View source for Willie Henderson

{{Short description|Scottish footballer (born 1944)}}
{{for|others of this name|Willie Henderson (musician)|Willie Henderson (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox football biography
| name        = Willie Henderson
| image       =
| fullname    = William Henderson<ref>{{Hugman|8777|access-date=24 February 2017}}</ref>
| birth_date  = {{birth date and age|df=y|1944|1|24}}
| birth_place = [[Baillieston]], Scotland
| height      =
| position    = [[Midfielder#Winger|Winger]]
| years1 = 1960–1972 
| years2 = 1972 
| years3 = 1972–1974 
| years4 = 1973 
| years5 = 1974–1976
| years6 = 1976–1977 
| years7 = 1977–1978 
| years8 = 1978–1979 
| clubs1 = [[Rangers F.C.|Rangers]] 
| clubs2 = [[Durban United F.C.|Durban United]] 
| clubs3 = [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday]] 
| clubs4 = [[Miami Toros]] 
| clubs5 = [[Hong Kong Rangers]] 
| clubs6 = [[Caroline Hill FC|Caroline Hill]] 
| clubs7 = [[Queensland Lions Soccer Club|Brisbane Lions]] 
| clubs8 = [[Airdrieonians F.C. (1878)|Airdrieonians]]
| caps1 = 276
| caps2 = 3   
| caps3 = 48   
| caps4 = 7   
| caps5 = 47  
| caps6 = 24
| caps7 = 6
| caps8 = 2   
| goals1 = 36  
| goals2 = 0  
| goals3 = 5  
| goals4 = 0  
| goals5 = 5 
| goals6 = 0 
| goals7 = 0
| goals8 = 0  
| totalcaps =  342 | totalgoals =  41 
| nationalyears1 = 1961–1968<ref>[http://www.fitbastats.com/scotlandu23/player.php?playerid=81 Scotland U23 player Henderson, Willie], FitbaStats</ref>
| nationalteam1 = [[Scotland national under-23 football team|Scotland U23]]
| nationalcaps1 = 3
| nationalgoals1 = 0
| nationalyears2 = 1962–1971
| nationalteam2  = [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]]
| nationalcaps2 = 29  
| nationalgoals2 = 5
| nationalyears3 = 1962–1968
| nationalteam3  = [[Scottish League XI]]
| nationalcaps3  = 6
| nationalgoals3 = 2
| nationalyears4 = 1964<ref name=scot60s>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lITgDAAAQBAJ&q=1964+%22scotland+XI%22+v+%22scottish+league&pg=PT215|title=Scotland in the 60s: The Definitive Account of the Scottish National Football Side During the 1960s|author=Ronnie McDevitt|year=2016|publisher=Pitch Publishing|isbn=9781785312458}}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
| nationalteam4 = [[List of Scottish Football League representative players#Scotland trial matches / SFL Centenary players|SFA trial v SFL]]
| nationalcaps4 = 1
| nationalgoals4 = 0
}}

'''William Henderson''' (born 24 January 1944) is a Scottish retired [[association football|footballer]]. He played most of his career for [[Rangers F.C.|Rangers]], and spent the latter part of his career with [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday]], in Hong Kong with [[Hong Kong Rangers]] and with [[Airdrieonians F.C. (1878)|Airdrieonians]]. He also featured at international level for [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]].

Henderson made his career debut in 1960 at the age of 16. He was a very pacy [[Midfielder#Winger|right-winger]], and as he was only 5 feet 4 inches tall he became known as ''Wee Willie''.<ref name="WILLIE HENDERSON"/>

==Playing career==
===Club===
During his time with Rangers he made over 400 appearances and won two [[List of Scottish football champions|Scottish league championships]], the [[Scottish Cup]] four times and the [[Scottish League Cup|League Cup]] twice,<ref>[http://www.fitbastats.com/rangers/player.php?playerid=1466 Rangers player Henderson, Willie], FitbaStats</ref> including a [[Treble (association football)|treble]] in [[1963–64 in Scottish football|1963–64]].<ref name="WILLIE HENDERSON"/> He was also part of the Rangers team that got to the final of the [[European Cup Winners' Cup]] in [[1966–67 European Cup Winners' Cup|1966–67]] and was part of the campaign that eventually brought the trophy to [[Ibrox Stadium|Ibrox]] in the [[1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup|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 [[William Waddell (footballer)|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.<ref name="WILLIE HENDERSON"/>

Henderson signed for [[Sheffield Wednesday F.C.|Sheffield Wednesday]] for the 1972–73 season and made his debut on 12 August 1972 in a 3–0 victory over [[Fulham F.C.|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 F.C.|Bolton Wanderers]], a match Wednesday had to win to avoid relegation to [[Football League Division Three|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 FC|Caroline Hill]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Sensational move cripples Rangers Blues' Henderson joins Caroline Hill|work= South China Morning Post|date=20 November 1976}}</ref> 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 F.C. (1878)|Airdrieonians]].

===International===
He made his debut for [[Scotland national football team|Scotland]] on 20 October 1962, against [[Wales national football team|Wales]] in a 3–2 victory for Scotland, in which he scored the winning goal.<ref>{{cite web|title=Scotland supreme, but learn some lessons from Wales|url=http://www.londonhearts.com/scores/images/1962/1962102004.htm|publisher=London Hearts Supporters Club|access-date=2 November 2011|date=20 October 1962}}</ref> He also scored in his second game for Scotland in a 5–1 victory over [[Northern Ireland national football team|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 national football team|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 F.C.|Celtic]].<ref name="WILLIE HENDERSON"/> In an interview with the ''[[Scotland on Sunday]]'' newspaper in April 2006, Henderson admitted that Scotland's failure to qualify for the [[1966 FIFA World Cup|1966]] and [[1970 FIFA World Cup|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]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.londonhearts.com/SFL/players/aaplayersbyapp.html|title=Scotland FL Players by Appearances|publisher=London Hearts Supporters Club|access-date=27 November 2011}}</ref>

==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 F.C.|Rangers]] at [[Ibrox Stadium|Ibrox]] on match days as a hospitality host.<ref name="WILLIE HENDERSON">{{ cite web| url=http://rangers.co.uk/club/history/hall-of-fame/willie-henderson/ | title=Hall of Fame: Willie Henderson | publisher=Rangers F.C. | access-date=28 June 2016}}</ref>

==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 F.C.|Celtic]] bench!".<ref name="WILLIE HENDERSON"/>

==Career statistics==
===International===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan=3 | [[Scotland national football team|Scotland national team]]<ref>[http://www.national-football-teams.com/player/20326/Willie_Henderson.html National Football Teams profile]</ref>
|-
!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
| 1962 || 2 || 2
|-
| 1963 || 8 || 1
|-
| 1964 || 2 || 0
|-
| 1965 || 8 || 1
|-
| 1966 || 3 || 0
|-
| 1968 || 1 || 0
|-
| 1969 || 4 || 1
|-
| 1971 || 1 || 0
|-
!Total || 29 || 5
|}

====International goals====
:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''<ref>[http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/football_player_profile.cfm?page=2492&playerID=113792&squadID=1 SFA profile]</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
| 1. || 20 October 1962 || [[Ninian Park]], [[Cardiff]] || {{fb|WAL}} || align=center |'''3'''–1 || align=center |3–2 || rowspan="2"|[[1962–63 British Home Championship]]
|-
| 2. || 7 November 1962 || [[Hampden Park]], [[Glasgow]] || {{fb|NIR}} || align=center |'''4'''–1 || align=center |5–1
|-
| 3. || 13 June 1963 || [[Santiago Bernabéu Stadium]], [[Madrid]] || {{fb|ESP|1945}} || align=center |'''5'''–2 || align=center |6–2 || [[Friendly match|Friendly]]
|-
| 4. || 24 November 1965 || [[Hampden Park]], [[Glasgow]] || {{fb|WAL}} || align=center |'''2'''–1 || align=center |4–1 || [[1965–66 British Home Championship]]
|-
| 5. || 17 May 1969 || [[Hampden Park]], [[Glasgow]] || {{fb|CYP}} || align=center |'''7'''–0 || align=center |8–0 || [[1970 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)|1970 FIFA World Cup qualification]]
|-
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{NeilBrownPlayers|player/williehenderson}}
*{{SFA profile}}
*[http://www.adrianbullock.com/swfc/stats/play0246.htm Sheffield Wednesday archive]
*[http://scottishfootballhalloffame.co.uk/willie-henderson-1944/ Scottish Football Hall of Fame profile]

{{Rangers F.C. Hall of Fame}}
{{Scottish Football Hall of Fame}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Willie}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Scottish men's footballers]]
[[Category:People from Baillieston]]
[[Category:Men's association football wingers]]
[[Category:Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players]]
[[Category:Rangers F.C. players]]
[[Category:Hong Kong Rangers FC players]]
[[Category:Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players]]
[[Category:Scotland men's international footballers]]
[[Category:Hong Kong First Division League players]]
[[Category:Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong]]
[[Category:Scottish Football League players]]
[[Category:English Football League players]]
[[Category:Miami Toros players]]
[[Category:Scottish Football League representative players]]
[[Category:Hong Kong League XI representative players]]
[[Category:Scotland men's under-23 international footballers]]
[[Category:North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players]]
[[Category:Scottish expatriate sportspeople in South Africa]]
[[Category:Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States]]
[[Category:Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia]]
[[Category:Scottish expatriate men's footballers]]
[[Category:Footballers from Glasgow]]