Paul Heckingbottom — Data, evidence & sources
Paul Heckingbottom
Preston North End· EFL Championship · 
England · Age 49
70/ 100
Solid
24th percentile of covered managers
Career snapshot
Age
49
17 JUL 1977
Appointed
20 AUG 2024
Tenure
2Y 1M
2 years, 1 month
Contractⓘ
Until 30 June 2028
Three-year agreement
Senior managerial experienceⓘ
2 years, 1 month
Since 1 FEB 2016
In coaching
2 years, 1 month
Includes academy & assistant roles
Season: 2026/27Competition: EFL ChampionshipUpdated: Updated todaySource: GafferLens editorial review — appointment, contract and career dates manually verified to the 21 August 2026 baseline
Current Club — All Competitions
104
29
38
37
27.9%
GF 120 · GA 138 · GD -18 · 2024-08-24 → 2026-08-26
Current Season — League
2 matches · 0–0–2 · 0%
Current Club — League
92 matches · 25–35–32 · 27.2%
All verified competitive senior first-team matches managed during the current uninterrupted spell. Verified fixtures → match records → manager assignments → approved canonical layer.
Data profile
Verified career record
Aggregated from individual senior spells
Spells awaiting a verified match record: Barnsley (2013–2016), Barnsley (2016–2018), Leeds United (2018–2018), Hibernian (2019–2019), Sheffield United (2021–2023), Preston North End ().
Senior head-coach spells only. Assistant and development-team roles are excluded from win-loss totals, and each spell counts only matches managed at that club.
Methodology & data freshness
GafferScore 0.4 (provisional editorial) · tactical model 0.3 (prototype model) · rankings updated 2026-08-17. Form window: Last 10 competitive matches, recency weighted.
Updated today · Confidence MEDIUM · Source: GafferLens editorial review — appointment, contract and career dates manually verified to the 21 August 2026 baseline
Image credits
Visual: GafferLens generic Preston North End shirt — an original unbranded illustration using traditional club colours. No licensed photograph verified for Paul Heckingbottom (status: PLACEHOLDER).