Motivation Quote by Paul Ince

A new contract is the loudest kind of noise in modern football: agents whispering, tabloids fishing, fans doing math on loyalty. Paul Ince’s line tries to mute all of it. “Step by step” is athlete-speak, sure, but it’s also a strategic refusal to feed the machine. Contracts turn every performance into a negotiation leverage point; by insisting he’s “not thinking at all” about one, Ince frames his work as pure craft rather than commerce, shifting attention back to the pitch where his value is hardest to dispute.

The phrasing matters. It’s not “I’m not focused on it” or “we’ll see” - it’s “not thinking at all,” an absolutist claim that sounds almost performative. That’s the tell: he knows everyone else is thinking about it. The denial functions as a shield against distraction and a subtle message to the club: I’m professional, I’m present, and I’m not going to be publicly played. At the same time, it’s a pressure valve for supporters who want reassurance that effort won’t dip while paperwork drags.

Contextually, Ince is speaking from inside a sport where the contract talk can swallow a season. Players get punished socially for seeming “money-minded,” yet they’re expected to maximize a short career. His answer walks that tightrope: it signals ambition without greed, patience without passivity. The subtext is negotiation discipline dressed up as humility - a way to keep leverage by looking like he doesn’t care about leverage at all.