By his own admission, Blackburn Rovers’ new boss has endured a baptism of fire during what has been a testing first six weeks in the Ewood Park hot-seat.
Ince had barely had time to get his feet under his new desk before he was having to face up to the loss of Brad Friedel and David Bentley – two of the key players he was hoping would form the cornerstones of his team.
And if losing them wasn’t challenging enough during a summer of upheaval, the former MK Dons manager has also spent most of his early tenure having to assemble a completely new backroom team, after the vast majority of the last one followed Mark Hughes to Manchester City.
But if Ince is to reach the very top as a manager, then he knows these are exactly the kind of challenges that must be tackled head on.
That said, the 40-year-old former England and Manchester United captain will no doubt breathe a huge sigh of relief when the season finally gets under way for real at Everton on Saturday week.
Comparisons have already been made with him and the other managers who played under Sir Alex Ferguson at United – Hughes, Wigan’s Steve Bruce and Sunderland’s Roy Keane – but Ince is determined to be his own man.
He has already had success with Macclesfield and MK Dons, leading the latter to the League Two championship last season, and intends to stick to the principles on which he has built his reputation both as a manager and also as a player.
“The clubs I’ve played for have always played good football, that is the only way to play,” said Rovers’ new boss.
“You’ve seen the way I played at Milton Keynes and Macclesfield, I want to play exciting football, I want a strong team and I want to entertain people – I want to entertain the fans.”
Ince has a tough act to follow after the departure of Hughes, who turned Rovers into a side expected to compete for European football on an annual basis.
However, he is undaunted by the onus placed on him to at least emulate, if not better, that record.
“If I can improve on the 58 points [attained last season] then it will be a step forward. I’m excited, I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into it,” said Ince.
“We are a top-10 side, Mark Hughes has done an absolutely fantastic job and it’s up to me now to continue that, and improve that, and I want to keep my best players and keep pushing forwards.
“It takes time to build the team that you exactly want, but we’ve got to stabilise the club. I think this year will be a learning curve for me, just like it was for Mark Hughes when he first came here.
“We’ve got to be looking at being in the top six, we’ve got to be looking to challenge for Europe every year. We’ve had a taste of it before and we want a taste of it again.
“We missed out last season, and now it is down to me and my staff and the players to make sure we can achieve that year-in year-out.”
Despite Ince being a Premier League rookie in terms of management, even the more experienced players are likely to discover their new boss is no pushover.
Having been schooled in the methods of Ferguson, the most unforgiving of taskmasters, there will be no easy ride for any of the squad.
And Ince, who is the first black British manager to work in English football’s top division, expects them to be model professionals in every aspect of their approach to the game, both on and off the pitch.
“My standards are very high and I expect the players standards to be very, very high – standards are very important,” stressed the Rovers boss.
“I’ve been brought up on that under Sir Alex Ferguson, John Lyall [at West Ham] and Glenn Hoddle [England] and I expect the same in all my teams.
“Standards on and off the pitch have to be the same standards of mine.”
