Paul Ince believes he wasn't given enough time to succeed as manager of Blackburn Rovers. The former England international was sacked shortly before Christmas, less than five months after signing a three-year contract at the club, which had slipped into the Premier League relegation zone.

Ince says that while he is grateful to John Williams, the Blackburn chairman, for giving him the chance to manage in the Premier League, he feels his sacking was premature. "Whatever club you go to you want to bring in your own players," he said. "You need to build your own team, but unfortunately we didn't have that time."

Ince says the loss of key players to injury, and the departure of goalkeeper Brad Friedel to Aston Villa, were factors in the club's poor run of form. And while he insists he was planning for the long-term, he remains disappointed his employers were unable to keep faith with him.

"It was always going to be hard at Blackburn because of investment," Ince said. "I have nothing but admiration for the chairman, for giving me the chance to manage at that level. You need to get young English managers in.

"But the disappointing thing for me was that the board didn't come out at the time and squash it [the criticism] and say 'you are staying here until after the Christmas period'. If that had happened it would have stopped the press writing things and unsettling my players.

"It is important that you stand by your manager through thick and thin. I felt at the time we could have gone for another five or six games and seen where we were then."

Ince accepts he made mistakes, but is still convinced he has what it takes to manage big clubs. "I take responsibility as manager of the team," he said. "The reason we were down where we were was down to me. You need to mould your own team and bring in certain players and staff. But I did not have the time to do that.

"I feel that I am a Premier League manager. But I was not allowed to be a Premier League manager. My confidence has not changed one little bit. I still feel I can do it."

Blackburn was only Ince's third management job, after stints at Macclesfield Town and MK Dons, and he does not rule out a return below Premier League level if necessary. "I am happy to go down to the [Coca-Cola] Championship or League One," he said. "I am still learning my trade - but if a Premier League job came up I'd like to think I might be in the running."