Former Stoke City manager Nathan Jones has reportedly rejected the chance to take the now vacant manager's job at Bristol Rovers, according to The Bristol Post.

Rovers parted ways with Graham Coughlan earlier this week, choosing to take up the Mansfield job in order to be closer to his family, so the hunt for the League One promotion-chasers has begun.

Jones, who won promotion from League Two with Luton Town in 2017, was the Pirates first-choice to replace Coughlan according to the reports and was contacted by club CEO Martyn Starnes over the weekend.

QUIZ: Can you remember the outcome of Bristol Rovers’ last 15 Boxing Day matches?

The 46-year-old was sacked by The Potters in November after another tricky start to a Championship season for the promotion-hopefuls, but his record below the second-tier remains appealling.

But it now looks like Rovers will have to move on to other candidates.

Managing at the Memorial Stadium should be an appealing prospect to many managerial hopefuls, with the club currently sat in fourth place in League One and looking like a good bet to achieve at least a play-off spot.

The verdict

This will be a bitter disappointment to the club and I am pretty surprised Jones was not interested, to be honest.

Rovers are a club currently in a very decent position and would surely have represented a great opportunity for Jones to rebuild his reputation following his rough treatment at Stoke.

I can of course understand if he is waiting for a Championship offer, but he may be waiting a while. If I were him, I would snap-up the chance to manager The Gas.