Heckingbottom

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Always felt he was in a "no win " situation when we got promoted, he got some backing but the rebuild we're doing now is 12 months to late. He was put under to much pressure to manage us to safety with a aging squad and a owner who lives in a fantasy world
We should have started to rebuild and take our chances
 
Preston would be a good move for him, if he can indeed get the job.

Preston fans aren’t happy with the link. But some of that is down to him playing 5 at the back. They don’t seem to like that formation as a fan base.

Without inheriting a dream team squad like the blades one they are nervous he will revert back to his previous managerial jobs.

I think Preston are unrealistic and expect to be top end of the table when in reality they should be mid table.
 
He's a steady Eddie type as a manager. Doesnt go ranting if things go wrong, doesn't go over the top if things go well. I like the man himself, but i always thought he rode the crest of the Ndiaye wave when we got promoted, he made us tight at the back and left it to our main men (Ndiaye and Berge) to win is the game. Could argue that was the right thing to do as it worked, but take those two out and he was a busted flush. There was no other great managerial tactic that made us such a good side, rather we wore other teams in the Championship down and nicked many games by the odd goal.

Without another Ndiaye in his team I don't see him managing another team to promotion any time soon, but he will get enough results to keep you out of trouble. I wish him well though as when we needed him as we were all over the shop as a club (due to the Owner losing interest), he stepped up to the plate and got us over the line to prevent financial meltdown. Always be grateful to the man and his management team for that.
 
He's a steady Eddie type as a manager. Doesnt go ranting if things go wrong, doesn't go over the top if things go well. I like the man himself, but i always thought he rode the crest of the Ndiaye wave when we got promoted, he made us tight at the back and left it to our main men (Ndiaye and Berge) to win is the game. Could argue that was the right thing to do as it worked, but take those two out and he was a busted flush. There was no other great managerial tactic that made us such a good side, rather we wore other teams in the Championship down and nicked many games by the odd goal.

Without another Ndiaye in his team I don't see him managing another team to promotion any time soon, but he will get enough results to keep you out of trouble. I wish him well though as when we needed him as we were all over the shop as a club (due to the Owner losing interest), he stepped up to the plate and got us over the line to prevent financial meltdown. Always be grateful to the man and his management team for that.

Agree with that.

Hecky reminds me of Southgate.
He’s over tactical and negative, over focussing on trying to stop the other team. A bit like England who when they scored would then drop deep and defend in numbers, we were the same when promoted under Hecky. Our best, most attacking football was always after we went 1-0 behind. Also like Southgate under Hecky were had 15 minute spells where we looked really good then 30 minute looking nervous and hoofing it long looking really basic.

However Hecky, like Southgate was likable, very dignified and excellent with the media in a non confrontational stead ship kind of way.

He also seemed popular with his players and seemed to build a harmonious mood within the camp, like Southgate.

You might not like Southgate or Heckys pragmatic cautious approach but at the end of the day both delivered decent results. Both are thoroughly decent men and wish them both well.
 
He's a steady Eddie type as a manager. Doesnt go ranting if things go wrong, doesn't go over the top if things go well. I like the man himself, but i always thought he rode the crest of the Ndiaye wave when we got promoted, he made us tight at the back and left it to our main men (Ndiaye and Berge) to win is the game. Could argue that was the right thing to do as it worked, but take those two out and he was a busted flush. There was no other great managerial tactic that made us such a good side, rather we wore other teams in the Championship down and nicked many games by the odd goal.

Without another Ndiaye in his team I don't see him managing another team to promotion any time soon, but he will get enough results to keep you out of trouble. I wish him well though as when we needed him as we were all over the shop as a club (due to the Owner losing interest), he stepped up to the plate and got us over the line to prevent financial meltdown. Always be grateful to the man and his management team for that.
He took over when we were floundering under a new manager and an absent owner . He immediately improved us and got us into the playoffs playing great football harnessing the skills of Gibbs White , IN , Sander - etc - he was really unlucky not to get us to the final

He was then faced with the need to save our club by getting us promotion - no matter how . He had almost no support from the owner , who tried his best to sell IN and SB in the Jan transfer window , but they refused to go .

He had a transfer embargo placed on him when he needed support to capitalise on the position we were in - the financial situation we were in was desperate - we became reliant on monies being paid to us by Dozy (the owners words to that effect) , the final £2m which wasn’t forthcoming resulted in non payment of suppliers and transfer instalment’s .

Not only did he get us promoted by a clear 9 points he also got us to an FA Cup semi final . Now the owner showed his face .

He had , again , no help whatsoever to form a first 11 , let alone squad , who could make a decent fist of it in the Prem . The owner went awol again btw.

He made mistakes that’s for sure , but for me they should build the guy a fkin statue for what he did for our club . A very decent man , who acted with integrity. Unlike many above him who hung him out to dry .

God knows where we would be without Hecky.

Preston should snap his fkin hand off .

IMO
 
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A good (if slightly uninspiring) appointment for a good (if slightly uninspiring) club.
 
Hecky had done really well with the U21/23s. He brought Iliman into the first team and managed him really well. He recruited McAtee and Doyle on loan and got the best out of them and also Anel, although I think it was Jack Lester who had the contact. Dont know how much input he had to the players we recruited at the start of last season after selling IN and SB at the 11th hour but was forced to play our first home game v Palace with Osula and Traore up front. Never stood a chance then Egan got injured and we had no real defence. Real short straw. I liked the man and was sorry for him. Don't think CW did any better with the same players. Hope he gets a decent job.
 
Always felt he was in a "no win " situation when we got promoted, he got some backing but the rebuild we're doing now is 12 months to late. He was put under to much pressure to manage us to safety with a aging squad and a owner who lives in a fantasy world
We should have started to rebuild and take our chances
I think losing Ndiaye really took the wind out of his sails and he went through the motions a bit.

Wilder has been on it from the start whereas it felt like Hecky was a bit passive and resigned to the inevitable.

It’s often difficult to filter out what is hindsight and what you felt at the time.

But even though we felt there were trouble rumbling with Berge and Ndiaye the wrong options were chosen.

Tommy Doyle should have been signed in my opinion. Well before Wolves appeared on the scene he was waiting for us to make our move and we wouldn’t commit. Rumours that he didn’t fancy a relegation release clause. Personally I would have accepted that. Just like Wednesday have clearly put their money on Bannon over the years, Doyle could have been that guy for us.

He wouldn’t have cost 5m like the figure Wolves and City used. But we could have effectively swapped him for Berge in terms of money I reckon.

Likewise Archer wasn’t the correct player. Akpom was a far more fitting addition.

In fact, and this is half hindsight, half not, just getting Archer and Akpom as well as Doyle would have seen us having some continuity.

It just felt like we gave up after Ndiaye backed out and that summer was just a complete nonsense with no coherent strategy at all. Even keeping Fleck for half a season when he was clearly done, just threw away money.
 
Really don't understand why people give him stick for, absolutely saved us from financial oblivion.

Agree.

He should be given an absolutely fantastic reception when they come to Bramall Lane. Had a huge hand in saving this club despite a terrible owner working against him.

Most notable was how he kept his counsel. Never once moaned about the external factors. Just cracked on and got us up.

He very nearly did it at the first time of asking from a very improbable position too.
I think his time here is very underrated.
Some superb recruitment and coaching of players. Very few didn't improve under Hecky.
 
Agree.

He should be given an absolutely fantastic reception when they come to Bramall Lane. Had a huge hand in saving this club despite a terrible owner working against him.

Most notable was how he kept his counsel. Never once moaned about the external factors. Just cracked on and got us up.

He very nearly did it at the first time of asking from a very improbable position too.
I think his time here is very underrated.
Some superb recruitment and coaching of players. Very few didn't improve under Hecky.

... One massive "?" is his track record with injuries.

Maybe it was just "bad luck," but the whole time he was here the list was in double digits and it very nearly cost us.
Piles of them were soft tissue and a lot happened in training.

The same criticisms followed him from Leeds & Barnsley also.
 
Preston should snap his fkin hand off .

IMO

According to Sky Sports the Preston short list for the managers job is,

Gary Rowett
John Eustace
Alex Neil
Paul Gallagher
Scott Lindsay
and Brian Barry Murphy

As you can see no mention of Hecky.
Makes you wonder of he'll need to go down into league 1, the longer he's out the harder it get to get back into management.
 

If he can't get the Plymouth job, or interview for this one (assuming he wanted it), you'd think he'll have to.

Or go back to a youth setup, maybe at a bigger club. He'd have excellent credentials
 
... One massive "?" is his track record with injuries.

Maybe it was just "bad luck," but the whole time he was here the list was in double digits and it very nearly cost us.
Piles of them were soft tissue and a lot happened in training.

The same criticisms followed him from Leeds & Barnsley also.
The majority of injuries started to kick in during covid and post (nothing to do with jabs). St George’s medical team did state that we weren’t unusual as a there had been a spike of the same injuries throughout the country.
 
The football under Hecky was never exciting but let’s not forget we won promotion at a canter. Yes we had parachute payments and N’Daiye was lightening in a bottle, but many managers can’t pull that off. He had to deal with a whole load of off-field crap and was a true gent. He played a huge part in saving us from financial meltdown. I think that will become clearer over time as we learn more what state we were in. Top bloke.

I’ve said before I’d be very happy to see him back one day as a DoF. I can really see that job suiting him. In the meantime, I think he’d be better off with a good L1 club with promotion prospects rather than an average Champ club with not much to spend. Preston is a hiding to nothing. Although can’t blame him for wanting to work as high up the pyramid as possible I guess.
 
Now favourite for Preston job - fanbase not thrilled

I don't know what Preston were expecting, but for almost two seasons he had about a 2 points per game record whilst with us.
All whilst juggling shit loads of injuries.
His recruitment was decent and his coaching was too.

They're lucky to be getting him. He'll make them solid as a minimum.
 
Now favourite for Preston job - fanbase not thrilled
Are they a bit simple over in Preston he is too good for them they should be grateful for a manager like Hecky.

They must be the pigs in disguise they are a run of the mill team that would be lucky to challenge for the play offs so who are they expecting?.
 
GLTTL.

Deserves more credit from some of our fans imho.

Again this reminds me of the Southgate situation where you get fans not giving Southgate credit.

The truth is there are both average managers and that’s not meant as an insult because average means decent, both have similar steady the ship, respectful, humble personalities and the players always enjoy working with them because he never criticises players.

Agree, Hecky does deserves credit for what he did and will no doubt receive a great reception when he returns to BL but we were so underwhelming for a promotion team in most games during that promotion season. Results were excellent thought and Hecky would probably say, we were under so much pressure to be promoted that it was all about the result at any cost.

Out tactics was give it to N”Diaye or McAtee who could score from nothing, then sit back defending deep parking the bus for the last 30 minutes. Our defense lacked pace so think it was a deliberate tactic and to be fair our defense was excellent when they had their backs up against the wall but whenever we won the ball back we just booted it upfield to no one. Used to think why can’t we stay calm and play some possession stuff.

Like Southgate I think Heckys handling of
pressure and the political stuff is where he excelled….far far away better than Wilder who always wore his heart of his sleeve, which can be a positive or a negative.
 
I hope Preston fans are prepared for all the injuries that the first team are about to suffer.

This is good news for us when we play them at the Lane, as we know what his plan A is, what his plan B A is, and what his plan C A is.

Jury's out on the injuries.
A lot of those players seem prone and are still picking them up away from Sheff Utd, but if it happens at his next club then we'll know.

I think you're being a bit unfair re: Plan A / B. He switched to Doyle & McAtee & a slightly different shape at a crucial part of the season and it stopped our slide and consolidated our spot in the automatics.
We also had an outstanding high press.

Our game was built on being solid and then letting one of Berge, Ndiaye, McBurnie or McAtee win it for us, but that's the cards we were dealt.
 
Jury's out on the injuries.
A lot of those players seem prone and are still picking them up away from Sheff Utd, but if it happens at his next club then we'll know.

I think you're being a bit unfair re: Plan A / B. He switched to Doyle & McAtee & a slightly different shape at a crucial part of the season and it stopped our slide and consolidated our spot in the automatics.
We also had an outstanding high press.

Our game was built on being solid and then letting one of Berge, Ndiaye, McBurnie or McAtee win it for us, but that's the cards we were dealt.

We started picking up the injuries around 3 months into Hecky's time as first team boss. I think with Hecky it was the sheer volume of injuries and the fact that you would get someone return from injury and in the same match another player would get injured. 9 times out of 10 usually a soft tissue injury of some kind rather than a knock.

If Wilder keeps most of the squad fit this season then we will know it was the lack of conditioning done by Hecky and his team. Apart from Tom Davies and probably Brewster (who I think just has poor hammys) I expect him to keep the rest of the squad fit.
 
Ha mig
He's a steady Eddie type as a manager. Doesnt go ranting if things go wrong, doesn't go over the top if things go well. I like the man himself, but i always thought he rode the crest of the Ndiaye wave when we got promoted, he made us tight at the back and left it to our main men (Ndiaye and Berge) to win is the game. Could argue that was the right thing to do as it worked, but take those two out and he was a busted flush. There was no other great managerial tactic that made us such a good side, rather we wore other teams in the Championship down and nicked many games by the odd goal.

Without another Ndiaye in his team I don't see him managing another team to promotion any time soon, but he will get enough results to keep you out of trouble. I wish him well though as when we needed him as we were all over the shop as a club (due to the Owner losing interest), he stepped up to the plate and got us over the line to prevent financial meltdown. Always be grateful to the man and his management team for that.
He might bag Ndiaye on loan in Jan ...
Tha never knows , if he flops at Everton.....Preston is on door step for a quick 6 months loan
 
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I hope Preston fans are prepared for all the injuries that the first team are about to suffer.

This is good news for us when we play them at the Lane, as we know what his plan A is, what his plan B A is, and what his plan C A is.
Bit unfair that
 
We started picking up the injuries around 3 months into Hecky's time as first team boss. I think with Hecky it was the sheer volume of injuries and the fact that you would get someone return from injury and in the same match another player would get injured. 9 times out of 10 usually a soft tissue injury of some kind rather than a knock.

If Wilder keeps most of the squad fit this season then we will know it was the lack of conditioning done by Hecky and his team. Apart from Tom Davies and probably Brewster (who I think just has poor hammys) I expect him to keep the rest of the squad fit.
The rise in soft tissue injuries issue started prior to Hecky, under Wilder, but they did appear to increase or stay at high levels under Hecky and continued after he left.

It was something, though that followed Hecky as Hibs had the same issues.

The problem with the style of play which Hecky and Wilder play is that it requires high intensity. Hecky didn’t help things last season as the players just weren’t ready for the season and that has to sit with him as the manager.

As I’ve said already, alarm bells will be ringing soon if we continue with keeping the same players out there throughout games

Two league games, same starting line up, both games we haven’t made a substitution before 70 mins
 

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