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MEGSON HAILS INCE APPROACH

Ince - saluted by Megson.

Gary Megson believes Paul Ince deserves a "massive amount of credit" for the managerial path he has chosen to take.

The former Manchester United and Liverpool midfielder started his career at the bottom of the Football League with Macclesfield, and after leading them to safety in League Two he moved on to MK Dons and then Blackburn this summer.

Megson and Ince will meet for the first time on the touchline in the Premier League on Saturday when Rovers travel to Bolton's Reebok Stadium.

The Wanderers boss said: "The money that a lot of the players earn now, they could sit on a beach for the rest of their lives and just retire and have a good time.

"Paul actually chose to go to Macclesfield. With all due respect to Macclesfield, you probably couldn't get much lower in terms of where they were in the league.

"He did a good job there, moved on to the MK Dons and again did a good job there and now finds himself in the Premier League.

"I'm sure he would have had the choice to sit back and wait and just cherry-pick the best job that comes along but he chose to go the other route, which is massive credit to him."

Local pride will be at stake with Blackburn having beaten Bolton home and away last season, and Megson believes the number of teams in the north west can prove a headache.

"It's a lot harder being in the Premier League at a club in the north west and in London, because there's a great deal of local derbies," he said.

"People will tell you that form goes out of the window when it's a local derby, and we play about 14 of them through the season.

"But they are great games because the supporters make them great games. The players have got to play with that passion themselves.

"The two I've been involved with against Blackburn; here wasn't a particularly attractive game - it was a great result for Blackburn, not ourselves - but the one at Ewood Park was a decent game.

"There were five goals, unfortunately we only got one of them, but there were two penalties given in that game that swayed it, but it's about trying to get the result.

"Blackburn got them both last year and it's something we want to try and redress."

Megson is hoping Bolton can maintain their momentum after an impressive 3-1 victory over West Ham before the international break.

It was only the Trotters' second victory of the season and their first since an opening-day win over Stoke.

Bolton have no injury problems but Megson may make changes from the side that beat the Hammers with a couple of players not expected back from international duty until Friday.