Willie Henderson

William Henderson (born 24 January 1944) is a Scottish retired footballer. He played most of his career for Rangers, and spent the latter part of his career with Sheffield Wednesday, in Hong Kong with Hong Kong Rangers and with Airdrieonians. He also featured at international level for Scotland.

For others of this name, see Willie Henderson (musician) and Willie Henderson (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings).

Willie Henderson
Personal information
Full name William Henderson[1]
Date of birth (1944-01-24) 24 January 1944
Place of birth Baillieston, Scotland
Height 1.63m (5 ft 4 in)
Position(s) Winger
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1960–1972 Rangers 276 (36)
1972 Durban United 3 (0)
1972–1974 Sheffield Wednesday 48 (5)
1973 Miami Toros 7 (0)
1974–1976 Hong Kong Rangers 47 (5)
1976–1977 Caroline Hill 24 (0)
1977–1978 Brisbane Lions
1978–1979 Airdrieonians 2 (0)
Total 336 (41)
National team
1961–1968[2] Scotland U23 3 (0)
1962–1971 Scotland 29 (5)
1962–1968 Scottish League XI 6 (2)
1964[3] SFA trial v SFL 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Henderson made his career debut in 1960 at the age of 16. He was a very pacy right-winger, and as he was only 5 feet 4 inches tall he became known as Wee Willie.[4]

Playing career

Club

During his time with Rangers he made over 400 appearances and won two Scottish league championships, the Scottish Cup four times and the League Cup twice,[5] including a treble in 1963–64.[4] He was also part of the Rangers team that got to the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1966–67 and was part of the campaign that eventually brought the trophy to Ibrox in the 1971–72 season; however, he was not involved in the 3–2 final victory over FC Dinamo Moscow in Barcelona in May 1972 as he had left Rangers just prior, having fallen out with manager Willie Waddell. Henderson later admitted that missing that game was one of the worst moments of his career. Thus while he sat on a beach in South Africa, his former teammates had their names carved onto the trophy.[4]

Henderson signed for Sheffield Wednesday for the 1972–73 season and made his debut on 12 August 1972 in a 3–0 victory over Fulham. He was a great favourite with the Wednesday fans in the two seasons that he was there even though the club had little success. He made 50 appearances for Wednesday with six as substitute, scoring five goals in his two seasons there. His last appearance for the club was on 27 April 1974, the last match of the 1973–74 season against Bolton Wanderers, a match Wednesday had to win to avoid relegation to Division Three – they won the match 1–0. Henderson left Wednesday at the end of that season and went to play for Hong Kong Rangers. In November 1976, he moved to Caroline Hill.[6] He spent three years in the colony and captained the Hong Kong League XI (a team made up of foreign professionals plying their trade in Hong Kong) before returning to Scotland for a final season with Airdrieonians.

International

He made his debut for Scotland on 20 October 1962, against Wales in a 3–2 victory for Scotland, in which he scored the winning goal.[7] He also scored in his second game for Scotland in a 5–1 victory over Northern Ireland. He went on to gain a total of 29 caps and five goals. His last game for Scotland was on 21 April 1971, in a 2–0 defeat by Portugal. Henderson remains one of the youngest players to represent Scotland at 18 years and 269 days, and won more caps than his main rival for the position at right wing, the highly regarded Jimmy Johnstone of Celtic.[4] In an interview with the Scotland on Sunday newspaper in April 2006, Henderson admitted that Scotland's failure to qualify for the 1966 and 1970 World Cups was a great disappointment to him as Scotland at that time had one of the best teams in Europe. "I can't believe that we had so many players who were genuine world class yet we didn't reach the best-ever finals of the biggest tournament of them all," said Henderson. He also represented the Scottish League XI.[8]

Later career

Whilst playing for Rangers, Henderson owned and ran a hairdresser's shop in Glasgow. Upon his retirement he opened a pub alongside Alfie Conn, Jr. in Coatbridge. He later operated a hotel in Lanarkshire and worked for Rangers at Ibrox on match days as a hospitality host.[4]

Personal life

Henderson is short sighted and wore contact lenses. People found this amusing as they would often wonder how good a player he would have been had his eyesight been better. Legend has it that late on in an Old Firm encounter he inquired on the sidelines, "How long to go, how long to go?" Jock Stein replied: "Go and ask at the other dugout, you bloody fool – this is the Celtic bench!".[4]

Career statistics

International
Scotland national team[9]
YearAppsGoals
196222
196381
196420
196581
196630
196810
196941
197110
Total295

International goals
Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.[10]
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.20 October 1962Ninian Park, Cardiff Wales3–13–21962–63 British Home Championship
2.7 November 1962Hampden Park, Glasgow Northern Ireland4–15–1
3.13 June 1963Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid Spain5–26–2Friendly
4.24 November 1965Hampden Park, Glasgow Wales2–14–11965–66 British Home Championship
5.17 May 1969Hampden Park, Glasgow Cyprus7–08–01970 FIFA World Cup qualification

References
  1. "Willie Henderson". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
  2. Scotland U23 player Henderson, Willie, FitbaStats
  3. Ronnie McDevitt (2016). Scotland in the 60s: The Definitive Account of the Scottish National Football Side During the 1960s. Pitch Publishing. ISBN 9781785312458.
  4. "Hall of Fame: Willie Henderson". Rangers Football Club. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
  5. Rangers player Henderson, Willie, FitbaStats
  6. "Sensational move cripples Rangers Blues' Henderson joins Caroline Hill". South China Morning Post. 20 November 1976.
  7. "Scotland supreme, but learn some lessons from Wales". www.londonhearts.com. 20 October 1962. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
  8. "Scotland FL Players by Appearances". Londonhearts.com. London Hearts Supporters' Club. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
  9. National Football Teams profile
  10. SFA profile
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