Mark Hughes says he’s rested and ready to get back into management after more than two years away from the dugout.

The Welshman has been out of work since leaving Southampton in December 2018 but has said in an extended interview with the BBC he’s looking to get back into work.

Hughes, aged 57, moved into club management with Rovers in September 2004 and took charge of 188 games for the club, an amount Tony Mowbray passed last month, before moving to Manchester City in the summer of 2008.

It remains the second-longest Hughes has been in charge of one club, that accolade coming between May 2013 and January 2018 when he clocked up 200 games as manager of Stoke City.

He quickly took over at Southampton, but despite keeping them safe from relegation in 2018, he left in December of that year after just 27 matches in charge.

It means the current break is Hughes’ longest since getting into management, with Hughes now looking for his next opportunity.

He told the BBC: "I've had enough rest now. I'm ready to go.

"Those opportunities will keep on coming, you'd like to think, given the CV that I've got. You just have to wait for the right one."

"Obviously you don't actively pursue other people's jobs, that's just not done, but clearly you get an inkling by virtue of results and how teams are doing.

"There are people who will contact you and say 'if this happens would you fancy going into this club?' and so on.

"You have those conversations prior to any actual movement in the market."

Hughes has now taken charge of six clubs, all in the Premier League, and believes he will be back soon.

He added: "At some point you feel you'll get opportunities.

"The timing has to be right for you, it has to be right for the club that wants to make the change. If you're available and it makes sense to both parties, then that's when you begin to talk."

Hughes was linked with the West Bromwich Albion job which went the way of another former Rovers boss, Sam Allardyce last month.

Allardyce had been out of management for a similar length of time before taking on the role at The Hawthorns since leaving his last job, Everton, in May 2018.