Paul Heckingbottom has won only three of his 15 Leeds games in charge.
Leeds United’s Under-18 manager Mark Jackson has told the Yorkshire Evening Post that under-fire boss Paul Heckingbottom is “fantastic” for the club’s youth development.
The Yorkshire-born manager joined Leeds from Barnsley in February, after the sacking of Thomas Christiansen with Leeds’ hopes of a Championship play-off place dwindling.
But Heckingbottom has failed to turn around Leeds’ fortunes, winning just three of his 15 games in charge – the latest being a 2-1 loss to Norwich City at Carrow Road on Saturday despite taking the lead through Kalvin Phillips.
However, Jackson was full of praise for Heckingbottom after the latter has brought through the likes of Oriol Rey, Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Tom Pearce and Paudie O’Connor into the Leeds first team.
“I spoke to the gaffer as soon as he came in the building,” Jackson said. “He’s speaking, asking about the academy and that’s fantastic to hear. Players regularly transition up and train with the first-team and have experiences and that’s really valuable.
“I think that’s key for myself and the 18s staff that players step up there and they’re exposed to that environment. It’s tackled like the under-15s and 16s that come with us, they’re exposed and it’s a big difference.
“Going from professional development football to the first-team is a big step, so how we work to minimise that gap at this football club is very calculated. To have the buy-in from the manager is fantastic.”
The likes of Sam Dalby, Pascal Struijk and Ryan Edmondson are also on the fringes of the senior side, after impressing in the Under-23 side this season.
Jackson, 40, began his career at Leeds and made 19 league appearances before turning out for the likes of Scunthorpe and Rochdale. He recently held aloft the Under-18 Professional Development League trophy with the Leeds youngsters.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
