Via echo
Paul Ince is a controversial figure at Liverpool. A former Reds captain, he made 81 appearances during two years at Anfield, recording 17 goals and 12 assists
Yet unlike the majority of Liverpool skippers, he is no club legend. The former England international was stripped of the captaincy and bombed out by Gerard Houllier in the summer of 1999, just two years after joining the club.
Houllier
"Paul Ince is not in my plans for the future. I have told him that; that's life," the Frenchman confirmed in July 1999. "I still think he is a very good player and I still think he can play for England, but we are working towards something here, I know what I am doing and that is the end of it.
"He missed training today with my blessing. I don't think he will be in tomorrow either. As he will probably be leaving us, it is better for him to now start looking to his own future."
"For a player of his profile it would be difficult for him to be on the bench. It is better for him to have a fresh challenge somewhere else."
Ince
"The fact that I was there two years kind of rankles with me a bit, “Ince recalled.
"I should’ve really had longer. Houllier took over and then I found out he was trying to sign Marc-Vivien Foe behind my back and I wasn’t happy with that.
"So when I went in to see him in pre-season and he was saying, ‘we have tried to sign him but not to replace you’, and I said, ‘Well, you should have let me know’.”
“I didn’t think it was right and that’s why I left. I didn’t want to leave, that’s the last thing I wanted to do. I just felt the way it was done behind my back, I had no choice.”
Jamie carragher
"Ince was the unwitting victim of the most brutal exhibition of management I have seen at Anfield,"
"There was a team meeting a week after the Old Trafford cup tie, and Ince decided, as club captain, it was time to take Houllier on. He questioned training methods and the response was furiously impressive.
"Fixing Ince with a stare, Houllier asked: 'Since the day I arrived, how many five-a-sides have you won? I'll tell you - four in six months.'
"Ince was bewildered, as we all were, by Houllier's memory and grasp of detail, and it didn't end there.
"’Now perhaps you can explain to the lads what happened to you against United. When my team are 1-0 up at Old Trafford in a cup tie, I don't expect my captain to limp off with an injury. If he has to come off, I expect it to be on a stretcher.’"
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