Preston appoint former Sheffield United and Leeds United boss in time for Luton clash

Preston North End have announced the appointment of former Sheffield United and Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom as the club’s new first team manager in time to face Luton this weekend.

The 47-year-old had a lengthy playing career with Darlington, Norwich City, Bradford City and Sheffield Wednesday, before retiring in 2012. After completing his BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching at Leeds Metropolitan University in 2013, followed by an MSc in Sport Coaching in 2016, he started work with Barnsley’s development squad, appointed caretaker manager of the first team when former Hatters midfielder Danny Wilson was sacked in 2015.

Heckingbottom took temporary charge again the following year, leading the Tykes to an EFL Trophy Final victory and promotion to the Championship vial the League One play-offs, before spending four months in charge of Leeds United and having a brief spell in the dug-out for Scottish Premier League side Hibernian.

He then headed to Bramall Lane in July 2020, taking over temporarily in March 2021 and on a full-time basis nine months later, masterminding the Blades to an FA Cup semi-final, also winning promotion to the Premier League when finishing second in the Championship to Burnley. With United struggling last term, Heckingbottom departed United in December of last year having lost 11 games from 14 with just the one victory.

The ex-Manchester United youth teamer he has now taken over from Ryan Lowe, who left Deepdale after just one match of the season recently, bringing assistant boss Stuart McCall with him, and speaking to the Lilywhite’s official website, he said: “I’m really delighted with it, ready to go, and champing at the bit really. It’s a club I know well for lots of reasons and a league I know well, so it was a pretty easy decision.

“Experience is key. Knowing the players helps, and then having success in this league helps, so we know what it takes to compete. We know what it takes to do well and you can give that clear direction to try and get there, and that’s the aim. The short-term goals are to get back on track. Longer term, we want to be a really, really competitive team in this league. We want to play in a way the fans can enjoy and in a way that gets the best out of the players, and when you get that it can be really powerful.”

PNE director Peter Ridsdale added: “I’m delighted that Paul Heckingbottom has joined us as first team manager. We identified that we wanted Paul to be the man to take us forward and moved swiftly over the weekend. We met on Sunday, finalised the details late last night and he’s here with us today, ready to get to work. I’m now looking forward with confidence with Paul and Stuart McCall in charge, and I think all Preston North End fans can be really excited about the season ahead.”