Blue Square Bet Premier club Gateshead have made their third summer signing with the capture of vastly experienced former Football League left back Paul Heckingbottom.
Heckingbottom, 32, has played over 300 Football League games for a number of clubs including Barnsley, Bradford City, Sheffield Wednesday and Darlington.
The Barnsley-born defender played fifteen games for Gateshead on loan from Mansfield Town after joining the Tyneside outfit in February.
Manager Ian Bogie was keen to make the left-sided player's stay a permanent one and Heckingbottom has now put pen-to-paper.
"It is no secret that the left back birth has been a problem and Heckingbottom did a good job for us in the last three months of the season," said Bogie.
"He is an experienced player with a calm head and one that also demonstrated that he can fill in at the centre of defence when required."
Bogie has a host of other irons in the fire as he bids to reshape the squad with a further six close season signings.
(Heckingbottom (blue shirt) seen challenging for the ball at Hayes & Yeading United)
