Hibs boss assures Stevie Mallan he’ll be big part of his plans
Mallan joined the Tykes from St Mirren in the summer of 2017, but only played five games for them before Heckingbottom left for Leeds in February 2018. The Scotland Under-21 internationalist then joined Hibs last summer on a four-year deal.
The Easter Road head coach was keen to dismiss any notion that he had to reassure Mallan that he will be a part of his plans. “From the outside you see things as black and white but when Stevie came in he was behind others,” said Heckingbottom. “We brought him in to work with (develop) and there was a huge improvement in Stevie from the first day of pre-season to when we played Wolves in one game when they were at the top of the league and we gave them a very good game. Stevie was really good in that game. The difference in him and his mindset was really big and that’s what I always knew. We might get that with players here that we sign. We might sign players and, if we get the level of performance we want from the guys here already, they might struggle to get in the team to start with. So yeah, I have worked with Stevie and it might look like he didn’t play much for me but, near the end of my time, he was in and around the team all the time so he has nothing to worry about.”