Ipswich Town have been granted permission to speak to Shrewsbury manager Paul Hurst.
The Blues have moved quickly following Sunday’s League One play-off final, in which Hurst’s Shrews were beaten 2-1 by Rotherham after extra-time.
Hurst was tight-lipped when asked about links with the Blues following the game at Wembley, but will now discuss personal terms with Ipswich after a compensation package was agreed with his current employers.
The 43-year-old is currently in Dubai on a delayed family holiday, but the appointment is likely to be confirmed in the coming days.
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Ipswich owner Marcus Evans is known to have identified Hurst as a leading contender to replace Mick McCarthy early in a search which has now lasted close to two months, but is now likely to come to swift conclusion.
It is also understood Hurst’s assistant, Chris Doig, will be part of the package coming to Suffolk. Doig, a former Nottingham Forest midfielder, has assisted Hurst both with Shrewsbury and Grimsby and is also a former Northampton team-mate of Ipswich captain Luke Chambers.
Speaking after Sunday’s game, Hurst said: “It’s been rumbling on for a while and I’ve been linked with a couple of other ones as well,” he said, when asked specifically about the Ipswich Town vacancy.
“But I don’t think it’s really the time (to talk about it). I appreciate you are doing your job but I don’t want to pass comment on that – I’m still very much hurting from what I’ve just seen.”
A long-serving left-back in the lower leagues for Rotherham, Sheffield-born Hurst has worked his way up from the bottom as a coach. After masterminding Northern Premier League promotions at both Ilkeston Town and Boston United he embarked on a six-year stint at Grimsby Town, eventually leading them back into the Football League at the fourth attempt in the play-offs.
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He soon moved to Shrewsbury and in less than 18 months has transformed them from League One relegation-battlers into promotion contenders on a shoestring budget. Experienced players were quickly moved on and Hurst pieced together a hungry squad of former non-league drifters and young loanees.
Shrewsbury occupied a top-two spot for almost five months of the season but were pipped to automatic promotion by big-budget Wigan and Blackburn. Having reached the final of the Checkatrade Trophy and taken West Ham to an FA Cup third round replay, their marathon campaign consisted of 62 matches.
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