Paul Heckingbottom: Sheffield United confirm sacking of manager
Paul Heckingbottom has become the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season after his Sheffield United side lost 5-0 to fellow strugglers Burnley on Saturday.
The departure of Heckingbottom, who had been in charge for two years and won promotion back to the top flight last season, was confirmed on Tuesday.
Chris Wilder is tipped to replace him and return to the club for a second stint as manager, two and a half years after he left.
“On behalf of the board of directors, I’d like to thank Paul for all of his efforts at Sheffield United, firstly as U23s manager before stepping up to take control of first-team duties,” said chief executive Stephen Bettis.
“His professionalism and dedication have been a credit to the club and I’m sure all Unitedites enjoyed the promotion-winning campaign.
“However, after slipping to the bottom of the table and a number of disappointing results and performances, it is felt that a change is needed to give the club a boost and every possible chance of remaining in the Premier League beyond this season.”
Sheffield United lie bottom of the Premier League, four points from safety, having taken just one win and five points from their 14 games in the current campaign.
They became the first team this season to lose at Burnley, who were also promoted in the summer, in what was the Blades’ third defeat by five or more goals already this season.
After the match, Heckingbottom said his team was suffering from the club making “financial rather than football decisions” in recent months.
The former Barnsley, Leeds United and Hibernian manager pointed to the summer sale of key players from last term, midfielder Sander Berge and forward Iliman Ndiaye.
“I wanted to keep the group together but we couldn’t,” Heckingbottom said. “We couldn’t because of the last few years and the financial implications. If we’d tied them down [on longer contracts] then we probably wouldn’t have sold those players.
“There wasn’t a desire from the ownership to sell, but a necessity from a business point of view. We’ve been making financial decisions rather than football decisions. Of course that affects me. I didn’t want it to happen.”
Heckingbottom is the first Premier League manager to be sacked this season following a period of uncharacteristic patience from club owners and chairmen.
In each of the last 10 years at least one boss had been dismissed by this stage in the campaign and in some years as many as six.
The favourites to be the next to depart include Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest, Burnley’s Vincent Kompany and Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.