Willie Henderson
Encyclopedia
William "Willie" Henderson (born 24 January 1944, in Baillieston
, North Lanarkshire
) is a retired Scottish
football player. 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 was a prolific winger
. He also featured at international level for Scotland
.
Henderson also had bad eyesight and he wore contact lenses. People found this amusing as they would often wonder how much better 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!"
During his time with Rangers he won the Scottish League
twice, the Scottish Cup
four times and the League Cup
twice. He was also part of the Rangers team that got to the finals of the 1960-61
and 1966-67 Cup Winners Cup
competitions, and was part of the Rangers campaign that eventually brought home the trophy in the 1971/72 season
. He was not involved in the final, however, as he had left Rangers just prior, having fallen out with the then manager, Willie Waddell. Thus while he sat on a beach in South Africa
, his former team-mates had their names carved onto the trophy. It was a very sad way to end his Rangers career. He made a total of 426 appearances between 1960 to 1972.
who had left Henderson out of Rangers’ 3-2 European Cup Winners Cup Final victory over FC Dinamo Moscow in Barcelona in May 1972. Henderson later admitted that missing that game was one of the worst moments of his career. He signed for Sheffield Wednesday for the 1972-73 season and made his debut on the 12 August 1972 in a 3-0 victory over Fulham. Henderson 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. 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.
in a 3-2 victory for Scotland, in which he scored the winning goal. He also scored in his second game for Scotland in a 5-1 victory over Northern Ireland
. He went on to gain a further 27 caps and score three more goals, a total of 29 caps and five goals. His last game for Scotland was on April 21, 1971, in a 2-0 defeat by Portugal
. Henderson remains one of the youngest players to represent Scotland at 18 years and 269 days. 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 Cup
s 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
.
on matchdays at Ibrox
. He is also seen occasionally on the club's TV station Rangers TV
.
Baillieston
Baillieston is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. It is about 7 miles east of the city centre.It is also the name of Ward 20 of Glasgow City Council...
, North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. It borders onto the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains much of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It also borders Stirling, Falkirk, East Dunbartonshire, West Lothian and South Lanarkshire...
) is a retired Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
football player. He played most of his career for Rangers
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
, and spent the latter part of his career with Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
, in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
with Hong Kong Rangers
Hong Kong Rangers
Hong Kong Rangers Football Club , is a Hong Kong football club and plays in Hong Kong Second Division League. It won the Hong Kong League once, the Senior Challenge Shield 4 times, the FA Cup twice.The club was once played under the name Biu Chun...
and with Airdrieonians
Airdrieonians F.C.
Airdrieonians Football Club, more commonly known as Airdrie, were a Scottish professional football team from the town of Airdrie, in the Monklands area of Lanarkshire....
. He was a prolific winger
Winger (sport)
In certain sports, such as football, field hockey, ice hockey, handball, rugby union, lacrosse and rugby league, the term winger is the name of a position. It refers to positions on the extreme left and right sides of the pitch . In American football and Canadian football, the analogous position...
. He also featured at international level for Scotland
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
.
Rangers
Henderson made his career debut in 1960 at the age of 16. He was very pacey on the right wing and as he was at a small height of 5 foot and 4 inches he became known as 'Wee Willie'.Henderson also had bad eyesight and he wore contact lenses. People found this amusing as they would often wonder how much better he would have been had his eyesight been better. Legend has it that late on in an Old Firm
Old Firm
The Old Firm is a common collective name for the association football clubs Celtic and Rangers, both based in Glasgow, Scotland.The origin of the term is unclear. One theory has it that the expression derives from Celtic's first game in 1888, which was played against Rangers. However, author,...
encounter he inquired on the sidelines, "How long to go, how long to go?" Jock Stein
Jock Stein
John 'Jock' Stein CBE was a Scottish association football player and manager. He became the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967...
replied: "Go and ask at the other dugout, you bloody fool – this is the Celtic
Celtic F.C.
Celtic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, which currently plays in the Scottish Premier League. The club was established in 1887, and played its first game in 1888. Celtic have won the Scottish League Championship on 42 occasions, most recently in the...
bench!"
During his time with Rangers he won the Scottish League
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League , also known as the SPL , is a professional league competition for association football clubs in Scotland...
twice, the Scottish Cup
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,, commonly known as the Scottish Cup or the William Hill Scottish Cup for sponsorship purposes, is the main national cup competition in Scottish football. It is a knockout cup competition run by and named after the Scottish Football Association.The...
four times and the League Cup
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup is a football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs. At present it is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup owing to the sponsorship deal in place with the Scottish Government. In the past it has been sponsored by...
twice. He was also part of the Rangers team that got to the finals of the 1960-61
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1960-61
The 1960-61 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by Italian club Fiorentina in two-legged final victory against Rangers of Scotland....
and 1966-67 Cup Winners Cup
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1966-67
The season 1966-67 of the European Cup Winners' Cup football club tournament was won by Bayern Munich in an extra time final victory against Rangers F.C....
competitions, and was part of the Rangers campaign that eventually brought home the trophy in the 1971/72 season
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1971-72
The season 1971-72 of the European Cup Winners' Cup football club tournament was won by Rangers in a final victory against FC Dynamo Moscow.- Preliminary game :-First round:-First leg:-Second leg:Torino won 5–0 on aggregate....
. He was not involved in the final, however, as he had left Rangers just prior, having fallen out with the then manager, Willie Waddell. Thus while he sat on a beach in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, his former team-mates had their names carved onto the trophy. It was a very sad way to end his Rangers career. He made a total of 426 appearances between 1960 to 1972.
After Rangers
Henderson left Rangers at the end of the 1971-72 season, mainly because he had fallen out with the manager Willie WaddellWillie Waddell
Willie Waddell is a former professional footballer who played as a defender for Aberdeen and Kettering Town. Waddell played for Aberdeen in the 1947 Scottish Cup Final victory against Hibernian.- Notes :...
who had left Henderson out of Rangers’ 3-2 European Cup Winners Cup Final victory over FC Dinamo Moscow in Barcelona in May 1972. Henderson later admitted that missing that game was one of the worst moments of his career. He signed for Sheffield Wednesday for the 1972-73 season and made his debut on the 12 August 1972 in a 3-0 victory over Fulham. Henderson 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. 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 career
He made his debut for Scotland on 20 October 1962, against WalesWales national football team
The Wales national football team represents Wales in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Wales , the governing body for football in Wales, and the third oldest national football association in the world. The team have only qualified for a major international...
in a 3-2 victory for Scotland, in which he scored the winning goal. He also scored in his second game for Scotland in a 5-1 victory over Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland national football team
The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. Before 1921 all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team, organised by the Irish Football Association...
. He went on to gain a further 27 caps and score three more goals, a total of 29 caps and five goals. His last game for Scotland was on April 21, 1971, in a 2-0 defeat by Portugal
Portugal national football team
The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in association football and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home ground is Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, and their head coach is Paulo Bento...
. Henderson remains one of the youngest players to represent Scotland at 18 years and 269 days. In an interview with the Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday
Scotland on Sunday is a Scottish Sunday newspaper, published in Edinburgh by The Scotsman Publications Ltd and consequently assuming the role of Sunday sister to its daily stablemate The Scotsman...
newspaper in April 2006, Henderson admitted that Scotland's failure to qualify for the 1966
1966 FIFA World Cup
The 1966 FIFA World Cup, the eighth staging of the World Cup, was held in England from 11 July to 30 July. England beat West Germany 4–2 in the final, winning the World Cup for the first time, so becoming the first host to win the tournament since Italy in 1934.-Host selection:England was chosen as...
and 1970 World Cup
1970 FIFA World Cup
The 1970 FIFA World Cup, the ninth staging of the World Cup, was held in Mexico, from 31 May to 21 June. The 1970 tournament was the first World Cup hosted in North America, and the first held outside South America and Europe. In a match-up of two-time World Cup champions, the final was won by...
s 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
Scottish League XI
The Scottish League XI is a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture between the English and Scottish leagues was only second in...
.
After football
Today Henderson runs a hotel in Broxburn and owns a pub in Kickcaldy. He is also involved with Rangers hospitalityHospitality
Hospitality is the relationship between guest and host, or the act or practice of being hospitable. Specifically, this includes the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers, resorts, membership clubs, conventions, attractions, special events, and other services for travelers...
on matchdays at Ibrox
Ibrox Stadium
Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium located on the south side of the River Clyde, on Edmiston Drive in the Ibrox district of Glasgow. It is the home ground of Scottish Premier League club Rangers and has an all-seated capacity of 51,082...
. He is also seen occasionally on the club's TV station Rangers TV
Rangers TV
Rangers TV is the official television channel of Rangers Football Club.Launched in 2004, it was operated by Setanta Sports, and was available on satellite and cable platforms in the UK and Ireland....
.