Paul Ince has revealed his pride at taking over at Blackburn - and says talks with David Bentley and Roque Santa Cruz are his first priority

Ince was presented to the media at Ewood Park on Tuesday afternoon and said he was delighted to become the Premier League’s first ever British black manager.

Asked if he had considered whether he might go on to become the first black England boss, Ince replied: “Not really. I am happy to be a role model. I am proud of where I come from, proud of my roots. I am proud to be at Blackburn and I don’t know where it will take me. Only time will tell.

“The feedback I have had from fans has been very encouraging and I am looking forward to meeting the players. I played with Brad Friedel at Liverpool. He’s exceptional keeper and someone I can speak to who can tell me things about the club.

“I am not scared of many things and there is no fear factor coming to Blackburn. It is exciting coming here.”

Ince added: “It means a lot (to make history) but it’s also about that fact that I’m in the Premier League.

“Whether I’m black, white or whatever, I’m just proud to be in the Premier League.”

But Ince said: “I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into it and I want to keep my best players, David Bentley and Santa Cruz among them.

“We don’t start (pre-season) until July 7 so I’ll speak to those two players and to the rest of them and take it from there.”

Meanwhile Rovers chairman John Williams has revealed that Ince is contractually obliged to earn his UEFA Pro Licence in the window allocated by the Premier League.

Williams, who secured the kind of dispensation for the former England captain that has previously been awarded to Gareth Southgate, Avram Grant and Glenn Roeder after negotiations with league chiefs, admitted Ince was formally bound to completing his training in the agreed period.

“On behalf of the Premier League I would say that they rightly made us work very hard to get Paul and we had to give certain undertakings because quite clearly Paul didn’t meet the requirements of the rule.

“It was a bit like that film, Groundhog Day. You’d wake up thinking Paul was a candidate and you go to bed thinking he’s not.

“He couldn’t finally be a candidate until dispensation was given.

“The case was made that Paul had served his apprenticeship in the lower leagues and had been busy with that since he stopped playing and we gave the undertaking that Paul will (get the licence).

“Paul has signed a contract with Blackburn where that undertaking is a contractual term. It’s not something we’ll just try and get done. He’s under contract to Blackburn that he will complete that timeframe and we in turn have given that to the Premier League.”

Paul Ince has gained Premier League approval to be appointed as Blackburn’s new manager.

Ince led MK Dons to last season’s League Two title, after safely guiding Macclesfield Town to safety the season before in his first managerial job.

There was a question-mark over his appointment due to his lack of coaching badges — especially the UEFA Pro License. However, the Premier League board last night gave permission for him to take the Ewood Park job — providing he earns the necessary qualifications within two years. The License is a pre-requisite for all Premier League managers.

Chelsea have confirmed Portugal boss Luiz Felipe Scolari as their new manager.

Scolari is currently managing Portugal at Euro 2008 and will join Chelsea on July 1.

A statement from Stamford Bridge read:

“Chelsea Football Club is delighted to confirm that Luiz Felipe Scolari will be the club’s new manager from July 1, 2008.

Felipe has great qualities. He is one of the world’s top coaches with a record of success at country and club level, he gets the best out of a talented squad of players and his ambitions and expectations match ours. He was the outstanding choice.

Out of respect for his current role as Head Coach of the Portuguese national team, and to ensure minimum disruption to this work, there will be no further comment from Chelsea FC nor from Felipe about his new role until his employment with us commences.”

Singapore was thrashed as Uzbekistan went on a rampage to score seven goals against the city state.

Timur Kapadze opened the scoring for the Uzbeks, but Singapore managed an equaliser through Aleksandar Duric six minutes later. Lax defending allow the Uzbeks to take the lead again, but Singapore showed great determination to equalize through a penalty by Singapore’s Serbian-born midfielder Mustafic Fahrudin.

Poor defending and suspect goalkeeping then allowed Uzbekistan to make it 5-2 at half-time with goals by Server Djeparov and Vitaliy Denisov. Djeparov scored direct from a corner at the stroke of half-time.

Aziz Ibragimov hit the sixth goal for Uzbekistan, before John Wilkinson was fastest to the rebound after Qiu Li’s shot had hit the crossbar. Uzbek captain Maksim Shatskikh then crowned an emphatic victory for Uzbekistan two minutes from time.

Harry Kewell scored as Australia beat Asian champions Iraq to cement top spot in their World Cup qualifier in Brisbane.

The ex-Leeds winger, who was released by Liverpool at the end of the season, headed in a cross from Blackburn’s Brett Emerton in the 47th minute. It was his first goal in nearly a year.

There were fears the match would not go ahead after FIFA had suspended Iraq from all international competitions for a year. The one-year suspension was imposed after Iraq disbanded its Olympic Committee and national sport federations.

However, after an appeal, Fifa provisionally overturned the ban on the Iraqi Football Association, allowing them to take on Australia in Brisbane.

The win moved Australia to seven points in their group. Second-placed Qatar play China, in third, today. Iraq’s hope of reaching the next round have nearly gone, as they are placed bottom of the group with zero points.