All praise Blackburn for going against trend and convention by appointing Paul Ince as manager. He is after all young and English which isn’t a combination most clubs have been too interested in of late.

Looking at the managers who came into their jobs midway through last season, it is apparent that all clubs were interested in was experience rather than taking a risk on someone as yet untried but perhaps with the potential to do better in the longer run.

Of course, Ince’s appointment has sparked off innumerable debates albeit for other reasons: the colour of his skin and how this has held back other managers. That there is this awareness is commendable, yet one would hardly imagine that the Blackburn directors gave it too much thought. What was important for them was Ince’s ability as a manager, how he projected himself and his ideas on taking the club forward.

Which is all that should really matter.

That Paul Ince had to start out at Macclesfield and MK Dons whilst his team-mates from the nineties got breaks much higher up the league – Stuart Pearce at Manchester City, Gareth Southgate at Middlesbrough and Roy Keane at Sunderland – isn’t indicative of anything. Tony Adams got his first job at Wycombe, Ian Rush got all his qualifications but all he could get where coaching jobs here and there.

That managers get jobs because of the colour of their skin is of course true in football just as it is elsewhere. It shouldn’t be that way, of course, and any attempt at trying to raise consciousness about the problems faced by black managers should be lauded. Trying to push Ince forward as a champion of the cause, however, won’t be doing him too many favours.

His job at Blackburn is already tough as it is. Facing him is the prospect of losing the club’s best players. David Bentley and Roque Santa Cruz had special links with Mark Hughes but now that he’s gone it is looking increasingly difficult for Blackburn to keep hold to them. Both are eager to further their career and from their point of view it is difficult to do so at Blackburn especially when the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United are reportedly interested.

Convincing them otherwise will be a challenge just as replicating Hughes’ success in the transfer market will be. It is an area where nothing Ince has come across will prepare him for what he will have to face at Blackburn. How he adapts to it will go a long way to determining his success.

Otherwise, there seems to be little reason to doubt his abilities. At Macclesfield, he managed to pull to safety a club that seemed destined for relegation whereas he not only got MK Dons promoted but also managed to lead them to Wembley success in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. In all cases he did so by playing attractive football.

That will be the most significant development as far as Blackburn fans are concerned because, although effective, Hughes’ teams didn’t really enthrall the crowds. The target for Ince is to be just as successful – and hopefully more – without sacrificing his footballing beliefs.

If he does so then there will be truly a reason to eulogize him. Not because he is the first British born black manager but rather because he has been a success at his job. Which is the basis upon which anyone should be judged.