Paul Ince's future remains shrouded in uncertainty but there are signs that Blackburn Rovers may be prepared to stick with him for next Saturday's game because there is no one to fill his shoes on a temporary basis.

If Ince goes then so would the assistants to whom he is inextricably linked – Archie Knox and Ray Mathias – and there is no longer the type of Tony Parkes figure who has provided a bridge between managers in the past. It seems that Ince might, to some extent, owe his continued tenure to Sunderland's indecision.

The fact that a job on Wearside remains a possibility for Sam Allardyce appears, so far, to have prevented a move for Ewood's favoured alternative and though Blackburn's chairman John Williams would not discuss the issue yesterday, the view from inside the club is that Ince may be in place for Stoke City's arrival on Saturday.

Graeme Souness is the other potential replacement currently out of work, but the Ewood faithful never had much fondness for him and by the time he left for Newcastle in 2004 there were some serious doubts about the way he was running the side.

Ince is not understood to have been at the club yesterday – the day off which was planned appeared to have been adhered to – and he may know more today about how Williams views his future. Before Saturday's game it was clear that a respectable performance was the very least expected after a run of 10 games without a win.

Williams did reveal that the tepid manner of Blackburn's 3-0 defeat at Wigan was of more concern to him than the result and he clearly saw that performance as a new low in a season which has left the club in a state of deep trauma.

"It was not the first time we have gone behind in games but at least before we have shown spirit in trying to come back," Williams said. "For the first time out there, there was something really missing and there was never that feeling we would get something out of the game. After all the signs coming out of Brockhall [Blackburn's training ground] this week, I was led to believe we would get a top performance."

The Rovers chairman is acutely aware of the gap developing between his side and other stragglers. "The worry is the league table is beginning to stretch out and now we need two wins just to get back among the pack at the bottom. There are plenty of games left still, although time is obviously running away," he said. Williams avoided any allusion to Ince as he described his disappointment but a desire that the club's fans know he is seeking all means to rectify things is as important to him as improving results.