Paul will be hoping he doesn’t have to keep moving house
Paul Heckingbottom had to move house to save his sanity after landing the manager’s job at home town club Barnsley.
But the new Hibs boss insists he’s ready to lay down roots in Scotland’s capital. Heckingbottom rose through the coaching ranks at Barnsley to become gaffer after leading the Tykes to a Football League Trophy win at Wembley and promotion to the Championship whilst in caretaker charge.
Having been born and raised a fan of the club, his newly-high profile around the town was not without its downsides.
But the 41-year-old is ready to press the flesh with Hibs fans as he settles into life in Edinburgh over the coming weeks. “It [the goldfish bowl nature of management] hit me when I was at Barnsley,” said Heckingbottom.
“After I took the job we got promoted and, living in the town, I knew the majority of fans.
“I had been one and knew people from going to matches.
“It was a change, even in friends. On match days you have gone from being one of them to them having the manager’s number.
“So there’s a difference in how they behave.
“It’s strange, hard to describe. But it makes you realise: ‘This is a big deal, this’.
“It really does. Kids coming and knocking on the door of the house, bringing their footballs. Dads bringing their kids round for autographs.
“You’re sat in your dressing gown watching telly! “So I had to move house. I couldn’t go anywhere. “I noticed it when we played Oxford in the Johnston’s Paint Cup
Final at Wembley.
“I got up on the morning of the final, pretty laid back about it and saw my phone and there were so many texts. “They were all from Barnsley fans and they were talking to me differently.
“I felt like I wished they didn’t have my number!
“You felt the responsibility was there on your back. It was a really weird feeling and I carried it with me.
“But the power of that can be used to get everyone on the same page.
“I know the power of it. I’m a big believer that you are not different from fans as a manager,” he said.
“You are one of them. I want to win as much as they do.
“I can see why people detach themselves from it because of what is written or said or the social media aspect and you want to protect yourself.
“I get that. But for me you are better encouraging this sort of chat rather than hiding away to promote the other type of chat.” Heckingbottom is bullish about his desire to make Hibs an aggressive side, both with and without the ball.
But he is relaxed about the prospect of working towards his goal within the framework of the club’s recruitment structure.
“Not many managers now will have 100% control over recruitment,” he said. “You don’t. You need to guide it and have a direction, but the detail and everything that goes into recruitment these days, you cannot be doing it.
“Clubs have however many staff working full-time to provide names for you.
“It’s about getting involved at the beginning of the process to guide them. That’s how I see it.”
Many of Heckingbottom’s perceptions are built on the foundation of his football upbringing at Manchester United. The Hibs boss was two year groups below United’s famous “Class of ’92”, and was coached by the legendary Eric Harrison (inset), who died last week. Harrison, along with Pop Robson, set Heckingbottom on the path. Looking back, he is in no doubt about the most important lesson bestowed on him at Old Trafford.
“Work ethic. 100%,” he said. “Everyone goes on about talent, but it’s work.
“Every one of those players two years above me – Beckham, Butt, Gary Neville, Chris Casper – every one of them got a pro contract. And each deserved it.
“They couldn’t all get in the team, but they were that good a group that they had to reward every one of them.
“That’s what you’ve got to get past so you have to work even harder than that.
“That’s what it teaches you.”