LONDON, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Premier League strugglers, Sheffield United on Monday sacked coach Paul Heckingbottom and replaced him with Chris Wilder.
Heckingbottom becomes the first Premier League coach who lost the job in the wake of Saturday's 5-0 defeat away to Burnley and leaves with the recently promoted club bottom of the table with just five points from 14 games since he guided them to promotion last year.
He was appointed in November 2021 and last season led Sheffield United to promotion to the top-flight, finishing second in the Championship behind Burnley.
It was a 5-0 defeat to Burnley which proved to be his final game at the club, and Heckingbottom ended his post-game press conference by saying that if he was sacked, he would leave Sheffield United with his "head held high," but that he wasn't certain some of his players would be able to do the same.
The club have named Chris Wilder as his replacement, with 56-year-old signing a contract until the summer of 2024. Wilder, who has also coached Middlesbrough, Oxford United and Watford, returning to the club he led to promotion in April 2019, only to be sacked two years later with them bottom of the table, with just 14 points from 28 matches. ■
