LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Ex-boss Heckingbottom in no rush to return to football management
AS a football manager who is between jobs, Paul Heckingbottom has not been letting the grass grow under his feet during lockdown.
Despite the clement weather across Yorkshire, the former Leeds United and Barnsley head coach has quite often been found indoors – putting the hours in to boost his skill set in his study at the family home.
Preparing for the next opportunity and not standing still. Trying to gain an extra edge.
Heckingbottom, out of work since being dismissed at Hibernian last November, told The Yorkshire Post: “With any time out or holidays you might have with the family in the close season, you think you are relaxing.
“But I have found out through this that you are not, you are still working and focused on doing your job and trying to get a job and get better.
“As it stands, this has been a forced relaxation period. It has been nice and good, but I am ready to do some work now.
“I have been doing lots of fitness stuff and thrown myself into business big time. I also started a professional doctorate into sports coaching last year when I was up at Hibs.
“It is five years of research and a big piece of work. You can investigate anything to do with your practice and my research starts, in earnest, in the next few months.
“Keeping studying was something I knew I needed to do when I left Leeds. I wanted to get mixing with people outside of football more and also having a different challenge to day-to-day management stuff.
“I am coming into a year of that and that is keeping me busy and there are a few deadlines to hit.”
Opportunities have arisen for Heckingbottom since leaving Hibernian, but, as yet, nothing has ticked all the required boxes.
After living away from his family in Edinburgh during his time in the SPL, time back home has been cherished.
Added perspective of appreciating what actually matters in life amid the Covid-19 pandemic – his wife Claire is a key worker for the NHS and on the frontline – has been provided as well.
His next step will be guided by family as much as anything else.
Heckingbottom continued: “It has made me think – without being too philosophical – about the pace and quality of life.
“I lived away from my family for a year and it has been nice to get back with the kids being off school. My wife has been at work with the NHS.
“It has made me think where I want to be situated and how much it would take to get me away from my family again, without a doubt.
“There have been opportunities that have not been right. Sometimes, I think owners and football clubs think you are desperate to be a football manager.
“I am not, I want to work for good people who inspire you and you think you ‘get’. Someone who you would like to do well. It will be interesting to see what happens when things get moving again.”
In the brave new world of football following its Covid-19 crisis, there is one school of thought suggesting that the game’s managerial merry-go-round might just slow down. Many would deem this to be no bad thing.
A new financial reality – particularly in the EFL – might even mean that clubs give managers more time to build teams to avoid shelving out on compensation packages that few can afford.
That’s the theory at any rate, but Heckingbottom is not so sure.
He said: “Whether they will give managers more of a chance, I don’t know. But I think clubs will try and build (more).
“The bigger picture is that this is a global pandemic and a terrible situation. For anyone who was involved in the game or lived through it when ITV Digital collapsed, the impact on football will be similar to that.
“It is going to be tight, clubs are going to have to rein it in. Can they find a competitive advantage in some way whether it is through their own youth or managers who like to develop their own youth or use a longer-term plan and not chase things too soon? “But within a few years of ITV Digital, clubs were overspending and chasing the dream.
“I would expect exactly the same thing to happen again.
“Over time, money will stabilise again and people will be overspending and push and push because I think the Premier League is going to get further away from the Football League. I think it will entice people to overstretch themselves even more.
“In terms of the Championship being attractive for overseas investment, it is huge. These investors could get a Bundesliga, La Liga or Serie A club or whatever they wanted, but there is nowhere else to go.
“But if they get a big Championship club, there is another ‘golden egg’ if you like which is the next step up.
“While ever there are laws and clubs can push and push and invest, they will always chase for that Premier League, which for me will get further away from the Football League.”