Sheffield United: On loan trio view themselves as one hundred percent Blade

The sight of three players borrowed from Premier League clubs writing their names onto the scoresheet as Coventry City were swept aside at Bramall Lane became a topic for discussion during Heckingbottom’s post-match interview. But reflecting on a result which saw his second placed team begin its preparations for Thursday’s visit to Blackpool eight points clear of third, the United manager refused to engage with the inevitable line of questioning, explaining: “I don’t consider them as loans. I consider them as being a part of our team, the same as anyone else and that’s how they look at it too.

“Genuinely, it’s a much bigger thing for you (the media) than it is for us. I get why it comes up. But as long as they are here, they’re the same as anyone else and that’s how they look at the situation themselves as well.”

After experiencing difficult starts to their careers in South Yorkshire, McAtee and Clarke, acquired last summer from Newcastle, have both grown in stature of late with the latter opening his account for United after McAtee’s first-half strike. Doyle, whose progress has been interrupted by an injury of late, made his presence felt almost immediately with a series of accomplished displays. Like McAtee, he agreed a season long move from Manchester City before the start of a campaign which sees United travel to Bloomfield Road searching for a seventh victory in eight outings.

The displays of McAtee, Clark and Doyle, whose effort before Viktor Gyokeres reduced the deficit for City was also his first in United colours, underlines the quality of the work being performed by recruitment gurus Paul Mitchell and Jared Dublin. Together with Heckingbottom and his assistants Stuart McCall and Jack Lester, they have responsibility for identifying potential new targets within the budget set by a board of directors who are in the process of attempting to push through a proposed takeover which would see Prince Abdullah bin Musa’ad bin Adulaziz Al Saud relinquish his ownership.

Acknowledging those discussions are set to impact upon his work during next month’s transfer window, Heckingbottom recently confirmed his priority when the market reopens is ensuring United’s squad remains intact rather than adding reinforcements. The former Barnsley, Leeds and Hibernian chief is understood to have little, if any, money to spend bolstering his options which explains why Prince Abdullah could sell United midway through what could be a successful challenge for top-flight football.

“Everyone is contributing.” said Heckingbottom. “The whole group, which is vitally important. It’s good for Ciaran and Tommy to get their first goals for us. But they’ve already been playing their parts and that stems from the way they view being here. They are as committed as everyone else, which is part of the reason why we wanted to bring them here to us.”