Heckingbottom has just admitted the one thing all Leeds fans were dreading after Orta strategy
COMMENT
Paul Heckingbottom delivered a fascinating pre-match press conference on Monday as usual, not holding back on direct questions.
However, there was one thing he said which slipped through the gaps for most reporters, and it will send shivers of dread through fans' hearts.
He said that in terms of money in the Championship, Leeds are "Way down the pecking order".
The quote was posted by Mark Wilson, a talkSPORT presenter, on his personal Twitter page.
Now Leeds fans won't expect to be at the top of the tree when it comes to finances – parachute payments from the Premier League mean that they will always be second tier until the can reach the Premier League themselves.
However, Leeds fans will hate the words "way down" especially as they'll look at the money Victor Orta has spent over the past 12 months, and see how a lot of it has been wasted.
First off you've got Felix Wiedwald, who came across from Werder Bremen in the summer and might depart next summer.
Then there's Tyler Roberts, who admittedly might still impress, when he finally gets to make his debut after arriving injured.
Pawel Cibicki came for almost £1.5million and has played seven league games, Jay-Roy Grot arrived for the same money and is yet to score a goal.
Then there's Aapo Halme, who cost £500k to play in the Under-23s and Yosuke Ideguchi who cost £500k and was loaned straight out to Spain.
The best buys have been the most expensive – Samu Saiz for £3.15million and Adam Forshaw who cost £4.5million.
There's a clue there. If you want to get out of the Championship you need to spend more on quality players.
You're better off with one Saiz or Forshaw, then three other players who can't cut it.
But that's a serious problem if your club can't afford to pay the money to buy the right quality of player.
And that's effectively what Heckingbottom has just said.
And after his comments, Leeds fans have got the right to feel absolutely gutted and apprehensive about the summer transfer window.
They deserve more and they deserve to be back in the Premier League but that looks a long way off at the moment.