Poll
Would you like to see Paul Hurst as the new Ipswich Town boss?
Paul Hurst is the odds-on favourite for the Ipswich Town job. Picture: PA SPORT - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
He’s the odds-on favourite to get the vacant Ipswich Town manager’s job – but would you like Paul Hurst to be the new Blues’ boss?
Hurst, 43, is preparing to lead Shrewsbury Town into the League One play-offs, starting with a first leg at Charlton Athletic tomorrow night.
He’s the 4/7 favourite for Portman Road with Skybet – a long way ahead of second-favourite Shefki Kuqi (7/1) – and, with the League One play-off final set for May 27, he’d seem to fit in with owner Marcus Evans’ previously stated timeline of having a new man in place by early June.
- MORE: Hurst is odds-on for the Town job
Hurst took over a Shrewsbury side that were bottom of League One just 18 months ago and pushed bigger budget Wigan and Blackburn all the way in the race for automatic promotion this season before finishing third.
He got the Shrewsbury job after taking Grimsby back into the Football League with a play-off final win in 2015/16.
Just last week, he said being linked to Town was a ‘compliment’ and refused to commit his future to the Shrews.
Speaking to BBC Radio Shropshire, Hurst said: “I’m not going to sit here and say it’s not nice to be linked with jobs, because it means you’re doing something right.
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“All I will do is assure people that my focus is very much on trying to be successful and get this club promoted.
“It’s just a compliment to everyone here and the season that we’ve had.”
- MORE: The verdict on 22 names in the frame for Portman Road
Hurst says there has been no contact from Town but when asked whether he could give Shrews fans an assurance he would still be at the Montgomery Waters Meadow next season, he responded: “I can’t honestly answer that – it would be wrong for me to sit here and say that. I don’t know what’s going to happen between now and then.
“All I can honestly say is that I enjoy it here, I’ve got a good relationship with pretty much everyone at the football club and I want to try and take this club to the Championship.”
So Hurst has certainly got credentials in terms of success in the lower leagues, but is he worth taking a risk on up in the Championship, where Town need someone to kickstart a revolution and get Portman Road rocking again?
