Sheffield United to sack Heckingbottom after hitting bottom

Paul Heckingbottom [AP/YONHAP]

Paul Heckingbottom is set to become the first Premier League managerial casualty of the 2023-24 campaign as Sheffield United prepare to bring back former gaffer Chris Wilder.

United sit at the bottom of the table with just a single win this season and 39 goals conceded in 14 games. That gives them a league-leading minus-28 goal difference, worse than any other club by 11 goals, and makes it already look highly likely that the newly-promoted Blades will be headed straight back to the Championship next year.

That dire run came to a head over the weekend when Sheffield lost 5-0 to 19th-place Burnley, conceding the first goal just 15.8 seconds into the game and going down to 10 men at the end of the first half. The loss gave Burnley, who had started the day at the bottom of the table, the joint-largest win by a last-place club in Premier League history.

Heckingbottom’s exit comes after a tumultuous on-again, off-again relationship with United.

Initially the U-23 coach, Heckingbottom first took charge of the Blades in March 2021 after Wilder left the club. That interim spell lasted until the end of the season, with Sheffield winning three of 11 games and ultimately facing relegation from the Premier League to the Championship.

Heckingbottom was reportedly considered for the permanent role but did not get it after that 2021 season, with former Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic instead stepping in. Jokanovic lasted 19 games, before being sacked in November and Heckingbottom called back up from the U-23s, this time on a permanent basis.

A local South Yorkshire lad, Heckingbottom led the Blades back up to fifth place in the 2021-22 season, earning a spot in the promotion playoff but failing to secure promotion.

The 2022-23 season went better, with Heckingbottom leading Sheffield back to the Premier League and earning Manager of the Month honors three times in the campaign.

The Blades have been battling issues off the pitch throughout the current season, most notably the departure of key players Iliman Ndiaye and Sander Berge, with Heckingbottom turning on the club for “making financial decisions rather than football decisions” after Saturday’s loss to Burnley.

Wilder is set to return to Sheffield after a similarly tumultuous relationship with the club. Having played eight seasons for the club in the 1980s and ‘90s, Wilder returned as manager in 2016 and, like Heckingbottom, he went on to lead the Blades back to the Premier League in 2019.

Also like Heckingbottom, he oversaw the team’s rapid downfall in 2021 and departed when relegation already seemed inevitable.

Heckingbottom’s departure will be the first managerial sacking this season, a much slower start to the annual culling than last year when Scott Parker at Bournemouth, Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea, Bruno Lage at Wolves, Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa and Ralph Hasenhüttl at Southampton had all already been shown the door.

Sheffield are set to host Liverpool in midweek Premier League action on Wednesday. As of press time Tuesday, it remains unclear who will be pacing the technical area for the Blades.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]