Paul Ince, the embattled Blackburn Rovers manager, is expected to survive a board meeting at Ewood Park this afternoon, but his position remains perilous. While there is an outside chance that he could be ousted today, Ince’s fate seems certain to be decided by the next two matches, away to Wigan Athletic on Saturday and at home to Stoke City a week later.

John Williams, the chairman, made the ominous statement yesterday that “the board will make the decisions it feels are in the best interests of the club”. The meeting has been scheduled for months, but Ince’s future will inevitably be discussed after a dire recent run of form in which Blackburn have taken three points from their past ten Premier League matches.

Williams and others on the board retain some hope that Ince will succeed in arresting the slump, but there is an acute realisation that drastic action will have to be taken if results do not improve quickly. If the team’s position worsens after their visit to the JJB Stadium, a change of manager will be reluctantly considered. Graeme Souness, a previous incumbent, and Sam Allardyce would be among those considered to take over.

Blackburn took a calculated gamble in appointing Ince in June, after the departure of Mark Hughes to Manchester City. The board believes that the former Macclesfield Town and Milton Keynes Dons manager has been unfortunate with injuries and are prepared to see whether he can bring about that improvement against Wigan after there were encouraging signs in the 3-1 defeat by Liverpool at the weekend, but, with the financial repercussions of relegation so severe, their patience is limited.

Almost since the day that he took charge of Blackburn, Ince has had to contend with rumours of unrest among his players, with recent reports going so far as to claim that the dressing-room was “split” between those favouring Allardyce and those who want Souness to replace Ince.

But Ryan Nelsen, the captain, painted a picture yesterday of a squad fully behind their underfire manager and committed to helping him reverse the team’s fortunes.

Asked whether it was true that there was a lack of support for Ince among the players, Nelsen replied: “That’s not the case at all. Everyone’s training and working hard. Heads aren’t down. We’re not slumping around feeling sorry for ourselves. We know the situation we’re in and we’re working hard with the staff and with the gaffer to get up this league.

“Paul has been great. He has taken a lot of flak when the players should have taken it. All the players have made mistakes that we weren’t making under Hughes so I feel bad for the manager. I think the players have got to stand up and be counted a lot more than what we have. We all know that, we understand that and we want to do it.”

Nelsen said that he was mystified by some of the stories that appear to have emanated from the dressing-room. “I don’t know where it comes from,” the New Zealand defender said. “It has been going on from preseason to now. Whenever you hear there are sources from within, flags go up. It sounds a bit dodgy. It’s not the case.

“Everybody seems to be extremely happy. Obviously we’re disappointed with where we are but there’s nothing like that. Whoever this guy ‘Mr Source’ is, he should come out and show himself.”

The board have been encouraged by the murmurs from the players, with Roque Santa Cruz, the Paraguay striker who is a target for Manchester City in the January transfer window, another who has spoken up for Ince. But ultimately it will be results that decide Ince’s fate. The next two matches could come to be a turning point, but, equally, they could prove to be a point of no return.