Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (born October 21 1967) is an English football player currently playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers, he is a midfielder famed for his tough-tackling. Ince was the first black player to captain the England national football team, he retired from international football following England's exit from Euro 2000 having played 53 times for his country. In the BBC's 2003 vote for the 100 great black Britons he finished in 95th place.

Ince was born in Ilford, London, and began his football career by signing for his local team, West Ham United, as an apprentice in July 1983. He made his professional debut with the club three years later. During the four years that he played with the club, Ince made 72 league appearances (scoring 7 goals), as well as earning a place in both the England Youth and Under-21 sides.

In September 1989 Ince was sold to Manchester United for £1m, then a fairly substantial amount. It was during his six years at Old Trafford that he earned his nickname, the "Guvnor" (sic), due to his powerful and dominating presence in the heart of the United midfield alongside Bryan Robson, and later Roy Keane. Ince enjoyed a very successful time at Manchester United: winning the Premier League twice, the FA Cup twice, the Charity Shield three times, and the European Cup Winners' Cup, the League Cup, and the European Super Cup once each. He made 278 appearances, scoring 28 goals in total at United.

Whilst playing for Manchester United Ince made his England debut, on September 9 1992, against Spain, a game which England lost 1-0. His first game as captain came on June 9 1993, when David Platt was injured, England lost the game 2-0 to the United States. Ince went on to captain the side on a further six occasions.

In the summer of 1995 Alex Ferguson sold Ince to Internazionale for £7m, a record fee received by United, after reportedly growing tired of Ince's inflated sense of self-worth. Ince's departure, controversial at the time, paved the way for youngsters such as David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Nicky Butt into the United midfield.

Unlike many English players who tried their luck in Italy's Serie A, Ince had a very successful two year spell at the San Siro. During his first season he played in all but four league games and shone in an Inter side that finished in 7th place. During his second season with Inter he again played well as the nerazzuri finished third in the league and finished runners up in the UEFA Cup.

Despite being offered a new contract by Inter, Ince was home-sick and asked to be sold back to England. In the summer of 1997 he was sold to Liverpool for £6m, somewhat surprisingly considering his previous attachment to Manchester United. Ince captained Liverpool during his two years with the side, however, he failed to carry the side to any major success. In 1998, he played for England in the World Cup. In 1999 he was sold to Middlesbrough for a fee of £1m after manager Gerard Houllier decided that Ince no longer had a future with the club. Whilst at Middlesbrough Ince was one of a number of talented older players, alongside the likes of Paul Gascoigne and Paul Merson.

Ince stayed at Middlesbrough for three seasons, and became a firm favourite with the Boro fans. However, following the appointment of Steve McClaren as manager, it soon became clear to Ince that his time on Teesside was coming to an end, and he was allowed to leave on a free transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers. He joined the club at the same time as former Manchester United teammate Denis Irwin, manager Dave Jones hoping that the two players' massive wealth of experience would aid the team's push for promotion to the Premier League. Jones's decision was a good one as Ince captained Wolves to success in the play-off final, and promotion to the Premier League. Ince decided to re-sign with Wolves to help them in their bid to stay in the Premiership. However, Wolves were relegated after their first season back in the top flight for 19 years, finishing bottom of the league.

Despite Wolves's failure to remain in the Premier League, Ince decided to spend yet another season with the club in the summer of 2004 as they look to gain promotion to the Premiership for a second time.