HAMPDEN, LIVE ON BT SPORT
each other a few times, doing some charity work and playing against each other.
“We get on great and there is a respect for the job we’re doing because we know how difficult it can be.
“But I wouldn’t imagine he would want sympathy.
“We got into this job knowing what it is. And nobody would be sitting here if they didn’t enjoy it.
“Not every bit of it is enjoyable – but there is satisfaction to be had from the challenge, from knowing you’ve given everything in a tough job. So there is a big respect there for anyone who has done it.
“Craig has been through this before, he has had big success before. It’s part and parcel of the game.”
Make no mistake, today could become a tipping point for a manager who’s already on the edge.
But Heckingbottom is convinced his planning has to stay long-term and decisions will never be allowed to compromise his integrity.
He said: “You have to make decisions based on the longer term all the time.
“As soon as you just focus on the immediate things, it’s the things you’ve ignored that will get you the sack six months later anyway. So just keep doing the right things.
“There are certain things I wouldn’t bend, in those principles, just to stay in a job. Without a doubt they are more important to me. But one thing you can make sure you do is fight all the way.
“The biggest thing you can do is be the role model – and behave in a way you’d want everyone else to follow.
“You have to be happy going to bed at night, thinking, ‘Right, have I done everything I can?’ You must be like that.”
Heckingbottom aims to arrive at the National Stadium with a message to his players that they must believe they can dethrone the holders on an occasion which is only for the brave hearted.
He said: “We have no one to be scared of. In the three games we’ve played against Celtic we’ve drawn two and lost one, and in the one that we lost a couple of moments of magic from their good players took the game away from us.
“But we understand they’ve got that in their locker and that is what you have to guard against. We have to limit their chances and take the ones that we create.”