As a Blackburn fan, I couldn't be more pleased.

Ince's appointment will herald a new dawn in British management in a number of ways. Firstly, and most newsworthy, is that he is the first black British manager to grace the dizzy heights of the Premiership.

Secondly, he's proved that you can get to the top the old fashioned way, by starting at the bottom and working your way up, and getting the job on merit of excellent work at MK Dons and Macclesfied. A meritocracy, at last, is in place. And the rejections of Steve McClaren and Shearer are significant.

It's damn refreshing to see a Premier League club going for an up and coming star rather than a consistently average big name (Bryan Robson) or an expensive import (Phil Scolari). I have no problem with Scolari whatsoever, or indeed the influx of foreigners to our game, but I do think Chelsea missed a trick by not appointing Mark Hughes. A young, ambitious and talented manager would have made sense for Chelsea (Hughes could be the next Ferguson). But Chelsea only deal with the short term these days. 

Thankfully, Blackburn are less easily swayed by the quick and easy option and are willing to invest in someone young, ambitious and talented, like Hughes, to take them further. It would have been easy to go for Dick Advocaat or Sam Allardyce, but everyone would already know the end consequence of those appointments. And as a Blackburn fan, neither appeal.

Ince is both a risk and an inspired choice. He will transfer core skills garnered in the lower leagues to a top 10 Premiership side and top players. But is getting off on the right foot and is a rising star, unlike so many of his contempories who were punching above their weight and are on a drastic downward slide: the Bryan Robson and Steve McClaren's of this world.

So, over 40 applications are in the hat and its decision time for the Blackburn board.

Potential applicants are staying quiet about whether they want the job. People upstairs at Rovers are keeping it under wraps who they want. Everyone is cagey. Except for one man: Steve McClaren.

There are few names in football that can strike fear into the hearts of football fans quite like Steve McClaren. With a track record that goes way beyond his limited talents (he was Sir Alex Ferguson's deputy for the treble winning Manchester United side), on paper he seems a decent option.

But his catastrophic failure with England and blundersome chancing with Middlesbrough are surely enough to put most top flight clubs off signing him. Why go for someone with a track record of failure, when you can go for a bright young thing like Paul Ince, or even Alan Shearer?

I blogged about Shearer the other day, here, saying I didn't want him in charge. Not because he's incompetent, but because of the potential risk involved with giving a team that could potentially hemorrhage three or four quality players and some confidence as a result of Mark Hughes' departure.

But in light of everyone who's come forward saying they want the job - Sam Allardyce, Steve McClaren - Shearer has leaped to my second favourite option.

I want Paul Ince. If not, Alan Shearer. If not, Dick Advocaat. But just because he's called: Dick Advocaat. Other than that, I can only pray to the football gods that somewhere in those 40 applications there are some decent managers. So we don't end up with someone on a neverending streak of failure. Or a manager that will make us the Premier League's version of Greece in the Euro's, just like Bolton were. 

So, Mark Hughes has gone.

And it looks like Roque Santa Cruz wants to follow suit (largely by pretending that Man Utd are interested),

And we all know that David Bentley's Blackburn Rovers' wrist watch is ticking,

So all in all, it's emergency. It's time to batten down the hatches, roll up all the windows, draw all the curtains, turn off all the lights, hide under the bedsheets, light a candle, return to our favourite book, get a hot water bottle, have a hot chocolate with all milk no water, take a day off, not get out of our pyjamas for an entire day, take the phone off the hook, not bother checking emails and think about what the f***ing hell we're going to do.

We've been here before, when Dalglish and Shearer left. But then we got relegated a few seasons later. Oh dear. Ironically, the fans want Shearer back to save us. That's mental.

Firstly, why would he bother? Taking charge of a club that is almost inevitably going to have a decline in fortunes for your first job is foolhardy. Don't do it Alan.

Secondly, it's a massive gamble. We need someone to come in settle things down. We do not need a first timer who hopes to get the club on a sentimental winning streak because our memories of the good times just can't stop us scoring. It never works like that.

In all honesty, I'd like us to take a gamble on a succesful Championship manager. Gary Johnson perhaps. His team play nice football, he's no idiot, and he's not getting the job just because he played well with Chris Sutton.

I like Shearer, as a pundit, and as a striker (obviously) but this is the wrong job for him, and for Blackburn. We need to go into risk assessment mode, not risk taking.

Sorry Al, maybe next time.

As a fan of a moderately sized Premiership side that struggles to afford expensive players, rarely sells out on a Saturday and is told they've had a good season if they finish seventh, you become accustomed to losing players and managers.

But like I won't begrudge David Bentley leaving, I won't hold anything against Mark Hughes either. Both are young in their respective roles, both have bright futures ahead of them, and neither are going to get where they want to be by finishing seventh in the Premiership every year.

Manchester City are undoubtedly the bigger club, and right now, they have a much greater capacity to grow. Mark Hughes will be in a position of having a lot of money to spend on players for the first time in his career. He will also have thousands of fans mad on football, in a city mad on football.

The only reason I can see him not wanting to take the job, would be the initial reluctance of Man City fans to welcome him. Firstly because of his Man Utd history. And secondly because most Man City fans are going to feel very aggrieved that Sven Goran Erikkson will be booted out.

After their succesful season in years, they have every reaon to be cross. With foreign ownership, it seems, comes a foreign approach to running a club. And Mark Hughes will be confronted with the issue of finding immediate success for the first time in his managerial career.

And if he does, you coud find him at a top four club within five years, perhaps with David Bentley in tow. But if Hughes fails, he could be next years Sam Allardyce, and no one wants that.

What a finale! What a fiasco! What a hammering! From Birmingham! What a bizarre last game of the season! And a mistake from Brad Friedel!

Losing to relegation candidates on the last day is not shameful, I guess, and technically it was the second biggest defeat we were inflicted to by a Championship side this year, after Coventry's mauling of us in the FA Cup. But it's a disappointment that had we won, we'd've been in Europe.

Overall though, a decent season. No Intertoto cup (overall, Villa probably deserved it), but seventh in the league, and a finish to build on. Mark Hughes has once again proved himself more than able, and a couple of nifty signings in the summer and we will be challenging for the Uefa Cup next year.

Hughes is probaby the front-runner in the ex-Man-Utd-players-who-might-one-day-manage-Man-Utd, but lets face it, he's going to have to do more than finish seventh every. 

And imagine if we get players of Roque Santa Cruz's quality in midfield and defence, we would be flying. And what with our second (possible) England international (Stephen Warnock) following in the steps of David Bentley, our squad is looking healthy.

If we can keep Bentley for one more season, next season should be exciting. It could be the season when he establishes himself as England's premier righ-sided midfield player, and establishes himself in the starting 11.

That would be a hell of a boost for him, and Rovers.