In an upstairs room at Blackburn Rovers’ training ground, Paul Ince is reminiscing about old times. It has taken a while for him to soften up, to depart from the cautious mantra that his first managerial encounter with Sir Alex Ferguson is “just another game”, but now he is in full flow, harking back cheerily to the days when falling out with the Manchester United manager was not so much a rite of passage as a reflex action.

“In ’93-94, Fergie must have fallen out with every one of us in that United squad,” Ince recalled, with a smile yesterday. “There were big egos in that dressing-room and big characters. He could absolutely rollock us and he knew he would get a response. I look at his team today and I think that what Alex Ferguson says probably goes. It wasn’t like that back in my time there. If we felt we were right, we would chip right back.

“There were such strong characters in that team, so many personalities and opinions, no other manager in the world could have controlled it and done what he did. He’s the best for me, the best manager of all time.”

Some may be surprised to hear such a tribute from Ince, who parted with Ferguson on bad terms when he left United for Inter Milan in 1995 and later took umbrage at being labelled a “big-time Charlie” by his former manager, but they are closer now.

Ince has regained Ferguson’s admiration and respect because of the dedication with which he has thrown himself into a career in management, starting at the bottom of the Football League, where he saved Macclesfield Town from relegation, and working his way up via Milton Keynes Dons, with whom he earned promotion to Coca-Cola League One last season, to Blackburn, where, to the surprise, and perhaps disappointment, of some, he has made an encouraging start.

On his first day at Macclesfield, Ince received a call from Ferguson, who opened the conversation by saying: “Welcome to the madhouse.” Ince quickly discovered what the United manager meant, but, with every step he has taken, his respect for Ferguson has grown.

The most startling aspect of the Scot’s success at Old Trafford, Ince says, is the way that he has adjusted to the demands of modern football, in which, with players enjoying such power and wealth, managers can no longer seek confrontation, as Ferguson did with headstrong, driven individuals such as Peter Schmeichel, Roy Keane and Ince.

“Managers have had to change, especially the old-school ones, because the game has changed,” Ince said. “Alex has taken that on board. I don’t think he uses the hairdryer treatment as much as he used to, but I’m not sure you can be like that any more. The game has evolved and I think you have to be careful what you say to players. When I look at that team we had at United, it wasn’t about money. We wanted to win things.

“We hadn’t won the league for 26 years and we wanted to be the first to break that. It wasn’t about how much money we could get, it was a case of if we can win the medals, the rest comes with it. Nowadays that’s maybe not the case.”

If Ince, at 40, sounds less than enamoured with certain aspects of modern football, his dissatisfaction is not directed at his players at Blackburn. He has been delighted with the way that they have responded after some were initially sceptical about his appointment in succession to Mark Hughes.

“The team have been outstanding,” he said. “I came into the club late and had people saying bad things about the club, saying we had a mutiny on our hands before the season had even started, which was out of order. We dispelled that straight away at Everton, coming from behind to win 3-2, and we are all still learning as a family.

Ince makes it sound easy and, after a crash course at Macclesfield, where on his first day the groundsman asked him to lock the gates behind him on his way out, that may be true to a certain extent. He is justifiably proud of what he achieved at the Moss Rose Ground and is at pains to point out, when his inexperience is mentioned, that he has not gone straight into a big club, as Keane and Gareth Southgate did with Sunderland and Middlesbrough respectively.

“I think there is probably more stress at Macclesfield, to be honest,” he said. “The reason I say that is that I had players there earning £300 or £400 a week with young families and you know that if the club go out of the league, they are going to have to go out and find a job. I remember saying to myself: ‘If I get it wrong here, these boys’ livelihoods are at risk.’ Having four kids and no job — that’s pressure. Being in the Premiership is the best job in the world.”

And the best job of all, one presumes, is the one in succession to Ferguson at Old Trafford when the time comes. Would he fancy it? “Who’s to say what might happen in the future?” he replies. “Why not?” Hughes, Keane and Steve Bruce, United old boys all, might have something to say about that, but, then again, they always did.

And that is probably why, even to this day, Ferguson’s eyes mist over as he reminisces about his title-winning class of 1994.

* * * * *

The war of words that gave way to lasting peace

“For some months before the end of the season, someone representing Ince was phoning Inter and telling them he was desperate to join them. We must assume that Paul knew about it. That annoyed and worried me.”
Ferguson after Manchester United sold Ince to Inter Milan, July 1995

“If he tries to bully you, he will f***ing enjoy it. Don't even let him bully you. He's a f***ing big-time Charlie.”
Ferguson in televised pre-match team talk before game against Ince's Liverpool, May 1999

“The relationship is fine. People say things in the heat of the moment, but it never bothered me. He invites me to his golf day every year. I never go, but that's because it's usually when I'm on holiday.”
Ince yesterday

Scholes and Fletcher sign new deals

Some wondered whether Paul Scholes's career might be over as he left the field on a stretcher with knee ligament damage during Manchester United's Champions League victory over Aalborg on Tuesday evening, but United announced yesterday that the former England midfield player has agreed a one-year extension to his contract (Oliver Kay writes). The deal will keep Scholes at Old Trafford until June 2010, by which time he will be 35.

Darren Fletcher, the Scotland midfield player, has also agreed a new contract, having entered the final year of his previous deal. The 24-year-old has committed himself to Sir Alex Ferguson's side until June 2012.