Reply With QuoteWonder who the player was we missed out on for a snip ?
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Paul Heckingbottom looking to continue restoring pride
Barnsley travel to face Tottenham in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday evening
Paul Heckingbottom's team played two finals at Wembley last season
Barnsley is in his blood and there is a sense of excitement at what lies ahead
There will not be that great sense of occasion when Barnsley travel down to Wembley on Tuesday. They've been there, and won there before. Two finals in 2016, a season when Paul Heckingbottom restored pride in a club going nowhere.
Tuesday night it is Tottenham in the League Cup.
'It's different because it's not a final, you know what I mean?' the Barnsley manager says. 'I would have loved it to be White Hart Lane because I've never been.'
Paul Heckingbottom spoke to Sportsmail's Jack Gaughan ahead of Tuesday's game
Heckingbottom's side travel to face Tottenham at Wembley in the Carabao Cup
Circumstance denied him the opportunity as a 17-year-old. An FA Youth Cup final against Spurs was on the horizon while he was a Manchester United trainee but coach Eric Harrison had already told him he was being released.
His boyhood club Barnsley offered him a trial. He had played every round until then but took the plunge. United, captained by Phil Neville, won on penalties. Heckingbottom, a defender, would end up without a medal or even a contract at Oakwell.
'I missed the final and Danny Wilson never took me on either. I've never let him forget that,' he grins. Heckingbottom would go on to work under Wilson as a youth coach at Barnsley and his first job as caretaker came when Wilson was sacked in 2015.
That is the cycle of football, and that cycle is drawing to a close for owner Patrick Cryne. His emotive programme notes last week about a year-long battle with cancer had staff in tears. Cryne wrote that he is 'living on borrowed time'.
Tuesday night is special for a man who saved Barnsley from going under in 2004.
David Ginola scored a wonder goal the last time Spurs met Barnsley, in 1999.
He collected the ball on the halfway line and dribbled past four players before sidefooting beyond Tony Bullock to book an FA Cup semi-final with Newcastle.
'There probably would have been a Barnsley FC but who knows, at what level?' Heckingbottom says.
'Patrick is a clever man. I'm reading that passage before the Derby County game and its impact. It's done, finished, say his bit and then leave it alone again. He's a big part of this club's history.
'I had to force him to pick up the League One play-off trophy and show it to the fans! He retired really early in the party after. He's not for the adulation.
'He just wants to be proud. And he can be. There are lots of Barnsley supporters . . . he was in a position to back that up with money. He put it where his mouth is and has ploughed it in. The pleasing thing is being able to see him during these successes.'
Cryne is a lifelong supporter and so is his manager. Heckingbottom was introduced to the club as a kid by his grandfather, sitting in the rickety West Stand.
Heckingbottom was introduced to the club as a youngster by his grandfather
'My dream job was youth coach at Barnsley,' he says. 'But when I look back now I was always going to go this way because of my frustrations at decisions above me.
'Don't go seeking confrontation because it'll find you. It does in this role. I quite like that part of the job: challenging people. It's the only way you make change.'
Barnsley is in his blood and there is a sense of excitement at what lies ahead. Results are indifferent, Saturday's 130th anniversary celebrations were ruined by a 3-0 defeat dished out by Aston Villa, but change does await.
It was revealed last month that a takeover is imminent. The Chinese billionaire owner of Nice, Chien Lee, is primed alongside Paul Conway. A deal will be worth around £20million and involve Billy Beane, the father of 'Moneyball'. Lips have been tight since the story broke in August but what Heckingbottom can talk about is the alternative nature to this job.
He was without a working chief executive last season — the club eventually recruited Gauthier Ganaye from Lens — and it is no stretch to claim this was a one-man band.
One tale from deadline day in January, when three big players were sold, encapsulates that.
Banner made by fans celebrating founder Reverend Tiverton Preedy and owner Patrick Cryne
'We had a game against Wolves that night,' he says. 'My assistant Jamie Clapham is doing the warm-up and I'm in my office trying to sort a deal before kick-off. Frustrated, I'm on the phone, don't get the player and get sent off. Their goalkeeping coach hid the ball and went in the dug-out so I lost my temper. I try to manage my emotions but it gets to you.'
The player has since moved to the Premier League. 'We would have had him at a snip,' he says.
'As a club we were just happy to be where we were. Happy to stay up. That was the message we sent. We were contradicting ourselves. It affects the dressing room.
'We felt we were in a strong position so we took the money. But with better planning, contracts and renegotiating at the right times, we can improve the value within our squad. It can be done and this has to now be our aim. We ended up selling players in the last year of their contract.
'We didn't get true market value. You'd do well to tread water that way because how are you going to improve by doing the same things? We have to learn from last season and improve what we do.
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Wonder who the player was we missed out on for a snip ?
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Either the lad from Chester or the lad from Blackburn
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We wunta missed art if widda bin tekken ovva earlier.Originally Posted by animallittle3
Av bin saying fo months we need some overseas investors but you lads wunt ev it.
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my bet is that it was mahoney from blackburn that's gone to bournemouth.
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On to Hecky. Does anyone think he needs a few results before the takeover is ratified?
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I'm not expecting anything against Wolves but I feel the QPR and Millwall games are winnable , 4 points from the next 3 games would keep us ticking over but 6 would give everyone a lift .
Steve , it's all about opinions mate and you are entitled to your view but I must say I don't like to see Hecky under pressure statements .
This season is one hell of a challenge , I'm personally surprised we've 7 points on the board already .
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I'd go along with that Animal. It wasn't a statement it was a cheeky question. Devil in me lol
Drop Brad Potts from that midfield and get him pruning roses and I think we'd a damn site stronger.
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Fed up of heckys saying that there was a lot of positives when we loose but nothing changes
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Too many tactical cock ups. If your going to play Williams and Gardner holding and breaking up play protecting the back four you need a Moncur or Barnes on the pitch from the start. Potts is a passenger who prances about doing fcu k all. The sooner Hecky realises this I'll get off his back. Play anyone but Potts. Brings nothing to table at all. Mcgeehan or Mallan anyone?
Bradshaw on his own up front when he's better in a two. Ugbo on the bench when he's the best striker at the lone role? Thiam getting splinters in his ar5e.
Wouldn't be so bad if I could see any method but I cant.
They called Ranieri the tinkerman. From what I've seen there's a good squad of players there now. The gaffer is still trying to put square pegs in round holes.
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