Notts County turn to Ince to halt slide in fortunes

Paul Ince (PA)

Paul Ince has been confirmed as the new manager of Notts County. The former England captain returns to management, having finished his second spell at MK Dons at the end of last season.

He replaces the former Notts County player Craig Short, who was sacked on Sunday, a day after a 2-1 defeat at Colchester United. County are 16th in League One with 16 points from their first 13 games. Short had been appointed in June and leaves along with his assistant Dave Kevan, another former County player and a man who had worked for the club as assistant to two managers before Short.

Short had been brought in after Steve Cotterill, who led the club to promotion from League Two last season, quit to join Portsmouth in the summer. County hope that the appointment of Ince will bring to an end a period of managerial instability that dates back to the Munto Finance takeover of the club in June last year. In the past 12 months they have also employed Ian McParland and Hans Backe as full-time managers before Cotterill and Short, as well as having caretaker spells from Dave Kevan and a brief stint as director of football from the new Leicester City manager Sven Goran Eriksson.

County's chairman, Ray Trew, said that Ince's successes in Football League management were central to his appointment. His first managerial job was in 2006-07 with Macclesfield Town, whom he saved from relegation out of League Two despite their being seven points adrift when he took over. He then moved to MK Dons, where he won the Football League Trophy and League Two in the 2007-08 season.

This success led to Ince being appointed manager of Blackburn Rovers but he was dismissed after just 177 days. He had won just three of his first 17 games and had left Blackburn facing relegation before the intervention of Sam Allardyce. Ince then returned to MK Dons but stayed for only one season.

"Paul has a wealth of experience as a player and a solid track record as a manager in the Football League", Trew said. "He was ready to get stuck in straight away."