CHRIS DUNLAVY
Our resident expert on Barnsley’s battle to keep Paul Heckingbottom
BARNSLEY fans can breathe a sigh of relief –fornow. Sunderland’s pursuit of Paul Heckingbottom is over but it is only a matter of time before the 40year-old is lured away.
He is simply too talented, too well-respected and – critically – too underpaid to hang around at Oakwell much longer.
With Chris Coleman now in post at the Stadium of Light, we will never know if the Tykes boss was tempted to seize the poisoned chalice.
Sunderland were poised to make a formal offer, only to be dissuaded when Heckingbottom expressed concern about various issues, including the quality of the Black Cats’ squad. Even so, with a reported £750,000 annual salary on offer, I believe Hecky could have been persuaded.
Risky
Yes it is a risky job. Over the last decade, managing Sunderland has proved as beneficial to a person’s reputation as working in an investment bank.
There is also no doubt that he loves Barnsley, and feels both personal and professional bonds to his boyhood club.
But he also has five kids, a mortgage to pay. His playing days were successful but itinerant. He changed club seven times, retired through injury at 31 and never got that one big contract. Speaking a couple of years ago, he admitted his wanderlust was destructive.
“Footballers these days get criticised for being greedy and chasing the money,” he said. “Me, I was the complete opposite. I walked away from contracts and money I was owed just because I wanted to play. I made stupid decisions in a financial sense.
“Now I’ve got a family, kids, responsibilities. I’m trying to earn a living. I look back and think ‘How easy did it seem then to walk away from all that money?’ I wish I’d been more ruthless.”
After retiring with nowt and starting from scratch at Pontefract Collieries, Heckingbottom is unlikely to make the same mistake again.
Even for someone on a handsome salary – and Hecky’s is a good six figures – £750,000 a year is set-for-life money, at least if the contract is long enough.
Weighing risk against reward, perhaps Heckingbottom calculated that professional suicide at Sunderland wasn’t worth it. When other clubs arrive bearing equally lucrative gifts, the choice will be much tougher.
Because frankly, Barnsley are maxed out. Though a takeover is imminent, the old ethos will remain. Buy cheap players, coach improvements, then sell for a tasty profit.
Frustrated
Heckingbottom was deeply frustrated that Barnsley failed to tie Conor Hourihane and Sam Winnall to longer contracts, forcing the club to sell both players for a song last January. As a result, the threadbare Tykes tumbled out of the play-off picture.
Although he performed a miraculous summer rebuild on another shoestring budget, few of Heckingbottom’s concerns have been assuaged.
Sooner or later, the talent well will run dry and, when that happens, the manager’s stock – unfairly but inevitably – will fall.
Just look at Karl Robinson, who rejected an offer from Leeds United in May 2016 only to be sacked by MK Dons five months later. Despite a stellar job at Charlton, nobody is banging his door down now.
That is no sleight on Barnsley. They are a club who have tottered on the brink of ruin and their prudence in a profligate industry deserves credit.
But football is a capricious business and Heckingbottom has learned the hard way that a gift horse should not be shunned. This time Barnsley dodged the bullet. Next time, they will not.