Bristol Rovers manager Graham Coughlan is on the brink of a move down into League Two to Mansfield Town.
The Pirates have already started the process of sounding out potential replacements for him, according to a report by Bristol Live.
Mansfield have identified the 45-year-old as the man they want to replace John Dempster, who they sacked last week after a slow start to the season.
Coughlan’s Bristol Rovers side currently lie 4th in League One and two points off the automatic promotion places, whereas Mansfield are 18th in the fourth tier. However, with the Irishman’s family residing in Sheffield a move to the Stags is appealing to him.
He spent his playing career as a centre-back with spells at the likes of Blackburn Rovers, Plymouth Argyle, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United, Shrewsbury Town and Southend United before retiring in 2013.
Coughlan then went into coaching and initially started out at Southend. He moved to Bristol Rovers as defensive coach in 2018 and was installed as caretaker manager that December after the departure of Darrell Clarke.
He was given the full-time job in January and has done a steady job ever since, with his side comfortably surviving last term and then getting themselves into the promotion picture this season.
Losing Coughlan to Mansfield would be a blow for the Gas but their league position will make them an admirable proposition to potential managers out there.
