Blackpool and Port Vale are both reportedly interested in making a move to appoint Grimsby Town boss Paul Hurst as their new manager, according to Football Insider.
Blackpool are looking to appoint a new manager following Mick McCarthy’s dismissal, with the former Wolverhampton Wanderers and Ipswich Town boss only winning two of his 14 matches in charge during his short spell at Bloomfield Road.
The Tangerines currently find themselves 23rd in the Championship table with only three games left to play, with relegation to League One looming with the club finding themselves six points adrift of safety.
As for Port Vale however, they are also on the lookout for a new boss after making the move to sack Darrell Clarke following a run of two wins in their last 18 league matches in their first season back in League One following relegation from the third division in 2017.
The club currently finds themselves 18th in League One with 46 points from 43 games this season and the three teams above them all have at least a game in hand over the Staffordshire side.
The Valiants have also failed to win a game since the beginning of March when they beat MK Dons 1-0 and have lost four of their last five league games.
🚨 EXCLUSIVE! 🚨 – Blackpool & Port Vale have set sights on Grimsby Town boss Paul Hurst in their manager hunts. 📝
✍: @SportsPeteO#BlackpoolFC #PVFC #GTFC
— Football Insider (@footyinsider247) April 20, 2023
Grimsby boss Hurst has enjoyed his second stint back at Blundell Park following his return to the club in early 2021 following the shock departure of former Blackpool boss Ian Holloway, with the club looking destined for a return to the National League at the time of his departure.
Although Hurst was unable to keep Grimsby in the EFL, the Mariners would ensure they returned to the Football League at the first time of asking following an incredible playoff campaign with saw the club take down Notts County, Wrexham and Solihull Moors respectively in extra-time to gain promotion despite finishing sixth in the regular season.
The former Shrewsbury and Ipswich boss would have also won many admirers during this season’s FA Cup as Grimsby made the quarter-finals for the first time since 1939, becoming the first team in the history of the competition to knock out five teams from a higher division from the first round, which victories over Championship high-flyers Luton Town and Premier League strugglers Southampton to note.
Grimsby are also on course for a top-half finish in their first season back in the EFL with the club currently sitting 12th with four games left to play, sitting just two points behind Sutton United in tenth.
Hurst, who also took Shrewsbury to the League One playoff final in 2018 before leaving for Ipswich, previously guided the North East Lincolnshire outfit to promotion from the National League in 2016 via the playoffs as Grimsby spent six years in the fifth division following relegation out of the Football League in 2010.
Paul Hurst on a historic night for Grimsby Town🗣
"Grimsby Town in the quarter-final of the FA Cup is something I never thought that I would hear."
Unbelievable achievement! 🐟🐟🐟
📹 @footballdaily pic.twitter.com/g7Fcm1fA0C
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) March 2, 2023
Writers View
Writing this piece as a Grimsby Town supporter, I am not surprised in the slightest that Paul Hurst has got interest from higher up the football pyramid, especially after what he has contributed to the club since his return for a second spell.
In terms of the two links however, I have no doubt that Hurst can go to a club and succeed, even if his previous spells at both Ipswich Town and Scunthorpe United were far from glamorous.
As much as the links to manage in a higher division could possibly tempt Hurst, it would be a massive shame if he was to move on from Blundell Park with the progress the club has made within a short space of time under his management as well as the project that Grimsby are going on, with the club seemingly on the right path to grow and progress into a strong outfit.
