Report: Heckingbottom’s Leeds future could hinge on QPR game

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Paul Heckingbottom has struggled to win over the Leeds United fans and is reportedly under some pressure heading into the final day of the season.

According to a report from The Sun (06/05; page 65), Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani is still contemplating Paul Heckingbottom’s Elland Road future and may be tempted to make a change if the Whites do not improve on the final day of the Championship season.

Heckingbottom has endured a fairly miserable start to life with Leeds. Having arrived from Barnsley, the 40-year-old was always facing a tough task trying to win over the majority of the Leeds fans – unless the side’s form on the pitch was dramatically improved from the latter days of Thomas Christiansen’s spell – and he has not exactly hit the ground running.

Three wins have come under the new head coach, and that has done little to convince his critics that the Leeds job is not too big for Heckingbottom, whose only previous managerial experience came at Oakwell.

The Sun (06/05; page 65) reports that Radrizzani is aware of the fans’ frustration with Heckingbottom and there is an even a suggestion that how they get on when they host Queens Park Rangers on Sunday could decide whether the club are looking for a new head coach in the summer or not.

Are Leeds being hasty?

When Christiansen left Leeds earlier in 2018, the Whites were already sliding down the table and losing their grip on a potential play-off spot in the Championship. Heckingbottom was, no doubt, facing a hugely difficult task trying to turn things around.

It was a bright start with a couple of encouraging results, but the situation has not improved. And while Heckingbottom has been somewhat experimental with some of his team selections – a number of academy starlets have found their way into the first-team in recent months – he has also not helped his own cause by repeatedly turning to some of the players who have been the bigger disappointments of the campaign for the Whites.

Heckingbottom should face questions about his future. Ultimately making that decision however, based on a final day result between two sides who have little to play for is arguably harsh if true. And if Radrizzani is keen to make a change during the coming months, perhaps the first departure he should oversee should involve the man who has been controlling the recruitment at Leeds this term, instead of a talented head coach who has not been able to buy or sell any players thus far.