Paul Ince tops Wolves wishlist to replace Walter Zenga after Championship strugglers’ fourth loss in five games

PAUL INCE is the man Wolves want to replace axed boss Walter Zenga.

The outspoken Italian was yesterday given his marching orders —  after just 87 DAYS at the Molineux club.

First-team coach Rob Edwards has been placed in temporary charge and will prepare the team for Saturday’s Championship trip to Blackburn.

And SunSport understands that former England and Manchester United midfielder Ince, 49, is the man that Wolves chiefs want to take charge.

It is even believed club bosses sounded Ince out before they formally handed Zenga his P45.

And insiders feel a deal is  close to bring back their former captain, who played at Molineux from 2002 to 2006.

However, Marco Silva, 39, the ex-Olympiakos and Sporting boss, remains the bookies’ favourite to take over the Midlanders.

Wolves’  Chinese owners, the Fosun group, have spent £14million on 13 new players since taking over.

But they quickly lost patience with former Italy goalkeeper Zenga, 56, after they plummeted to 18th in the Championship  having won just four out of his 14 matches in charge.

With the boardroom demanding promotion, two wins from ten league games were not going to help his cause.

A 1-0 home defeat by Leeds on Saturday was Wolves’ FOURTH defeat in FIVE Championship matches.

And they got rid of him after only sacking previous manager Kenny Jackett in July.

Zenga’s assistant, Stefano Cusin, has also left the club.

This is not be the first short stint of Zenga’s managerial career.

He was sacked by Sampdoria after just 12 games amid claims he took an unauthorised holiday to Dubai.

Ince has been looking to get back into management since leaving Blackpool in January 2014.

His CV also includes stints at MK Dons, Blackburn, Notts County and Macclesfield.

Ince established a reputation as a talented up-and-coming boss at MK Dons but suffered during his spell at Blackburn. He has never been afraid of saying what he thinks and blasted the Rovers board after being sacked at Ewood Park in 2008 — after just 177 days in charge.

He said: “It is important that you stand by your manager through thick and thin.

“The disappointing thing for me was that the board didn’t come out at the time and squash the criticism and say, ‘You are staying here until after the Christmas period’.”

Ince was also sacked by  Blackpool after less than a year in charge, in 2014, and his Bloomfield Road tenure was not without incident.

After leading the Seasiders to their best-ever league start, he received a five-game stadium ban   for “violently shoving” a fourth official during an expletive- ridden rant during a game at Bournemouth.

And at the time, the Blackpool Supporters’ Association  held a vote of no confidence in  Ince, saying his position was “untenable” and that his “tactics, attitude and results has destroyed the morale of Blackpool fans”.

However, he hit out after being sacked by text message while on a coaching course.

He said: “It wasn’t nice. To  do it that way really wasn’t  the right way, for me.”