I’ve no evidence at all to back this up, this is just what I believe happened with Hecky & the rest of the staff. He decided at some point after last January or maybe the summer that he wasn’t happy with the business been done at Barnsley & wanted a new job. At some point he spoke to Clapham, Winder & Bailey when there was interest from others, probably Sunderland & they were up for it. For whatever reason it didn’t happen. After this our forms not been as good & their didn’t seem to be as many sackings & potential job openings so Hecky decides to sign the new deal not expecting any upcoming interest in him. Everything’s going smoothly, he has a new contract & he gets in the players he wants this January unlike the two bad windows previously & he’s prepared to carry on as normal but then out of the blue....... Leeds get pumped 4-1 at home by a Cardiff team who’ve been in bad form lately. Leeds were favourites & it came out of the blue. Leeds decide to sack Christiansen & approach Hecky. Hecky speaks to Clapham & co & they’re still up for the move away as they were months earlier & the deal is done. I’d watched the 11 minute video of Hecky after the transfer window talking about the deals & how enthusiastic he sounds & I don’t believe he knew Leeds were interested at that point. I’m convinced it happened after the Leeds defeat in Saturday. I don’t think there was any great conspiracy with the staff, I just think they’d all spoke previously when other potential openings were about & they were all ready to leave if the right club came up & for them it did.
A very concise and plausible outline of the likely events. But it still begs the following questions; -Why ever sign a new contract to the point of mass publicity if you were always intent on leaving when something suitable came up? He already had a secure job. To commit his future would therefore be duplicitous. -Is it not a little unprofessional for one employee to actively unsettle multiple key colleagues with promises of job offers elsewhere should any arise? No doubt to the detriment of their commitment to the task in hand. -Does not he owe the fans, who he has built a reputation on claming to be one of, a parting statement a la Hourihane?
His agent must have surely played a big part in the move. They only get paid when they broker a deal and so at the time he transferred to the new agent, Hecky must have made him aware that himself and certain members of his backroom staff were up for a move. The agent in keeping with others of his ilk have a network of contacts that they are able to confide in and in advance of any sacking or at the time of one, they are able to let a Club know that they have "'someone" on their books who might be interested ,with a request that they are able to put their candidate forward. Irrespective of any claims made, to my mind, it's beyond the wit of man that Leeds United only knew of Heckingbottoms interest on the exact day they sacked Christiansen. With the benefit of hindsight, it's now clear that from his outburst following the pre-season defeat at Rotherham up to the time he left, he's not been happy with the recruitment of players and the performance of those with the responsibility and as the season progressed he let some of his backroom staff and his then agent know he was up for pastures new. We don't know whether he had contact with Forest or Sunderland when they were looking to recruit a new boss, but the signs were ominous when unlike Crowley at Lincoln Heckingbottom made no attempts to kill the speculation by saying that as far as he knew those clubs had not asked for permission to talk to him which to my mind could have been a signal for them to do just that. There is no doubt at all that before they sacked Christiansen they knew full well, that in Heckingbottom, they had a fall back position and if given the chance he would jump at the chance to take the reins. And so it transpired, he took the training session as normal at Oakwell and that same evening went to Leeds and agreed to become their new boss. Quite rightly most fans are disappointed with the way he's gone about things and has succeeded in tarnishing all the good things he did in the earlier part of his custodianship. History will prove whether he's done the right thing. Personally, for me, he is very much now part of our past. We have a proud tradition, one man does not make a Club. In short we need to put this whole episode behind us and with new people at the helm move on to the next phase of our journey. That starts this coming Saturday. Come on you Reds.
I'm probably being unfair, but absolutely nothing is going to convince me that contact wasn't made before Hecky signed that contract.
Not sure he owes the fans a statement but I am very surprised he didn't make one. Even Winnall thanked the fans he left.
Agree with a lot of that other than the part about agents only getting paid when they broker a deal. In most cases, agents also recieve a percentage of their clients wages.
That would make sense although doesn’t explain the bitter way in which he left. It’s like he properly hates the club or someone at it. Either that or he’s just viciously ambitious
this from what ive heard is correct... And this is the 2nd job offer he had, but the the 1st where Clapham etc could go too. Incidentely the first job offer wasnt Sunderland
Also by insisting on a release clause he knows he can immediately get out of it without any delays. Offer comes along, release clause triggered, off he goes. Personally I cant fault his foresight.
Just for money I’d guess. Maybe he thought they weren’t likely to be job openings in the near future with us been in a relegation battle & thought I might as well earn more while I’m here. Technically it is unprofessional but for all we know it could be Clapham who was more up for leaving than Hecky with him having no ties to Barnsley. I imagine all 4 of them are happy to earn more & work with more resources. Agree about a statement, he should definitely make one. Just something along the lines of ‘it was an honour to manage my hometown club, the 2 wins at Wembley are 2 of the best days of my life & I’ll be a fan for life’. It’d repair a lot of the damage done.
I think with the agent it’ll have been common knowledge amongst different agents & championship clubs that Hecky was interested in leaving & taking staff with him after the Sunderland, Forest & Norwich alleged interest
Correct STT. Some take a percentage of wages or others take a wedge from any signing on/ transfer fee. That's how they make the most money. Apparently when Modric left Spurs for Real Madrid, it's claimed his agent arranged the same annual payment for himself over a period of five years. Modric is reportedly on anywhere between €4-5 million per year. Nice work if you can get it.
Pressure was on him to get the results, in the back of his mind he could be out of a job in a few weeks. Leeds come along with an 18 month contract to make him a millionaire regardless of results. Secured for the rest of his life, he can leave football after that if he wants and retire in his 40's. I think if we would have been mid table and he was under no pressure he wouldn't have gone.
I think if he'd kept his gob shut, left a few days for the dust to settle and some attempt to pacify may have eased the angst. However, it's like he's a totally different person and day by day it feels like he's poured petrol on the situation. I think that's whats most sad, that the person now grinning from ear to ear, giving soundbites criticising the club that stood by him, and the fans that hero worshipped him, is so far removed from the person we perceived to have had us manage us. There are daily camera pieces where he's just dug himself deeper and I don't think many people either expect an words, or would welcome them. Anyway.... onto the huge derby game, that has to be the focus now and I hope anger and frustration are channelled into support for the team and for Patrick on Saturday rather than negativity and bitterness about someone we should simply now forget about.
I think that's a bit too late for that now Django. In my opinion, he should have said something along those lines on the day that he defected. The way we are going about finding his replacement says it all for me. Does the fact that Heckingbottom has said that given the choice he would have taken the entire back room team with him, leave our owners thinking that those still in post would, if given the opportunity also rather be elsewhere.? GG says we have circa 100 application of which 50% are from credible candidates. Presumably they will whittle the numbers down and interview those they feel could do the job, which adds creedence to the conspiracy theories surrounding Heckingbottoms appointment at Leeds viz: sack Christiansen on the Saturday and appoint a sole candidate as his successor the following Monday.!! As alluded to by Dennis Wise and Ian Wright on Sky, the whole thing stinks.! I totally agree with JLWBigLil. It's time to draw a line under the whole event and move on. Our trust in one who was claimed to be "one of our own" has been totally shattered. It's time for someone new to come in and heal the wounds and hopefully get the wins we need to stay in the Championship. Let's get behind Paul Harsley or whoever they bring in and show them and the boys our total support.