With Paul Heckingbottom’s departure, Sheffield United becomes the first Premier League team to terminate a coach.
Chris Wilder, the Blades’ previous manager, is returning.
With Sheffield United in last place after 14 games of its inaugural campaign back in England’s top league, Paul Heckingbottom was fired as manager on Tuesday, making Sheffield United the first Premier League team to do so this season.
The unusual move of announcing Heckingbottom’s departure on a radio station was made by the club’s Saudi owner, Prince Abdullah Bin Mosaad Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. He told talkSPORT in Britain that Chris Wilder, who managed Sheffield United during its last league season in 2020–21, had been brought back for a second stint in charge.
After announcing Heckingbottom’s dismissal, the team confirmed Wilder’s hire with a deal that would last until the summer of 2025 in a follow-up statement. Wednesday’s Premier League encounter against Liverpool will be managed by Wilder.
The 5-0 loss at fellow promoted team Burnley on Saturday was Heckingbottom’s last game in charge. Sheffield United ended up four points from safety and in last position, where Burnley was at the beginning of the game.
After taking over in November 2021, Heckingbottom guided the squad into the Premier League this year. However, the team’s season has been hindered by the preseason sales of important players like Sander Berge and Iliman NDiaye.
Heckingbottom seemed to allude to it when he claimed the team had “been making financial decisions rather than football decisions” following the Burnley game.
Chief executive Stephen Bettis of Sheffield United expressed gratitude to Heckingbottom for his assistance in securing the club’s Premier League comeback.
In a club statement, Bettis said, “His professionalism and dedication have been a credit to the club and I’m sure all Unitedites enjoyed the promotion-winning campaign.” To give the team a lift and the best opportunity of finishing in the Premier League beyond this season, a change is deemed necessary, nevertheless, following the team’s collapse to the bottom of the standings and a string of underwhelming performances.
After departing Bramall Lane in March 2021, Wilder—a lifelong supporter of Sheffield United and a former player for the team—became a coach at Watford and Middlesbrough, two teams in the second division.
He led Sheffield United to a ninth-place finish in the 2019–20 season, when the team made a bid for European qualification, and into the Premier League in 2019. At the conclusion of the subsequent season, the squad was demoted.
Wilder was “part of Sheffield United history,” according to Prince Abdullah.
“Maintaining positive relationships with my former employees is something I always strive to do, not only in football but in all of my ventures,” he said to breezysport. “I believe you ought to go past it.
“In the end, we’re all really excited about what we do, and we think Chris is the best person for the job.”
The Premier League rarely reaches early December without the dismissal of a manager. By now in the previous two premier league seasons, five coaches had been let go.
