Ince contractually obliged to earn coaching badges

Published on Tuesday 24 June 2008 23:33

BLACKBURN Rovers chairman John Williams has revealed that new manager Paul Ince is contractually obliged to earn his Uefa Pro Licence in the window allocated by the Premier League.

Ince has been named as Mark Hughes' successor despite not possessing the required coaching qualifications to take over at a top-flight club.

And Williams, who secured the kind of dispensation for the former England captain that has previously been awarded to Gareth Southgate, Avram Grant and Glenn Roeder after negotiations with the league, admitted Ince was formally bound to complete his training in the agreed period.

"On behalf of the Premier League I would say that they rightly made us work very hard to get Paul and we had to give certain undertakings because quite clearly Paul didn't meet the requirements of the rule.

"The case was made that Paul had served his apprenticeship in the lower leagues and had been busy with that since he stopped playing and we gave the undertaking that Paul will (get the licence].

"He's under contract to Blackburn that he will complete that timeframe and we have given that to the Premier League."