Former Luton Town and Stoke City manager Nathan Jones has emerged as the first-choice target for Blackpool to replace Simon Grayson, according to Alan Nixon.

The Tangerines have been in a very sticky run of form in League One of late, that has seen them win just once since the 7th December, coming last weekend in the form of a 2-1 triumph against a struggling Southend United side.

A defeat to Gillingham at home saw the end of Simon Grayson’s reign, where a point seemed in the bag thanks to Nathan Delfouneso’s 91st-minute goal, but the away side left Bloomfield Road with all three points after they netted in the 93rd-minute.

With Grayson parting company after seven months in charge, the Tangerines are now left searching for a new manager to get their, albeit unlikely, play-off push back on track in the back end of the season.

Sun reporter Alan Nixon has revealed that the Seasiders are turning to former Stoke City man Nathan Jones as their number one candidate for the job.

Blackpool are eager to continue down the route of bringing in someone with League One experience and Jones fits the bill after he helped put Luton Town on their way to automatic promotion, before leaving for the Potters mid-way through the season.

His time at Stoke didn’t go to plan and he is now without a job, so could be open to a move to Bloomfield Road.

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The verdict

This would be a very smart appointment from the Tangerines as they would be getting a manager well-versed with moulding a team fit for clinching promotion from the league.

The same can be said about Grayson as he’s done it on more than one occasion, but the change needed to be made and it makes sense to follow a similar route in terms of experience.

Jones will be hungry to taste success again after his poor tenure at Stoke, so a move to Blackpool to restore his own confidence could be needed.

Blackpool definitely have some solid players in their squad that the fans will be expecting more from, and Jones has proven that he can get more out of his players, as he did with the Hatters.