Ex-Ipswich boss Hurst closing in on management return with former club

Hurst, sacked by Ipswich after just 15 games in charge in October 2018, was pictured at the Mariners’ game with Oldham last night and could be announced as the man to replace Ian Holloway later today, according to reports in Grimsby.

If and when his appointment is confirmed, it would see Hurst return to a club where he enjoyed success between 2011 and 2016, taking the club back into the Football League in 2016 before joining Shrewsbury at the start of the following campaign.

It was there Hurst first kept the Shrews in League One before masterminding an unlikely promotion charge in 2017/18, losing out in the play-off final to Rotherham but doing enough to earn the Town job just a few days later.

Paul Hurst is back at Grimsby Town (Image: PA Archive/PA Images)

His sacking from Portman Road took him to Scunthorpe, where he and assistant Chris Doig lasted just eight months before being departed in January.

He’s been linked with a string of jobs since, notably a return to Shrewsbury and twice being mentioned in connection with vacancies at Bradford, but it appears to be Grimsby where he will look to get his managerial career back on track.

During his first spell at Grimsby, Hurst managed Toto Nsiala, Kayden Jackson and Jon Nolan, who he eventually signed for Ipswich.

Grimsby are on the brink of a takeover at boardroom level, with majority shareholder John Fenty agreeing to sell his shares to a consortium. The move has yet to be ratified by the EFL.

The club currently sit 22nd in League Two, two places and four points off the foot of the EFL pyramid.

Speaking after last night’s draw with Oldham, caretaker manager Ben Davies said: “Obviously Hursty brought me here as a player (in 2016), I can’t speak highly enough of him, so if it is him to take this football club forward it’s a fantastic appointment.

“He’s a fantastic man manager, he knows his recruitment, and when I was here he was different class.”