Mathias vows to beat Stoke for departed Blackburn Rovers boss

2:30pm Wednesday 17th December 2008

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RAY Mathias thinks the Blackburn Rovers squad will want to beat Stoke on Saturday for Paul Ince - and he has backed his former boss to fight back in management.

Mathias, who was Ince’s assistant manager, will link up with first-team coach Archie Knox and assistant first-team coach Karl Robinson to take charge of the players until a new manager is appointed.

All three were brought in by Ince at the start of the season and Mathias - formerly a manager with Wigan and Tranmere - thinks Ince might have been given more time, despite a run of 11 league matches without a win that left Rovers five points adrift of safety.

He said: “Everybody will ask the same question and it is a small amount of games to be judged on.

“We’ve got to get on with our job now and that’s all I can say.”

Asked whether Ince was surprised by his dismissal, Mathias said: “I think with all the paper talk going around, you don’t know.

“He’ll be disappointed, as anybody would be disappointed with obviously losing his job.

“He’s so professional and I’m sure he’ll be fighting to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

The Rovers squad were informed of Ince’s sacking yesterday morning after returning from their Christmas party in Dublin and Mathias said that they were saddened by the news, dismissing suggestions that the departed boss had ‘lost the dressing room’.

“It’s all paper talk that. It’s all rubbish. There’s no happier dressing room than ours, you’ll go a long way to beat that,” he said.

“There’s massive disappointment. Everybody’s feeling it, with the players you can see it in their eyes. It’s a great loss.

“They worked hard yesterday. They’ve had a running session after their little trip over the weekend. That’s what you usually do with players, you usually give them a run early on in the week.

“We’ll been training every day of the week, so it will be no different to what we usually do.”

Asked whether Rovers face a big job to survive in the Premier League now, Mathias said: “I wouldn’t say it’s a big job.

“We’ve played 17 games and there’s a long way to go yet, so I’m sure the players will be focused in and will be looking to go out and maybe do it for the gaffer on Saturday.”

It still remains unclear whether Mathias, Knox and Robinson will remain at the club when a new manager arrives, with Ince’s former assistant none the wiser.

“I can’t say anything on that,” said Mathias yesterday lunchtime.

“I think at the end of the day we’re here and we’re professional enough. The decision has been made and we’ve got to go along with everything the club say now.

“We’ve got to go from day to day. I think the chairman will be bringing somebody in, we don’t know who yet. He assured us that he hasn’t spoke to anyone at this present time, so we just have to go by what he said.”