Blackburn boss Paul Ince has come out and defended his comments following Rovers 2 - 2 draw away to West Bromwich Albion in which forward Benni McCarthy was shown soft two yellows.

Via BBC

Following the match Ince said, “Everything seemed to go their way. The game is hard enough at the moment. The Premier League is a physical league, it is fast and furious, and people are going to make tackles.”

“Give red cards for dangerous and malicious tackles where the studs are up, fair enough. It is not a game for women.”

And this morning on Blackburn’s Official Website

“My comments were taken out of context, for there is no way that I would ever make disparaging remarks about women’s football.

“In response to a question, I was simply trying to illustrate that the Premier League is a physically tough and very demanding environment.”

image via Telegraph

Paul Ince has confirmed that free agent Robbie Fowler has earned himself a three month incentive laden deal with Blackburn Rovers after leaving Cardiff and will be in the squad that faces Arsenal at Ewood Park at the weekend.

Paul Ince said: ‘I am pleased he has signed as a is a proven goalscorer. It is not so long ago he was banging in the goals at Anfield.

‘I believe he can still do it at this level. If he does well there is no reason why we can’t extend the deal.’

Ahhhh… The classic Sniff heard round the world.

image via VirginMedia

With all the drama surrounding Newcastle recently, it looks like they may be adding more fuel to the fire. Apparently Paul Ince who is in his first year in charge of Blackburn Rovers has been added to the short list of potential replacements for Kevin Keegan. This seems like it would be a pretty shock choice for the Newcastle hierarchy, especially given the fact that there has got to be a pretty big buoyout clause for Ince, but who knows, especially given the fact that Ince and Dennis Wise are boys.

[Mirror]

With continued speculation throughout the summer transfer window that Blackburn striker Roque Santa Cruz was on his way out of Ewood Park, worry no more as the 27 year old Paraguayan put pen to paper on a 4 year deal that will end in 2012.

Not bad for a guy that dropped 23 goals and 7 assists in all competitions in the 2007/08 season and already is on the scorers sheet for Blackburn in this year’s Premiership campaign in a 3-2 win at Everton.

image via GetMinted

UPDATE - Spurs have captured Bentley after the wide midfielder passed his physical tonight at White Hart Lane.

The perspective 6 year deal cost Tottenham 15 Million Pound.

Expect Tottenham to announce the capture of Arshavin within days.

Having completed the sale of Robbie Keane to Liverpool for some £20 million, Tottenham are set to spend some of that coin on Blackburn Rovers and young England up and comer David Bentley. Blackburn have already turned down a previous off from Spurs and one from Aston Villa because neither club matched their £17 million valuation. With all the money that Spurs have on hand after selling Keane, look for this deal to be wrapped up soon. Check out a video of David Bentley after the jump.

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 UPDATE -  Looks like Blackburn and Villa have agreed to a 2 Million Pound move rather than a 4 Million Pound move for Brad Friedel.

How well has this worked out for Blackburn?  After signing for Graeme Souness on a free transfer (leaving Liverpool after 3 seasons) just after the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Friedel went on to a long 8 years of service that saw Blackburn not only gain promotion to the Premiership and make their way to the upper half of the table, but also gain their way into UEFA Cup competition with Friedel in the nets.

That’s a pretty damn good return if you ask me!  And PS - His first Premiership appearance was against Aston Villa.

With Paul Robinson’s White Hart Lane nightmare almost finished with his proposed 3.5 Million Pound move to Blackburn, Brad Friedel might very well be on his way to Aston Villa in a 4 Million Pound move.

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With Spurs looking like they will be selling Robbie Keane, Dimitar Berbatov and Darren Bent, their main transfer targets have become the Russian pair of Andrei Arshavin and Roman Pavlyuchenko. According to The Independent, Spartak Moscow want £15-20m for Pavlyuchenko and Zenit St. Petersburg has said Spurs are prepared to offer £15.9m for Arshavin.

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With every incoming manager comes his staff and with a guy like Paul Ince, who’s reputation for being the Guvn’a (or Gazza’s minder) comes a focus on the defensive side of things to make sure you’re tight in the back.

With Archie Knox running the sessions, Ince’s next order of business was to sort out the back which he’s done with the addition of former Arsenal left back Nigel Winterburn to the Blackburn backroom.

The Pyscho-squirrel wore the red and white of Arsenal over 440 times before finishing out his career with West Ham at the age of 40.

So much for being enemies back in the day. Between Ince and Winterburn, I can’t really see too many players having something to say back to the coaching staff.

image via Netreach