There aren't many players who rock up at a new club and insist upon being called 'the Guvnor', and there certainly aren't many who threaten Sir Alex Ferguson with a gun and live to tell the story. Yet that's exactly what Paul Ince did when, at just 22, he joined United from West Ham, and wasted no time in making waves. Steve Bruce, who captained the United side in the early 90's, once remembered how Ince turned up to training one day and pulled a gun on Ferguson. Paul was nuts when he was a kid, said Bruce. I dont think Fergie was ever attacked by a rifle before.
I remember when he brought in his gun. He poked it around the door and it was a big air rifle. Fergie must have shouted at him or something like that to provoke it. Incey was larger than life and a good character to have around. He must have had something about him to threaten Fergie with a gun. We saw him do it. He poked the gun through the door and he was only 22 at the time. It was just tongue in cheek, though. He just knocked on the door and said something like, Youd better stop picking on me or, You had better play me on Saturday.
You've got to be pretty hard to rail against one of the biggest disciplinary figures in the game, even though doing so did ultimately mean being sold off to Inter Milan. Since hanging up his boots, the former midfielder appears to have lost none of his edge. Last October, as manager of Blackpool, Ince pushed a match official against a wall and threatened to knock him out, being hammered with a five-match stadium ban as a result.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
