Heckingbottom on his future, referees and Newcastle
- Published
Srosh Khan, BBC Sport
Paul Heckingbottom has been speaking to the media before Sheffield United’s game against Newcastle on Sunday.
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
On the sad passing of Maddy Cusack: "First and foremost, everyone’s thoughts are with Maddy’s friends and family. A lot of Maddy’s friends work at this football club, she was a senior figure among the women’s and media team and everyone would see her about. It’s tough. We need to make sure everyone is OK at the club and we all support each other."
On the club-led tributes: "There are plans and discussions going on. We want to be very respectful to Maddy’s family and make sure that they’re heavily involved and understand exactly what we’d like to do."
He has valued the week to get ready for Newcastle: "We are looking forward to it because it’s a home game, in front of the cameras. We’ve had another week's training, which is good for us and we have been preparing for Newcastle with how they attack and how they defend. We need to be ready."
He addressed rumours about his future: "You are asking the wrong person. You can ask me about a player but you can’t ask me about me. You need to speak to other people."
After last week's comments on officials, he has had chance to further air his views: "[Chief refereeing officer at PGMOL] Howard Webb and [PGMOL official] Jon Moss have both been in today. It’s been good - we’ve had discussions about the game, about what I thought, about what they thought. The biggest thing is how we take it forward and I’m really grateful they came in."
On the racist abuse of Wes Foderingham: "It’s tough on social media. We’re the worst sport for it. There has been big improvements, in our society, in our game so we just have to continue to be harder and stronger. How can a game like football make people speak like that?"
He anticipates John Egan will be available for selection: "He came back on Tuesday and has had a full week of training."