Paul Heckingbottom

Paul Heckingbottom (born 17 July 1977) is an English football coach and former player who was most recently the manager of Premier League club Sheffield United.

After retiring as a player, Heckingbottom trained as a coach.

He started his football career at Manchester United as a trainee, but joined Sunderland in 1995 after failing to gain a professional contract.

He had loan spells at Scarborough, Hartlepool United and Darlington, without featuring for Sunderland, before joining Darlington permanently in 1999.

He made 126 appearances, scoring 6 goals, before catching the attention of First Division side Norwich City, who signed him in 2002 on a three-year contract.

Heckingbottom made just 16 appearances for Norwich, including only 7 starts, resulting in him cancelling his contract with the club by mutual consent after one year.

He subsequently signed for Bradford City in July 2003, and was named their Player of the Year at the end of his first season.

Bradford, however, were relegated to League One at the end of the 2003–04 season, and Heckingbottom left to join League One club Sheffield Wednesday during the close season.

Heckingbottom was well favoured under both Wednesday managers Chris Turner and Paul Sturrock, making a total of 41 appearances at left back in his first season – more than any other player that year.

He also scored four goals, helping the Owls to promotion to the Championship via the play-off final at the end of the 2004–05 season.

Due to an injury sustained in pre-season he was put out of contention for the first 16 games of the 2005–06 season.

When he returned to fitness, new signing John Hills had begun to make the left back spot his own.

An injury to Hills left Heckingbottom able to re-stake his claim on the team, but he only managed a 4-game streak before once again succumbing to injury, this time Peter Gilbert taking his place in the squad.

Sturrock allowed Heckingbottom a chance to prove himself in an FA Cup Third Round game against Charlton Athletic.

He scored both of Wednesday's goals in the 4–2 defeat at Hillsborough, though this was not enough to establish himself as the club's first-choice left back.

On 13 January 2006, Heckingbottom was sent on loan, with a view to a permanent move, to his boyhood club Barnsley.

He played an important part in the club's promotion campaign and win over Swansea City in the League One play-off final, scoring in the 4–3 penalty shootout victory that secured their promotion to the Championship.

Heckingbottom played in 31 games for Barnsley the next season, as they comfortably avoided relegation.

He scored once during his spell at Barnsley, in a 1–0 win over Tranmere Rovers on 18 February 2006.

In July 2007, Heckingbottom returned to Bradford City on loan until 1 January 2008.

He played in all 23 league games during his loan spell, missing only an FA Cup tie against Tranmere Rovers through suspension following a red card in a 1–1 draw with Stockport County.

A week after his loan deal expired, his contract at Barnsley was cancelled by mutual consent and he signed a permanent 18-month deal at Bradford City.

He missed his first league game of the 2007–08 season with four games left, when an ankle injury prevented him from playing against Brentford on 12 April 2008.

Heckingbottom's place was taken by Luke O'Brien, who made his Bradford debut in a 2–2 draw.

He played in the club's first nine league games of the 2008–09 season, but was sent off in a 1–1 draw with Luton Town for two bookable offences.

His place was again taken by youngster O'Brien, and although Heckingbottom returned for an FA Cup game against Milton Keynes Dons, he suffered tendonitis which kept him out for five months.

Bradford opted against offering Heckingbottom a contract extension, and he left the club in May 2009.

Heckingbottom signed for Conference National club Mansfield Town on 2 June 2009, marking his first foray into the game outside the Football League.

He sustained a hamstring injury in pre-season and did not play until October, in a 1–0 win over Forest Green Rovers, 11 months from when he last played a game of football.

He became a regular in the Mansfield line-up.

He scored his first and only Mansfield goal against Crawley Town on 14 November 2009.

On 1 February 2010, Heckingbottom joined Gateshead on loan until the end of the season.

He obtained a position with Barnsley's development squad and, after a successful spell as caretaker manager in which the club won promotion and the EFL Trophy, he was appointed manager in 2016.

In February 2018 he moved to Leeds United, but he was sacked during the 2018 close season after 16 games in charge.

Heckingbottom then managed Scottish Premiership club Hibernian, but was sacked in November 2019.

In March 2021, he was appointed interim manager of Sheffield United until the end of the season.

After returning to the U23's, he was appointed manager 25 November 2021, once again, on a four-a-and-half year deal following the sacking of Slaviša Jokanović.

After getting Sheffield United promoted from the Championship as runners-up in the 2022–23 season, he was sacked in December 2023 with the club bottom of the Premier League.

Heckingbottom was born in Barnsley and grew up in nearby Royston.

As a child, he was a season-ticket holder at the town's football club, along with his grandfather.