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His five-and-a-half-year spell at Deepdale ended acrimoniously, with Heckingbottom having revealed after last weekend’s friendly at Stockport County that the 30-year-old had said he had played his last game for the Lilywhites.
A deal for an undisclosed fee went through on Wednesday, with Heckingbottom’s thoughts very much on the present rather than the past. He said: ‘I was chatting with Ben for the first few days about it, then Ben forced the club’s hand and my hand. All of a sudden I’m not interested, I’m bothered about who we’re bringing in, I’m bothered about the players who are left, but Craig and Peter (Ridsdale) are happy with the money.
“That's important. You can’t, just because someone wants to leave, allow them to walk away and from my point of view, I said to Ben ‘you've probably played the most minutes for me last season out of anyone.’
“I'm bothered about the group being as strong as possible so, from my point of view again, I said to Ben 'you can't get any help from me to leave because I want us to be as strong as possible.' That's where I was on it but we've got the money now and it’s important we reinvest that into the group and help fill those positions where we need to get stronger.
