Sheffield United are expected to sack manager Paul Heckingbottom following their 5-0 defeat against Burnley on Saturday.
That result saw United drop below Burnley and Everton to 20th in the Premier League, having won only once in 14 matches. They have conceded the most (39) and scored the fewest (11) goals in the top flight this season.
It is anticipated that United will announce the news in due course. In doing so, they would become the first Premier League side to part ways with their manager this season, a stark contrast from Bournemouth’s dismissal of Scott Parker in August last year after only four games. Heckingbottom was appointed in November 2021, signing a four-and-a-half-year deal.
The 46-year-old’s side had taken four points from two games heading into the international break, earning a first league win of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers and then a hard-fought point at Brighton & Hove Albion. But they were booed off after being outplayed by Bournemouth on November 25, with Oli McBurnie’s late header a mere consolation in a 3-1 defeat at Bramall Lane.
United then travelled to fellow strugglers Burnley but conceded in the first minute and were down to 10 men before half-time, with McBurnie receiving two yellow cards for challenging for the ball in the air. Burnley scored three more goals in the second half to inflict United’s 11th league defeat of the campaign.
United have struggled after their promotion in May, with their only other point this season coming in a 2-2 draw with Everton at the start of September.
A humiliating 8-0 defeat by Newcastle United later that month was United’s worst-ever loss at Bramall Lane. They were also beaten 5-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates in October.
Does this come as a shock?
Analysis by Greg O’Keeffe
Heckingbottom must have sensed the end was nigh each time Wes Foderingham had to pick the ball from the back of his net in the space of 10 damaging second-half minutes at Turf Moor on Saturday.
Those three goals made it 5-0 to Burnley, who had started the afternoon below United but by tea-time had left the sorry visitors in their wake.
It had been a season of restraint in the Premier League sack race. This time last year, there had already been five top-flight dismissals but the 2023-24 campaign had been unusually forgiving up until Heckingbottom’s dismissal, which was the first of the campaign.
He may well have gone after last weekend’s embarrassment at Bramall Lane, against another relegation rival in Bournemouth, but losing to a Burnley team who had not scored more than two goals so far this term let alone won at home, was a humiliation too far.
Heckingbottom had to take something from the next two fixtures to save his job but that was always a tall order after McBurnie’s senseless red card before half-time.
By full-time, United were officially the division’s lowest scorers and had the worst defence — a statistic fully backed-up by their ragged disintegration as Vincent Kompany’s side ran riot.
The usual disclaimers apply: United’s squad sorely lacks creativity and goals, particularly after a summer in which they lost many of the players who had got them promoted in the first place. One of them, Sander Berge, was in the Burnley line-up on Saturday, to add another cruel twist.
The reality is that their return to the top flight was always going to be a challenge. That is not Heckingbottom’s problem for much longer.
Whoever takes the role will have their hands full: United have fewer points at this stage (five) than Derby County did (six) in the 2007-08 campaign when they were relegated by March.
Only time will tell if United have waited too long to avoid a similarly dismal fate.
United’s tumultuous few years
Analysis by Kate Burlaga
Heckingbottom had stepped in towards the end of United’s ill-fated Premier League campaign of 2020-21 after Chris Wilder departed, with Slavisa Jokanovic named Wilder’s permanent successor.
But Jokanovic was sacked just months into the new season and Heckingbottom subsequently took permanent charge in November 2021, signing a deal until June 2026.
After losing to Nottingham Forest in the play-off semi-finals that season, Heckingbottom guided the club to automatic promotion the following term, where they finished 11 points ahead of third-placed Luton Town despite being placed under a transfer embargo between mid-January and mid-April.
But key player Iliman Ndiaye was sold ahead of their return to the Premier League and though new arrivals included Cameron Archer, Gus Hamer and Vinicius Souza, a squad assembled in haste at the end of the summer has continued to look ill-equipped for the top flight.
Heckingbottom alluded to as much after the Burnley game, saying: “I wanted to keep the group together but we couldn’t.
“We couldn’t because of the last few years and the financial implications. If we’d tied them down, then we probably wouldn’t have sold those players.
“There wasn’t a desire from the ownership to sell, but a necessity from a business point of view. We’ve been making financial decisions rather than football decisions. Of course that affects me. I didn’t want it to happen.”
United’s owner, Prince Abdullah, has previously spoken of his desire to sell the club but a takeover failed to come to fruition, with The Athletic lifting the lid on one ill-fated attempt from American businessman Henry Mauriss.
(Photo: George Wood/Getty Images)
Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
