Paul Heckingbottom shares George Baldock memory which will stick with him after 'horrible news'

Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom was rocked by the death of George Baldock and is still processing the news.

Last week, it was confirmed that the 31-year-old had been found dead, in the swimming pool of his home in southern Athens. Baldock made the move to Panathinaikos last summer, after seven years at Sheffield United - where he won promotion to the Premier League under Heckingbottom, in 2023.

The PNE boss took to social media, in light of the news, to pay a heartfelt tribute to a ‘super person and fantastic professional’. While preparing PNE over the break, for their return to Championship action, Heckingbottom has been trying to come to terms with the shocking news.

“Yeah, I have not spoken about it publicly, just to people who knew George,” said Heckingbottom. “The timing of it was all strange, because I was actually sat in a room with his agent on that day I found out. So yeah, horrible news for lots of reasons. The biggest thing for me was how young George was. I obviously knew him as a person and all I could think about was 31-years-old - and what he still had in front of him in terms of his family, what he would be doing after football and things like that.

“So yeah, not nice, a lot of people are upset over it. When you speak to other people, everyone helps you through things like that as well. Just really, really sad. I tried to sign George when I was at Barnsley. So that is how long ago I first knew about him. He was a good personality. I’ve said about enjoying people playing international football. I remember when I found out he was trying to get his Greek passport and play for Greece.

“Then, when he first achieved it, he was over the moon and delighted. That is something that will stick with me. I think it puts football in perspective. People talk about George because he is a footballer and people know him because of that. But, the people are probably suffering the most are the people who knew George as a person. Football is just something we enjoy and nothing more serious than that, although sometimes it feels that way.”