince cannot be blamed for wanting to stamp his own mark on his new side.

New signings Vince Grella and Carlos Villanueva struggled to adapt to the English game, while Keith Andrews found the immense step-up too much and even Paul Robinson was guilty of uncharacteristic goalkeeping errors.

In terms of results, it was not a bad start for Ince as he notched an impressive five wins in his opening eight matches, only to win one of his next 13 before being sacked after just five months.

Having lost the dressing room fast, his tactics fell on deaf ears, so the club made the pragmatic decision to bring in a man of Hughes' ilk, Sam Allardyce.

It never quite worked out for Ince, and after poor spells at MK Dons, Notts County, Blackpool and Reading, he has not managed since 2023, while a return to an EFL dugout looks increasingly unlikely.