BLACKBURN Rovers boss Paul Ince says he shares many similarities with young English adversary and good friend Gareth Southgate – except millions more in transfer cash!

Ince can draw on several connections with his Middlesbrough counterpart as they prepare to lock horns at Ewood Park this evening.

They were team-mates at the Riverside during the 2001/02 season, when Ince was captain, but they are best remembered for their time together on the international scene, representing England on the greatest stages, such as the European Championships of 1996 and 2000, and World Cup 98.

Of course, their playing days are squarely in the past, as they now build on promising – but fledgling – managerial careers.

Cutting his teeth for the first time in the Premier League, Ince has made a solid start at Ewood, and has the chance to steer Rovers to seventh tonight with victory over Boro.

Southgate, on the other hand, is now in his third full season at the Riverside, striving to build on 12th and 13th place finishes in his first two seasons.

On the surface, it would seem they are in the same boat - desperate to prove that young Englishmen can out-match the foreign managers invading top-flight football.

Ince, however, insists the similarities end there, noting that Southgate enjoys greater financial resources, as Boro chairman Steve Gibson continues to put his hands in his pocket.

In just two-and-a-bit seasons at the Riverside, Southgate has splashed out £53m in the transfer market, and Ince cannot compete with those figures.

“Gareth has done a terrific job,” said the Blackburn boss. “He will get better as the years go on, that’s for sure.

“He’s at a great club, and Steve Gibson is a top-notch chairman. He’s spent a lot of money over the years and there’s no getting away from that.

“It happened when I was there – they signed Alen Boksic, Paul Merson, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Juninho. The chairman up there has always put his hand in his pocket.

“There’s similar comparisons because we’ve both got great chairman. My chairman (John Williams) is absolutely fantastic.

“The difference is the money that they spend, compared to what we spend.”

However, with or without strong financial clout from his ever-ambitious chairman, Southgate is destined for a bright future at the top according to Ince.

The Rovers manager added: “Gareth is a good friend of mine. We’ve got villas in the same place in Portugal, and we spend a bit of time together there in the summer.

“He’s a good lad, a very good manager and I’m sure he will be looking to get one over me.

“He may come across as nice and gentle, but I’ve seen him in the changing room and he can lose it at times – as can many people.

“I’ve always wanted him to do well as a manager, as I would with any young manager.

“It’s not easy for him. Being a Premier League manager is the hardest job in the world because there’s so much that comes with it.

“When you are young – and that includes me – things take time. When you look last season at Sunderland, they struggled for a while, but I’m sure that was a great learning curve for Roy Keane.

“I’m sure I will be looking at the same this year. But all you want is for us to be given a chance in the Premier League. We will get better as managers by being here.”

Many outsiders believe Rovers have struck the perfect time to face Boro – following their 5-0 thumping at home to Chelsea last Saturday.

Ince, however, feels any defeat to one of the top-flight’s ‘big four’ can almost be ignored, such is their wealth compared to the rest of the Premier League.

Rovers themselves were victims of a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Arsenal earlier this season, but Ince believes you should not get too downcast at defeats against the elite.

“Nobody likes getting beat 5-0 at home, none more so than me,” he said. “But it’s not that important if you get beat by the big boys. That’s the way I look at it.

“The big boys are the biggest and you just can’t compete with them. If you can get something off them, then great.

“We lost 4-0 in front of our fans against Arsenal, and we lost 2-0 to Manchester Untied – but it could have been four or five.

“It’s just a case of realising that any team like that can go away to any team in the Premier League and win 4-0 or 5-0.

“If it was happening to us against Tottenham or West Brom, then we’d be a bit concerned, and that’s not being disrespectful to those clubs.

“But it just shows the gap between the top four clubs and the rest of the league.”