Paul Heckingbottom (born 17 July 1977) is an English football coach and former player who is the manager of EFL Championship club Preston North End.
He made 126 appearances, scoring 6 goals, before catching the attention of First Division side Norwich City, who signed him in 2002 on a three-year contract.
[4] Heckingbottom made just 16 appearances for Norwich, including only 7 starts, resulting in him cancelling his contract with the club by mutual consent after one year.
[7] Heckingbottom was well favoured under both Wednesday managers Chris Turner and Paul Sturrock, making a total of 41 appearances at left back in his first season – more than any other player that year.
[10] He played in all 23 league games during his loan spell, missing only an FA Cup tie against Tranmere Rovers through suspension following a red card in a 1–1 draw with Stockport County.
[15] His place was again taken by youngster O'Brien, and although Heckingbottom returned for an FA Cup game against Milton Keynes Dons, he suffered tendonitis which kept him out for five months.
[18] Heckingbottom signed for Conference National club Mansfield Town on 2 June 2009, marking his first foray into the game outside the Football League.
[27][28] Heckingbottom took the opportunity to gain an academic understanding of football coaching, to set his CV apart from other managers competing for jobs.
[29] He went on to work as a coach with professional club Barnsley's development squad, and was appointed caretaker manager of the first team after Danny Wilson was sacked in 2015.
[31] His success as caretaker, leading Barnsley to their first cup final victory since 1912 and promotion to the Championship, led to his being appointed head coach on a permanent basis.
[33] Heckingbottom signed a new rolling contract at Barnsley on 2 February 2018,[34] but he left the club days later to take a similar position with Leeds United.
Heckingbottom blooded youngster Bailey Peacock-Farrell as first-choice goalkeeper and also gave debuts to academy players Tom Pearce, Paudie O'Connor, Hugo Díaz and Ryan Edmondson.
[46] After first-team manager Chris Wilder left the club by mutual consent in March 2021, with the team bottom of the Premier League and 12 points adrift of safety, Heckingbottom took interim charge until the end of the season.
[51] On 25 November 2021, Heckingbottom was appointed manager of Sheffield United, this time on a permanent basis, on a four-and-a-half-year deal following the sacking of Jokanović.
[56] On 26 April 2023, Sheffield United confirmed their promotion back to the Premier League with a 2–0 home victory over West Bromwich Albion.
[59] On 20 August 2024, Heckingbottom was appointed as manager of Preston North End following the departure of Ryan Lowe after just one game of the 2024–25 season.