John Hughes is a leading contender to become the next manager of Blackpool, regardless of whether he keeps Falkirk in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League on Saturday.
John Hughes is a leading contender to become the next manager of Blackpool, regardless of whether he keeps Falkirk in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League on Saturday.
Hughes' name has been recommended to a number of Coca-Cola Championship clubs by his former Falkirk co-manager, Owen Coyle, and the Bloomfield Road board are titillated by the notion that Hughes can replicate at Blackpool what Coyle has achieved at Burnley.
Ian Holloway is the bookies' favourite to take charge after Tony Parkes, the caretaker manager, stepped down for a combination of personal and contractual reasons.
Intriguingly, Brian Reid, the Ayr United manager and former Blackpool centreback, has also emerged as a contender but it is Hughes' name that is most prominent among the club's board.
He was tipped to take over from Simon Grayson upon his departure for Leeds United but Parkes and Steven Thompson were placed in charge until the end of the season. Falkirk need to win against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday to stay in the Premier League and face Rangers a week later in the Homecoming Scottish Cup final.
Hughes has spent six years in charge at Falkirk, originally in a co-management capacity with Coyle before the latter left for Dundee United and then St Johnstone. He is now recognised as the most coveted young manager in England after taking Burnley into the Coca-Cola Championship play-off and, with Alex McLeish taking Birmingham City back into the Barclays Premier League and Alan Irvine revitalising Preston North End, the stock of the Scottish manager has rarely been higher down south.
Recently, Hughes acknowledged the need for a fresh challenge and would jump at the chance to move to Blackpool in the summer along with his assistant, Brian Rice.
"I never self-promote but I am at the stage where I wake up in the morning and ask myself, Have I taken Falkirk as far as I possibly can?'" he said earlier this season.
Karl Oyston, the Blackpool chairman, has compiled a shortlist of candidates but has already started the process of signing Charlie Adam on a permanent deal. The midfielder has been a success throughout his six-month loan spell and a £250,000 transfer will ensure Adam is signed on a long-term contract, regardless of the identity of the new manager.
"We've made an approach for the player, notwithstanding the coach's position," said Oyston. "Things have continued at quite a pace while this managerial selection process has been going on."
