How good was Paul Ince

Frank Grimes said:
He was big mates with Giggs so maybe there was issues going on there that we're nor privvy to.
Guvnor was just a bit of fun, bit childish getting bent out of shape over that tbh.
Click to expand...

It's exactly what Fergie said in that video, it was a bit of fun, but it got to the point where it wasn't and had become problem when it came to balancing personalities. Especially when he had all these young lads coming through, he wanted them to look up to the senior players and someone who went around with a self imposed title was someone to be looking up to.

Ince was a great player, but letting him go was just another situation that SAF got bang on when it came to squad building.
 
Oranges038 said:
It's exactly what Fergie said in that video, it was a bit of fun, but it got to the point where it wasn't and had become problem when it came to balancing personalities. Especially when he had all these young lads coming through, he wanted them to look up to the senior players and someone who went around with a self imposed title was someone to be looking up to.
Click to expand...
Ince would be someone to look up to. If he talked the talk it was only because be could back it up on the pitch.
 
Great player. Shame he is not treated with more respect due to his antics with those feckers!
 
I was pretty young when he was here, but feck me, he was quality.

He's not remembered fondly because of his move to the scousers and he always comes across as a bit of a tit - which is a shame, because it's had an adverse effect on how people remember him as a footballer.
 
Frank Grimes said:
Ince would be someone to look up to. If he talked the talk it was only because be could back it up on the pitch.
Click to expand...

Even that was starting to be questioned, it was also said he wasn't being disciplined enough tactically and didn't work hard enough getting back. There were lots of other factors too, you also had Nicky Butt coming through, there was a new training ground to be paid for etc. He apparently already had talks with Inter and already told people he was heading to Italy.

Maybe the whole guvnor thing was just an excuse, but SAF generally made the right decisions around the squad balance. He got this one right too.
 
Ince and Carrick were totally different players. Ince was a dynamic box-to-box midfielder and had serious pace, especially in his time at West Ham and Old Trafford. In my opinion, his best football was undoubtedly in the first half of his career.

Carrick was a DM who relied not so much on pace as on his reading of the game and positional discipline. People don't really respect Carrick because he did not put in thunderous tackles, create many goals, or score much. However, he screened the back four so well that people didn't really notice it. In terms of footballing intelligence, Carrick was an exceptional player and totally underappreciated in my opinion.

Both of them great United players but Carrick just slightly better for how influential he was defensively.
 
Oranges038 said:
Even that was starting to be questioned, it was also said he wasn't being disciplined enough tactically and didn't work hard enough getting back. There were lots of other factors too, you also had Nicky Butt coming through, there was a new training ground to be paid for etc. He apparently already had talks with Inter and already told people he was heading to Italy.

Maybe the whole guvnor thing was just an excuse, but SAF generally made the right decisions around the squad balance. He got this one right too.
Click to expand...
It wasn’t. It was something Fergie said to justify selling him, which I’ve no issue with. He was the boss but there were no issues with Inces performances before he was sold. He was outstanding.
 
LDUred said:
Ince and Carrick were totally different players. Ince was a dynamic box-to-box midfielder and had serious pace, especially in his time at West Ham and Old Trafford. In my opinion, his best football was undoubtedly in the first half of his career.

Carrick was a DM who relied not so much on pace as on his reading of the game and positional discipline. People don't really respect Carrick because he did not put in thunderous tackles, create many goals, or score much. However, he screened the back four so well that people didn't really notice it. In terms of footballing intelligence, Carrick was an exceptional player and totally underappreciated in my opinion.

Both of them great United players but Carrick just slightly better for how influential he was defensively.
Click to expand...

100%.

Carrick was key to our success for 10 years.
One of the best in the world in his position.
People were raving about Casemiro last year, Carrick was a much better player. Almost never made a mistake or gave the ball away.

Ince was great too but very different players. It's like comparing Busquets to Gerrard.

If you watch Lee Sharpe's famous goal against Barca, Ince was instrumental in setting it up.
 
For two years at old Trafford he was an elite player bordering world class, I rember the first league we won at old Trafford in 93/94 season as a teenager, the last game at old Trafford I’m sure he scored and Pallister drilled in a free kick, he was bought to replace Robson with Keane and Neil Webb as Fergie thought he’d completely overhaul his midfield, he knew he had Sharpe and Giggs coming through.

At his best high energy box to box midfielder who could score arriving late or shooting from outside the box. Plus he was a rockweiler in midfield that left a bit on his opponent all the time, that’s why Keane liked him he was nasty like him.
 
I honestly think that the midfield we had between 1993 and 1995 with Keane and Ince and then Kanchelskis and Giggs on the wings was as good as we’ve ever had at the club, that first double winning team was only behind AC Milan in that period for me and if it wasn’t for that fecking 3 foreigner rule that included Scottish and Welsh as well as Irish I think we’d have won a Champions League in that time.

There’s no doubt that Ince is underrated and to be honest is known more these days for being famously sold to Inter to make way for the ‘Class Of 92’ and being a cnut in celebrating scoring for the bin dippers against us but Ince made it easier to cope with no Robson a lot of the time and was a great player in his own right, a proper box to box with ball winning abilities that led and was always good for a goal.
 
He's comfortably one of the best midfielders to ever play for United. He really fecked it by going to the scousers.
 
I was more gutted when we sold him than any of the rest, Hughes Kanchelskis or Sharpe. He was class and himself and Keane could have dominated English football. I followed him at Inter as much as possible even though I was quite young. Fergie felt like he was leading Giggs astray or so I’ve read somehweee and he chose giggs. Not a bad choice in hindsight from a purely football perspective. Neither seem like good guys.
 
I was a huge fan of Paul Ince as a kid. For my birthday in early April 1995, my parents took me up to Old Trafford and we went to the megastore. My dad bought me a shirt and I got Ince 8 on the back. Then we sold him 2 months later.
 
Paul Ince for some reason has never had the respect he deserved as a United player, though he played an enormous role in our back to back Premier league championships in 92/93 and 93/94 and of course in the European Cup Winners Cup 91. He won 53 England Caps too.
It seems Fergie rated Ince highly but thought he was a "big time Charlie" and his self acclaimed nick name "The Guvnor" rankled with Fergie who apparantly told Ince there was only ONE "Governer" at Old Trafford and sold him to Inter Milan, but the reason I think many United supporters dont like Ince is because he signed for Liverpool in 1997.
Paul Ince would be a huge upgrade on those players currently in his old midfield role and put them to shame.
 
Ali Dia said:
I was more gutted when we sold him than any of the rest, Hughes Kanchelskis or Sharpe. He was class and himself and Keane could have dominated English football. I followed him at Inter as much as possible even though I was quite young. Fergie felt like he was leading Giggs astray or so I’ve read somehweee and he chose giggs. Not a bad choice in hindsight from a purely football perspective. Neither seem like good guys.
Click to expand...
Ince was one of Fergies best buys and a great player for us.
 
i think i read at the time one of the problems SAF had with ince was he wanted to sit and play more defensive and let keane push on and ince saw himself more attacking so they clashed.
 
Catch said:
i think i read at the time one of the problems SAF had with ince was he wanted to sit and play more defensive and let keane push on and ince saw himself more attacking so they clashed.
Click to expand...
Yes that’s what he said, which actually is ridiculous because Keane was far more suited to that role than Ince.
 
In the '93/'94 season he was unplayable, an absolute beast.
 
In fairness to Ince he was a brilliant CM. We got lucky with someone with ability of Keane there to easily step in and replace him. Clubs these days losing the quality of Ince would prob struggle for a bit.

Shame he ended up at the scousers kissing the badge
 
Came to United as a young, rough diamond. Over time matured and developed into one of the best midfielders in Europe. 1992-1995 peak Paul Ince was world Class IMO.

An excellent tackler, good passer and clean striker of the ball. He was also a big personality and a driving force in midfield which often intimidated the opposition..

Gave the club six years of great service. One of my favourite midfielders to have ever played for United.
 
A cracking player - thankfully we had Keane who was a bit better, with Scholes coming through and Butt too. We haven't a midfielder who comes near to Ince in recent years, never mind Keane or Scholes.

A shame he ended up with the scousers but his value to United back in the day was huge. One of the best at what he did.
 
Catch said:
ince and carrick are different players. but for me ince was a much better player.
Ince became a little less respected (similar to kanchelskis) because they were culled to make way for the class of 92. and it can be argued were replaced by (soon to be) superior players in Beckham and Scholes.

and i would agree, i would only have keane, scholes and robson definately ahead of him.
Click to expand...

Agree with this. Also a top performer for his country too, the play off game in Italy being a highlight and for me only Andreas Moller was ahead of him for player of the tournament at Euro 96.

I dont even agree with people that say the big time Charlie and Scouser links soured his CV, for me it was only that he had RObson and Keane either side of his time here and it simply doesnt get better than that.

Top top player
 
He was mostly superb for Utd and it wouldn't be absurd to say he was better than Keane in their time playing together for Utd. Exceptional athlete, quick, spingy, agile, brave as they come, and a much better footballer than people realize, did very well for Inter and was a major part of a strong England team of that time as well.
 
golden_blunder said:
Keane was good at it when he first joined us
Click to expand...
He was, what a pair of midfielders. While Ince was here though it felt like Keane was the more reserved. I’ve nothing against SAF making the decision he made, I just feel that he threw Ince under the bus with comments that didn’t meet the eye test.
 
Eric cantona called him the one of the best midfielder in Europe of early 90s. Still a twat though for moving to liverpool
 
But Ince revealed that the only reason he ended up signing for Liverpool was because Man Utd decided not to take up their first refusal on their former midfielder.
this should start some proper shit...
 
Had Ince stayed would the growth of a player that Roy Keane became happen, of course Keane was better but he played right back at times, Ince was never really moved, thought Ince was brillant at utd
 
Paul Ince was the best DM United had during SAF's era. Robson was already old during the time, Keane was the better player but not the best DM (physically wise he wasn't a unit like Ince was) and Carrick was not a DM. I remember Ince playing in the Serie A and he was immense. He was like Asterix against the Romans

There again SAF was right to sell him and weirdly enough I was persuaded to that argument by Liverpool tinged stories (ie people close to Houllier). Let's say that Ince took the guvnor title on a whole ridiculous level making it impossible for a serious manager to work with him.
 
A brilliant midfielder. Was astonishing alongside a young, raw Roy Keane. Fast (v important), powerful, decisive, great on the ball, street-wise, regular goal scorer... He would be the best player in the country, arguably Europe if he was around now. KDB has more technical ability, but few, very few have Ince' desire and dominant playing personality. Perfect Man United Centre Midfielder.

Was a bit arrogant and that knarked Fergie. All changed when Inter were interested. I know his (former) agent who said that he didn't really want to leave United at all, but Fergie felt that Ince didn't want to stay , so who knows.

Shouldn't have joined Pool' though. You don't do that.
 
Loved him, proper old-school B2B who knew exactly how to play that role effectively

Absolutely gutted when he was sold to Inter
 
Ince is the strongest example of history scrubbing in football that I know of. His entire legacy tainted by the manager for wanting him out of the club. I don't think there's a metric that has Ince down as anything but an elite midfielder of his era. He could do everything you'd desire in a true box-to-box midfielder and he had the heart and tenacity as well as pride of a lion.

I made a thread about him some time ago canvasing fan opinions of the player and it was interesting to see how he was perceived as well as the mess of a timeline encountered - people hating him for being at Liverpool and all that followed after he'd been unceremoniously booted out of the club he loved with everything he had to give. Ince, just like Keane, wore his heart on his sleeve, and just as both would fight to death for the club, being mistreated and kicked out of it left them so bitter and angry that so much of what made them them was turned against the manager, and in Ince's case, the club/support too for siding with the manager. In turn, he was washed from the picture and would/could never be eulogised like he otherwise would've been because there's no dispute: Ince is of the calibre of Keane and Robson, certainly in that tier and one who, if he'd had a full term here, would have added more trophies and personal glory to his legacy.

There's an understanding as to why the manager did what he did - the clash was wholly about egos and power struggles, and Ince's ego was as big as his talent, which is where he takes a sharp turn from Robson or Keane. Ince would've been a huge presence for better or worse with an even larger haul of trophies and personal glory to his name, which may have turned the kids coming up into something they otherwise wouldn't be. One can never know how such an ego may filter and manifest onto others and Fergie wasn't about to even consider the risk of tainting an entire batch of new talent. It's of course 'out of the blue' to us as fans, given Ince had years of top level football left in him, as he went on to prove, but the sacrifice of the few for the many is one of Fergie's greatest moves given how it turned out - as a club, we weren't affected by Ince's departure despite his quality and regard as a standalone player, well, actually, we probably were given how long it took us to settle in Europe, but in terms of winning enough for it to be a good net decision, binning him off can be seen as justified.

A prime Ince next to what would have been a prime Keane is such a different proposition for the opposition of that time Ince was let go. In saying that, Scholes either stays in support striker position or his own career takes a turn because Butt would have been the CM understudy at that time, so again, lose something from column A and gain in B - Ince stays and we probably see a different career path for Scholes.

An alternate timeline exercise would be fun actually. Forensically accounting for each season of that time period and seeing who and what is directly impacted by Ince staying.
 
I am biased about this.

My first game at OT was when was Governor playing.
My dad vas invited by his Uni friend to Manchester, it was looong time ago. Even my country existed at that time
I was kid, and we had some crazy football culture (Jugoslavija, Crvena Zvezda was Europenan Champion) but that game and Ince changed my perception of football. Over here we had "hard football" not just football, its just that mentality that you need be strong.
But feckin Ince, he was IT on the field. He was so good with the ball and without ball. My dad always teased me, that was only 90mins when I was quiet.
And who ever calls Ince box to box MF, should check their head.
He was Fergie mistake, same as Jaap Stam. Thats just my opinion.
 
davidmichael said:
I honestly think that the midfield we had between 1993 and 1995 with Keane and Ince and then Kanchelskis and Giggs on the wings was as good as we’ve ever had at the club, that first double winning team was only behind AC Milan in that period for me and if it wasn’t for that fecking 3 foreigner rule that included Scottish and Welsh as well as Irish I think we’d have won a Champions League in that time.

There’s no doubt that Ince is underrated and to be honest is known more these days for being famously sold to Inter to make way for the ‘Class Of 92’ and being a cnut in celebrating scoring for the bin dippers against us but Ince made it easier to cope with no Robson a lot of the time and was a great player in his own right, a proper box to box with ball winning abilities that led and was always good for a goal.
Click to expand...
Couldn’t agree more. What a midfield that was!!

Kanchelskis remains my fav Utd player. Admittedly i was a lot younger but was always gutted if ever he didn’t start (we had sharpe as well)… power, pace, direct, technique, could finish.
 
next_number_seven said:
100%.

Carrick was key to our success for 10 years.
One of the best in the world in his position.
People were raving about Casemiro last year, Carrick was a much better player. Almost never made a mistake or gave the ball away.

Ince was great too but very different players. It's like comparing Busquets to Gerrard.

If you watch Lee Sharpe's famous goal against Barca, Ince was instrumental in setting it up.
Click to expand...

Can't really agree with that. I feel people judge Carrick on his last few years under Fergie and start of the Moyes/Van Gaal era where he was fantastic, especially in the 2012/2013 season.

Before that period, he was inconsistent, often would get overrun or give the ball away cheaply. He really struggled for confidence sometimes in the early days of his United career and there was talks that we were considering selling him. Fletcher was definitely the superior midfielder at the time we were competing for CL titles etc.

Always started the season slowly as well, something which Fergie alluded too so wouldn't really hit form till October/November.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.