FORMER Blackburn Rovers midfielder Jason McAteer has called for the Ewood Park hierarchy to back Paul Ince with their wallets after slamming all calls for his exit a “disgrace”.

The Irishman spent two seasons at Liverpool with the Rovers boss in the late 1990s, as well as making 72 appearances at Ewood Park between 1999-2000, and believes it is time Ince was publicly supported by his present board.

A 10-match winless streak has left Rovers second from bottom in the Premier League, with a crucial run of fixtures against Wigan, Stoke and Sunderland in the offing, but McAteer insists his old pal can still carry out a ‘great escape’.

Ince’s future as Rovers boss has already been written off in some quarters, with Sam Allardyce and Graeme Souness touted as successors, but with his job in the balance McAteer believes it is time for a show of unity.

He said: “People are knocking at the door for Paul Ince to get sacked and personally I think it is a disgrace. He has not had a lot of time at Rovers.

“He has a January window coming up and it would be great to see the board back him and say go ahead here is a few million pounds and lets have a look at what you can do with it and see if you can get us out of trouble.

“There is a lot to do there. Blackburn are in trouble but I don’t think sacking Paul Ince is the answer.”

A gutsy weekend display over league leaders Liverpool may have ended in another defeat, a fifth in succession, but McAteer believes there were plenty of signs of optimism from the performance.

Rumours of training ground bust-ups, Ince’s loss of the dressing room and several players set to exit Ewood Park have left Rovers in supposed turmoil, but McAteer insists Saturday’s performance rubbishes all theories of discontent.

He said: “You can tell a lot about people from the dressing room and Saturday showed he has not lost that.

“Players rallied round him and showed a lot about the spirit in the dressing room and around the club.

“That is one massive positive Rovers can work on, they just have to bide their time and believe things will come right for them.”

Rovers’ defensive coach Nigel Winterburn has joined McAteer in his support of Ince, claiming the manager’s Ewood Park regime is still too far in its infancy to judge him.

He said: “If you give Paul time, then you can make a judgement on him, but you can’t judge somebody after 15 games.

“It almost seems now we are very judgmental within a few games, it’s absolutely crazy. “