Ryan Lowe reveals Plymouth have held talks with Blackpool over bringing back ex-Rangers man

The striker joined the Pilgrims on loan during the January transfer window, going on to play a significant role in their automatic promotion.

The 23-year-old former Rangers man, who made the move to Bloomfield Road from Ibrox last summer, netted seven goals in five starts and eight substitute appearances at Plymouth.

Lowe, who brought Hardie to Devon after watching him net a double in Blackpool’s reserve clash against Fleetwood Town, has confirmed his interest in bringing the forward back.

“Ryan Hardie, yeah, we are in discussions to try and potentially do something but whether we can or not remains to be seen,” Lowe told Plymouth Live.

Having helped guide Plymouth back to the third tier in his first season in charge, Lowe insists there’s no chance of them just making up the numbers in League One next term.

“We are hoping it’s going to be a footballing league. We don’t know who is coming down (from the Championship) just yet,” he said.

“We know Northampton have gone up so we will plan accordingly for that type of game.

“People say to me ‘What are you going to do when you go to Sunderland?’ Well, we are going to go to Sunderland and play football.

“That’s what they want to see, that’s why we want to see and that’s what they will do potentially.

“We are going to go to Ipswich and play football. In League One, you get a lot more football played.

“In League Two, you get teams that do play football, but teams that also have route one agendas, play for percentages and second balls.

“That’s fine, that’s just the way teams play but, for us, we are expecting a good footballing league.”

The former Bury boss added: “One thing I can say is we are not just in it to make the numbers up.

“We are in it to be competitive and that’s what we will do because we feel the teams we played last season from League One we were quite good against them.”