Simon Jordan takes the heat off Sheffield United boss amid speculation and questions lack of spending

While sources at the club indicated that Paul Heckingbottom’s job remains safe, despite that 8-0 horror-show against Newcastle United at the weekend, it didn’t stop pundits and those outside of Sheffield questioning the boss and his future.

However, one man who has been a Premier League club owner has suggested that Heckingbottom is working as best he can with the tools available to him, given that the club were at the lower end of the top flight transfer spending by the time the window closed.

Simon Jordan believes it would be harsh for there to be a change in management at Bramall Lane given the money that was made available to him in comparison to other clubs in the Premier League.

“[Sheffield United] have an owner who doesn’t want to put any money into the club,” Jordan said. “He sold Sander Berge to Burnley, which is almost preposterous because this is one of the teams that you are going to be competing against and who you came up with.

“You have taken away one of the manager’s legs, you haven’t given him anything back. You were under an embargo last year so clearly there’s no aspiration for you to put any money into the club. I understand that to some extent having been a former owner but when you get to the holy grail, have a go for God’s sake.”

Jordan added on his Talksport show with Jim White: “There’s a long way to go but you have got to give these guys [managers at the bottom end of the table] a little bit of help, and I am the first one to jump on managers. You can’t cut someone off at the knees and ask them to run 100m in 10 seconds and then blame them for not doing it. You have got to give someone a chance.”

United’s 8-0 hammering came off the back of a start to the season where they had been competitive without being able to get many points on the board. The 8-0 defeat plunged the Blades to the bottom of the table on goal difference, with one point to their name, alongside Burnley and Luton town who both also came up from the Championship last season.