Cameron McGeehan believes Paul Heckingbottom will stay on as head coach of Barnsley despite him being linked with Sunderland.
The head coach is understood be one of the top candidates for the vacant manager's position at Sunderland, as well as Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill who had spoken to McGeehan about a possible international call-up. McGeehan said: "Of course we want him to stay. It hasn't really affected the boys. Obviously we have seen the stuff that has been reported but nothing has changed for us this week.
"It's a credit to the manager for being linked with these jobs, it's happened ever since he's been managing at this level and he's probably used to it. It goes on all the time and it's not a surprise that teams are coming in for him. I imagine the manager is going to stay and hopefully we will climb up the table under him."
McGeehan insists the squad's main focus is tomorrow's match at his former club Norwich City. He joined the Canaries as a 16-year-old in 2011 following his release by Chelsea, who he then scored against to lead Norwich under 18s to victory as captain in the 2013 FA Youth Cup final. He never made a first team appearance for City and left in 2015 for Luton Town before earning a move back up to the Championship this year with Barnsley.
The 22-year-old central midfielder said: "I am looking forward to going back. It was one I looked at when the fixtures came out. A lot of my development was done there. Winning the youth cup was a great time for me and I have a good relationship with the fans because they supported us really well in that run. It was massively frustrating not to play for the first team.
"If I had been at Barnsley I would have probably got a chance because the ethos is to blood youngsters but Norwich weren't giving the young boys a chance. I don't think they have done too well this season. We go there with the knowledge that, if we beat them, we will go ahead of them in the league. To go ahead of a club like Norwich would be great."
McGeehan joined Barnsley partway through the recovery process after breaking his leg while playing for Luton on January 2. He made his full debut on September 30 and was in the starting line-up for five successive matches. He was left out of the squad for the 2-0 win over Birmingham, which was their latest game.
"The manager said that I had started five games on the spin and looked a bit leggy in the last couple which is to be expected after such a long time out. He wanted to take me out and give me a chance to get back to my best. I've had a rest now and I'm hoping to be selected again."
