Barnsley chief makes strikers the priority

The Barnsley head coach did get away for an overseas break, but rest and relaxation proved scarce with his mobile phone always by his side as he laid on a sun-lounger.

Modern football managers are always on call and rarely escape a working environment.

Heckingbottom discovered this on his vacation, with his phone a hotline at times as he spoke to a host of agents and relayed messages to club representatives.

Heckingbottom’s workload has at least eased of late, thanks to the appointment of a new chief executive in Gaulthier Ganaye.

Alongside his duties of preparing the first team in the second half of last season, Heckingbottom – with no CEO to fall back on following Linton Brown’s exit from the club in January – doubled as an unofficial director of football in many respects, as he attempted to co-ordinate the club’s recruitment.

Even though the Reds have brought in Ganaye, the fact that the club are still playing catch-up in terms of signings means that Heckingbottom is still likely to be heavily involved.

A third close-season arrival has been finalised in the shape of Partick Thistle defender Liam Lindsay, who joined yesterday for £350,000 after the successful completion of a medical.

He follows Southampton full-back Jason McCarthy and St Mirren midfielder Stevie Mallan into Oakwell.

Many more transactions need to be done, according to Heckingbottom, with his core of senior players being narrow compared to a host of rivals.

Plenty of work is likely to be done on several fronts with Barnsley facing a race against time ahead of the Championship opener at Bristol City on August 5.

Questioned on the number of signings that he wants to still bring in, Heckingbottom acknowledged: “A lot.

“Some of the original targets we will get, but some we won’t. Through experience, some might shoot right out of left-field and we’ll think, ‘we’ll have to do that’.

“We have to keep working to try and get players in and we will be using loans as well, I would have thought. We would be silly not to explore that avenue.

“Usually, you have difficulty getting the loans in before the start of the season simply because the parent clubs are looking to seeing who they can bring in or if that player is going to stay in their squad. It will go right down to the wire, I would have thought.

“But it would be nice if we get most of the business done early and are happy with the squad and looking at it from the fifth (of August) onwards, seeing if we needed anything else.

“We are starting from scratch in the fifth biggest league in the world. We need to learn about the players quickly. The quicker we get them, the quicker we can do that. That will also provide us with a bit more time once the season starts.”

The attacking department, shorn of three key options from last season in Marley Watkins, Ryan Kent and Adam Armstrong, needs particular replenishment.

One reported target is Luton Town forward Cameron McGeechan, a player whom Heckingbottom rates and has monitored, but he is refusing to be drawn on talk of any bid.

Heckingbottom, who says that out-of-contract Josh Scowen is to join a Championship rival, said: “Strikers are a priority, definitely. It is not only the quality of strikers, but the different types, looking at the ones we have already got. You want competition, but also different combinations available to start certain games or to start from the bench.

“But the biggest thing of all is that they have a goal threat.”

As for whether Heckingbottom fitted in a wholly relaxing break, that remains a moot point for the Reds chief.

He is at least grateful for small mercies in that the arrival of Ganaye will at least free his hand a little to focus on pre-season training, with his Reds players back in on Monday.

Heckingbottom, who says that the club have received no bids for captain Marc Roberts or any other player, added: “I had a holiday, but I was on the phone all the time. That is how it is.

“I wish Gauthier had been in before I went away, I’d have maybe turned it off a bit.

“It is a 24/7 job and I have been able to offload a lot of that (now) to Gauthier and introduce him to deals and how far things were and to pick them up.

“I have introduced new contacts, which are continuous, and he, of course, brings his own contacts to the club and information which we would be silly not to tap into.”