BEN BARCLAY spent nine years in Manchester City’s youth set-up before joining Brighton in 2013.
He only made one first team appearance for the Seagulls but he played alongside several in the under 21 squad who went on to greater things, such as Ben White, Viktor Gyokeres and Robert Sanchez.
Now he’s back with the young Seagulls as an overage player helping to share his past experiences with those youngsters hoping to step up to the senior side.
Not for the first time, Barclay has followed in the footsteps of the likes of Andrew Crofts and Gary Dicker in returning to the club to work with the young professionals.
After leaving Brighton without building on his Carabao Cup first team debut in 2018, Barclay played lower league football in the north west for Accrington Stanley, Stockport County and Carlisle, as well as loan spells at Notts County and Yeovil Town.
“He knows exactly what it takes to progress from academy football into the senior game and will be a great role model for our young pros,” said Albion under-21s head coach Shannon Ruth of his appointment in July 2025.
“He has excellent EFL experience that he can share with the group. We believe he is a valuable addition to our development programme and we are excited to work with him.
“We will benefit from that not just in matches, but in training throughout the week, where having that experience out on the grass, alongside the players, is invaluable.”
Born in Altrincham on 7 October 1996, Barclay was at City from seven through to 16.
“In my squad there was Tosin Adarabioyo, who has gone on loan to West Brom (now at Chelsea), David Brooks who has signed for Bournemouth,” Barclay said in an interview with The Argus.
“I am good pals with him, he is doing really well. Everyone has left now and gone on loan and playing in the Championship.
“At the time, I saw it coming. The club moved on from me then.”
Barclay left City after he’d finished school at 16 and joined Brighton after a call from a scout.
“I didn’t know much about the city or the club, but the chance came along for me to go for a trial for a week,” he told carlisleunited.co.uk. “You could see that the club was going in a good direction and I enjoyed it.”
Barclay worked his way through the age groups at Albion to become a regular for the under-23s and he said: “By the end of my time there I’d made my debut, that was in the cup, and I’d been involved with the squad and training with the first team.”
That solitary first team opportunity against Southampton in the Carabao Cup (above) was courtesy of injury absences for those above him in the pecking order.
His regular under-23s defensive partner White, who’d impressed on loan at Newport County the previous season, was ruled out by an injury, picked up against future employer Arsenal.
“I was playing with Ben last Monday at the Emirates when he came off,” Barclay told The Argus. Although the knee injury wasn’t as bad as first thought, it gave Barclay an opportunity, particularly with Lewis Dunk (ankle) and Bruno (hamstring) also on the treatment table.
Manager Chris Hughton didn’t want to risk first choice pairing Shane Duffy and Leon Balogun with a league match only a few days away so Barclay was thrown in alongside versatile Brazilian Bernardo. Fellow under-23s Will Collar and Gyokeres also made their debuts.
“The team was confirmed on Monday in training. I travelled up to Anfield at the weekend and just missed out on the bench, so I knew I was in and around it and there were going to be some changes, so I knew I might get on the bench or a few minutes,” he said.
Those few minutes turned into 90 from the start up against Southampton’s experienced Italian striker Manolo Gabbiadini, and Barclay said: “I remember watching him at Wembley against United in the (2017) League Cup final when he first signed and I thought he as a good player, would be tricky.
“When you play against him you realise his movement is even better than when you see him on TV.
“It was massive for me. I’ll take so much from the game, just staying with his runs in the box. They are much cleverer.”
Although he and Bernardo prevented Gabbiadini from scoring, Saints substitute Charlie Austin settled it for the visitors, nodding in Nathan Redmond’s cross with two minutes left, to give Barclay’s debut a disappointing ending.
“If it’s your debut, whether you have a good game or not, if you concede at the death it’s going to be frustrating.”
After the game, Barclay recognised the next stage in his development was quite likely to be a loan and that duly came in January 2019 when he made his league debut two days after joining relegation-bound League Two strugglers Notts County in a 3-3 draw away to Colchester United. With the relegation trapdoor yawning, his first senior goal at home to MK Dons in April was scant consolation in County’s 2-1 defeat.
He made 12 starts plus one appearance off the bench for Neal Ardley’s side which also included Albion’s former goalscorer Craig Mackail-Smith. In the third-to-last game of the season, Mackail-Smith opened the scoring for bottom-of-the-league County at Crawley in a must-win game – but the home side equalised before half-time.
According to the Press Association report: “The Magpies began the second half in purposeful fashion and defender Barclay headed over a Michael Doyle free kick after 50 minutes.”
Four minutes later the young defender was shown a straight red card for a two-footed foul on Crawley skipper Dannie Bulman.
He was suspended for the last two games (a 2-1 win over Grimsby Town and a 3-1 defeat at Swindon Town) and County finished a point ahead of last-placed Yeovil Town but lost their league status for the first time since being founder members of the league in 1888.
Released by Brighton at the end of that season, Barclay spent the next two seasons at Accrington Stanley, where, on signing him, manager John Coleman said: “He is a promising defender from Brighton, he came through at Manchester City so he is technically a very good footballer.
“He had an opportunity last season in League Two with Notts County and it’s a chance for him to kick on in League One and get more league experience under his belt.”
Although offered a new deal after making 43 appearances for the club, he chose to move on to National League side Stockport County, who gave him a three-year contract. However, having made only a handful of appearances for the Hatters, he had two loans away, at National League Yeovil and League Two Carlisle United (a season-long loan).
Somewhat ironically, in May 2023, he scored the winning goal for the Cumbrians in a 3-2 play-off semi-final win over Bradford City to set up a Wembley final against his parent club – but he couldn’t play because of the terms of the loan arrangement.
United boss Paul Simpson said: “Ben got the goal but unfortunately can’t play. It is one of those nightmare scenarios.
“When he has been fit this year, Ben has been brilliant for us. I am sure he will be coming along for the trip.
“Even though he can’t be involved in the game he will be a big part of our training programme.”
As it turned out, Carlisle earned promotion to League One courtesy of a 5-4 penalty shoot-out win after the game was drawn 1-1 and, a month later, Barclay severed ties with Stockport and signed a two-year contract with Carlisle.
He made 27 appearances for the Cumbrian side in League One and a further 26 on their demotion back to League Two in 2025. His return to the Seagulls followed the end of that campaign, and he penned a one-year deal.
WHEN I watched Nathan Elder go on as substitute at Boundary Park, Oldham, on 12 January 2008 and score an injury-time equaliser, I remember wondering whether his Brighton career might finally be getting off the ground.
Previous cameo appearances off the bench had indicated Albion might have unearthed a useful rough diamond after picking him up from non-league Billericay, and he’d scored his first goal in the final game of the 2006-07 season: a 1-1 draw at Cheltenham.
But manager Dean Wilkins was somewhat spoilt for choice, especially when experienced Nicky Forster arrived that summer. Alex Revell and Bas Savage tended to be ahead of Elder in the pecking order too.
By the end of January, Albion splashed £300,000 on Glenn Murray and, Elder, still only 20, was deemed surplus to requirements. After only 13 months at Brighton, he was sold to Brentford for £35,000 (Revell left as well, when Southend parted with £150,000).
The Elder deal represented good business for the Seagulls – a £25,000 profit on a player who only made three first team starts during his time with the club. Disappointed with his brief spell at Brighton, Elder reflected some while later that he should have done more to persuade Wilkins to give him more playing time.
“It was my fault,” he told brentfordfc.com. “I trained really well and in the reserve games I was scoring every time, but I never knocked on the manager’s door and asked him why I wasn’t starting. I always thought to myself that I was lucky to be in this position and coming from where I’d come from, I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers.
“As time has gone on, I’ve realised that if you don’t show some hunger and give the manager a reason to start you, he won’t.”
That instinct was almost certainly right, bearing in mind comments Wilkins made in an Argus interview after that Oldham game.
“I know it has not been easy for Nathan,” he said. “He hasn’t had many opportunities but he has gone on and done exactly what we hoped he would do.
“He will probably be banging on my door now for a starting place and of course he has given me a dilemma.”
Elder, though, sat back and waited patiently. “I was sitting there too comfortably and thinking that if I got the call, I’d come in and do my best,” he said. “We went on a losing streak at Brighton of about four or five games where neither of the strikers scored.
“At that point, Dean Wilkins was watching me in training, but I never actually said to him, ‘Gaffer, put me in, give me a chance’.”
As he departed, Elder told the Argus: “I don’t really feel as though I was given enough of a chance to show what I can do, it was more in fits and spurts coming off the bench.
“I just don’t think he (Wilkins) was confident enough in me to start me on a regular basis.
“Even when some other players weren’t performing I don’t think he had that confidence to throw me in. That’s football, it’s not a walk in the park.”
Of the striker’s departure, Wilkins said: “Nathan has found his opportunities limited, he wants to start games but we couldn’t guarantee that and felt it was right to let him move.”
It was an unfortunate ending to his brief time with the Albion, especially after it had begun so well. He scored just 11 minutes into his debut for the reserves, director of football Martin Hinshelwood observing: “Nathan scored with a good finish.”
The striker told the matchday programme: “Going from the level I was at to this level, without playing any games, is a huge jump, but training has been wicked for me. It has really helped me improve: my movement, my touch, my movement without the ball.
“I felt I showed that in the game and that’s how I got my goal, with my movement. I could have had another two or three as well, but I know that I’ll become sharper as I get fitter.”
Born in Hornchurch, Essex, on 5 April 1985, Elder’s first involvement in football was at the town’s Langtons Infant School. He later played for a local Sunday league team, Barns Sports, before stepping up to play for Hornchurch in the lower reaches of the Isthmian League.
He progressed up that league via moves to Barking & East Ham United, Aveley and then Billericay Town. He came to Brighton’s attention when he was playing for Billericay against Worthing.
If nothing else, Elder’s disappointment at Brighton prepared him to seize the chance to shine with the Bees. It was thought he had scored an own goal on his debut for Brentford against Mansfield Town after just 15 minutes (it was later credited to Stags forward Michael Boulding), but he made amends by scoring the winner five minutes from time as Brentford eventually won 3–2, and he went on to be part of their 2009-10 promotion squad under Andy Scott.
Nathan Elder scores on his Brentford debut
Sadly, a shocking facial injury which threatened the sight in one eye put paid to his involvement in the promotion run-in.
It came when he was involved in an aerial collision with Rotherham’s Pablo Mills; the United player’s elbow inflicting a double cheekbone fracture, a fractured eye socket, severe trauma to the eyeball and extensive bleeding in and around the eye.
He described the incident in detail in an interview with Dan Long in 2019. “When the physio came over, I couldn’t see out of my eye, I thought my eyebrow and cheekbone had swollen up. I knew it was serious. The physio held up two fingers with a hand over one eye and asked how many fingers he was holding up. He switched eyes and I couldn’t tell him because it was just black. He could see that my eye was open and he didn’t panic, but his reaction showed that I needed to go to hospital immediately.
“I questioned it but stood up and went into the dressing room. As we got there, I looked in the mirror. Everyone was telling me to sit down but I told them to get off me for five minutes so that I could find out what was going on.
“I could see that both of my eyes were open, but I could only see out of one of them. That was scary and that’s when I started to panic because I immediately thought I’d lost sight in that eye and it was done for.”
Up to that point, Elder had enjoyed a successful partnership with Charlie MacDonald, who he said he learned a lot from. “He was just such a potent goalscorer,” he said. “As a young lad it was brilliant to watch what he was doing and try and emulate it.”
Sadly MacDonald also missed the triumphant end of the season after dislocating a shoulder and the pair didn’t get to feature for the Bees again.
Meanwhile, the incapacitated Elder said: “When they brought in Jordan Rhodes, it was really good to see the success he was bringing, but when you are sitting indoors and you can do literally nothing, that was pretty horrible.”
After Elder’s recovery from the injury, life was never the same at Griffin Park and on 3 August 2009 he signed a three-year contract for League Two Shrewsbury Town.
But only three months later he was transfer listed by manager Paul Simpson who was unhappy with a performance in a 1-0 FA Cup loss at home to non-league Staines Town.
Two months on, he joined Blue Square Premier club AFC Wimbledon on loan until the end of the 2009-10 season. Elder scored on his debut in a 2-0 home win over Mansfield Town and picked up the man of the match award.
He went on to make 18 appearances, and scored three goals, before injury struck again. He suffered a tear of his anterior cruciate ligament in a game against Tamworth. Eventually, on 24 June 2011, he was released by the Shrews.
Next stop was Conference Premier side Hayes and Yeading but he was only there a month before joining League Two Hereford United, initially on loan and then permanently. But he left at the end of the season and joined National League outfit Ebbsfleet United where he scored 16 times in 44 matches.
He spent the 2013-14 season at Conference South Dover Athletic and on 10 May 2014 scored the only goal of the game to win the play-off final against Ebbsfleet securing Dover’s return to the Conference Premier League.
His most prolific scoring came at Isthmian League Premier Division side Tonbridge Angels, who he initially played for on loan before spending three years (2015-18) on a permanent basis. He netted 58 goals in 148 matches for Tonbridge.
Elder moved on to Sittingbourne for the 2018-19 season where he balanced a player-coach role at the Isthmian South East Division side with a career in recruitment in London’s Leadenhall Market. He later became assistant manager at Hythe Town for two years.
DISGRUNTLED former Albion goalkeeper Wayne Henderson helped Grimsby Town keep their place in the Football League.
The Republic of Ireland international stopper, forced away from Brighton by a section of voluble supporters, was on loan to the Mariners in 2009 as they desperately tried to avoid the drop.
Although there were Grimsby grumbles on his debut, Henderson’s mission was a success, Town avoiding the drop by four points. But it was only a stay of execution because they finally fell out of the league for the first time in 100 years in 2010.
By then, Henderson was back at parent club Preston North End, who had bought him from the Seagulls for £150,000 on deadline day in January 2007.
He managed only 10 appearances for the Lancashire club – his last game coming in the final match of the 2009-10 season – and in March 2011, when only 27, he was forced to quit the game after two years plagued with spinal injuries.
Much had been expected of the young Irishman at Brighton after an initial loan spell from Aston Villa, where he had been coached by former Seagulls ‘keeper Eric Steele. He made his Albion debut away to Derby County, together with fellow countryman Paul McShane (on loan from Manchester United), in the opening game of the 2004-05 season.
Manager Mark McGhee said the youngster hadn’t put a foot wrong. “His kicking really took the pressure off us,” he said. “He was composed and took a couple of crosses towards the end which also helped relieve the pressure.”
McGhee had first hoped to sign Henderson in January 2005 to help solve a goalkeeping crisis created by a serious shoulder muscle injury to Michel Kuipers in a home match against Nottingham Forest.
Youngster Chris May, son of former Albion defender Larry May, had come off the bench to replace Kuipers in the match but McGhee didn’t see him as experienced enough in the battle to stay in the Championship. The previous season’s first choice ‘keeper, Ben Roberts, was a long-term absentee with a back injury, so McGhee had few options.
The Seagulls hoped a contractual hitch relating to Henderson’s previous loan spell at Notts County could be resolved in time to enable him to make his debut for the Albion at Elland Road. But it couldn’t and Brighton turned to Blackburn’s David Yelldell instead. That was the game where the loan goalkeeper famously wore a bright pink goalkeeper jersey and predictably suffered abuse from the Leeds crowd.
Although Clarke Carlisle put Leeds ahead just before half time, Yelldell had the last laugh when defender Guy Butters prodded home an equaliser in the 81st minute.
When McGhee didn’t see Yelldell as a long-term option, he turned to one-time Arsenal ‘keeper Rami Shabaan, who hadn’t played a competitive game for two years, but he let in 13 goals in six games. The manager brought in Southampton’s Alan Blayney, and he was between the posts for the last seven games of the season when Albion just managed to cling on to their tier two status.
McGhee finally managed to bring in Henderson ahead of the new season and, perhaps mindful of the goalkeeping headache he’d had the previous season, found he suddenly had an embarrassment of riches in that department.
Promising youngster Richard Martin appeared as a back-up on the bench, as did season-long French loanee Florent Chaigneau. In September, Southampton’s Blayney also returned for another loan spell and eventually took over the gloves when Henderson’s three-month loan from Villa came to an end.
Intriguingly, Henderson’s penultimate game on loan was a 1-1 draw with Ipswich at the Withdean when another Villa loanee, Stefan Postma was in goal for the visitors.
It had been Henderson’s understanding that a permanent move would follow soon after he’d featured in a 1-1 draw at home to Wolves on 1 November. But a two-month on-off saga began which, according to McGhee and chairman Dick Knight, was largely down to demands made by Henderson’s agent.
Albion agreed a fee with Villa of £20,000, plus £15,000 if he helped avoid relegation from the Championship. He didn’t.
The Argus sought the opinion of former Albion no. 1 Steele who felt Henderson had a chance to make a name for himself with the Seagulls.
“With Thomas Sorensen as the no. 1 and Stuart Taylor bought in from Arsenal, Wayne’s route in terms of playing first team football was always going to be limited,” Steele told the paper. “Our problem is that we only need one goalkeeper to play in one position and it’s just been a question of what level he would make his mark.
“He’s 22 now and he really had to be looking to move on and I wish him all the best. I’ve worked with him now for four and a half years and always thought he would make a good living from the game.
“I think that’s summed up by the fact that Brighton are going to pay a small fee and we’ll also get sell-ons. He’s the same height, he’s got the same build and he has got the same attributes as Shay Given (Newcastle and Republic of Ireland). And he just needs the chance to go and play.
“He’s been away at Wycombe and been away at Notts County, who would have signed him had they had the money. He’s done it in the Second Division and the First, now he’s got the chance to do it in the Championship.”
Even if supporters of the club he’d just joined had doubts about his merits, the Republic of Ireland selectors were confident enough to give him a first senior call up in February 2006, and he made his full international debut on 1 March 2006, as a second half substitute in a 3–0 win over Sweden.
After the Albion had forfeited their tier two status that season, and the omitted Kuipers had been transfer-listed after falling out with McGhee, Henderson opened his heart to the Argus.
“Michel is liked by the fans and hopefully one day I will get the respect of the fans I feel I deserve,” he told Andy Naylor. “Michel has that because he has been at the club for a long time. I have mixed feelings about him being on the transfer list because it’s good to have someone with his reputation at the club pushing me, but sadly he fell out with the manager.
“Hopefully, I can prove the fans who are criticising me wrong but if they are set in their ways there is nothing I can do about that. It’s a shame if that is the way they feel but I couldn’t care less. I am not going to worry about it.
“I know myself how well I have done, and I am an international player because of that.”
Although he started the new season as first choice ‘keeper, three defeats on the spin saw McGhee sacked and Kuipers back in the starting line-up.
New boss Dean Wilkins restored the Irishman to the team in October which was enough to convince Eire manager Steve Staunton, a former Aston Villa colleague, to put him into a Euro 2008 qualifier against the Czech Republic, when first choice Shay Given and back-up Paddy Kenny were unavailable.
“I knew Stan from Villa, yes, but I like to think I’m being picked on merit not just because he knows what I’m capable of,” said Henderson. “I’ve got a long way to go in all aspects but being at Brighton and playing first-team football means I’m developing under pressure and getting a chance to show Stan (Staunton) what I can do.”
The Irish drew 1-1 and, having been to Dublin to watch the match, Albion goalkeeping coach John Keeley believed Henderson could be Albion’s ‘keeper for 10 years.
“I’m so pleased for Wayne. It proves what a good goalkeeper he is,” said Keeley. “He has taken some stick but people should appreciate him.”
The coach praised his handling at Lansdowne Road, the way he had made himself available for back-passes from his full-backs, and his composure. Highlighting a fine one-handed save he made to deny Milan Baros, Keeley said: “The save that he made just before half-time was world class.”
He added:“I honestly believe that Wayne is a better ‘keeper than Paddy Kenny. His all-round game is more suited to international football.”
Henderson makes his Eire debut, replacing Shay Given
Keeley reckoned: “He’s 22 and we’ve got a world-class player. With Wayne being so young we’ve got a goalkeeper now for the next ten years. That’s the way I look at it.”
The following month, Henderson even made the headlines when he wasn’t playing! Injury ruled him out of Albion’s side to face Bradford City at Valley Parade on 4 November and he decided to watch from the seats behind the goal.
When Dean Bowditch scored an 89th-minute winner for the Seagulls, the exuberant ‘keeper jumped over the hoardings – and was promptly escorted out of the ground by a steward!
“It was over-zealous stewarding,” he said afterwards. “Alex Revell made the goal and he was celebrating right in front of where I was sitting in the front row of the stand.
“The natural thing was to go and celebrate within him but one of the Bradford stewards – who knew I was one of the non-playing squad members – took exception to my celebration.
“I think he was a Bradford supporter and perhaps he thought I was trying to rub his nose in it – but I wasn’t. I was just pumped up to see the lads score a last-minute winner.
“The next thing I was being grabbed by a steward and then I was marched out of the ground where the police took my name and address, but I think they saw the funny side of it.”
Henderson wasn’t laughing a few weeks later. He’d returned from injury but the side was on a losing streak in December. Away to Bournemouth on New Year’s Day, it looked like Albion might come away with a point but in stoppage time the ‘keeper lost his footing and gifted the Cherries a win, and a section of Brighton supporters booed him off the pitch.
After a 3-0 defeat to West Ham in the FA Cup third round, the Seagulls entertained Millwall at Withdean and a mix-up between Henderson and Joel Lynch led to the visitors winning by the only goal of the game.
Manager Dean Wilkins dropped him and it was the last time he played for the club. The barracking had got to him to the extent he had submitted a second transfer request of the season and, referring to the fans who’d got on his back, he told the Argus: “They love their football as much as anyone else but the way they reacted was pathetic really.”
After securing a deadline day move to Preston, he said: “It was disappointing the way it finished. I was devastated at being left out of the team. The mistake I made against Bournemouth could have happened to anybody and the Millwall game was a mistake by someone else that caught me out.”
Now free to air his feelings about the series of events, he said: “A lot of fans have certain opinions of players. For me the whole experience at Brighton was more like the X Factor.
“It just seemed to be a personality contest and I couldn’t enjoy my football.”
He continued: “I’ve never felt welcome at the club, except by the coaching staff and the players. The coaching staff have been magnificent, and I wish them all the best, because, if anyone is going to get anything out of the kids, it is Dean (Wilkins) and Dean (White), so I hope they are given a fair crack of the whip.
“Outside of them and the lads, a handful of fans have backed me lately and I really respect that but there were an awful lot of fans who didn’t and other people at the club who, for some reason, made it more difficult than it should have been.”
Within the tight confines of the small capacity Withdean Stadium, perhaps it was always going to be a tall order for Henderson to supplant crowd favourite Kuipers.
The ‘former Dutch marine – chef’ Kuipers, as he was serenaded by the singing section, had endeared himself to the Albion crowd after Micky Adams brought the previously unknown shot-stopper to the club in 2000. Subsequent managers brought in their own alternatives but Kuipers, always a reliable shot-stopper, had a habit of bouncing back.
If Henderson was perturbed by unfavourable crowd opinion at Brighton, it seems there was similar mood music when he made his debut for Grimsby.
Manager Mike Newell brought him in along with three other loan players (Joe Widdowson, Peter Sweeney and Barry Conlon) and, in 14 games he played through to the end of the season, five wins and three draws were enough to give them a finish four points above the relegation trapdoor (Chester City and Luton Town went out of the league).
The excellent Cod Almighty fans website observed some fans booed and jeered Henderson on his home debut because the gale force wind kept blowing his goal kicks into touch.
Pete Green, on the same website, later wrote: “These temporary Mariners have played an enormous part in preserving the club’s status in the Football League – even as repeated mistakes by experienced, longer-term Town players such as Phil Barnes and Tom Newey continued to jeopardise it. Henderson has already gone back to Preston, and we stand no chance of signing him permanently.”
While the other three loan players did sign permanently, Newell brought in another Irish international goalkeeper in Nick Colgan the following season.
Born in Dublin on 16 September 1983, Henderson followed in the goalkeeping footsteps of his father and brothers. Dad Paddy played for Shamrock Rovers; brothers Dave and Stephen played in the League of Ireland. Even his nephew, Stephen, was a goalkeeper – most notably for Portsmouth, Charlton and Nottingham Forest after also going through the youth ranks at Villa.
Wayne played for the same Cherry Orchard club in his home city that also spawned the likes of Mark Yeates, Dave Langan, Andy Reid and Stephen Quinn.
John Gregory was in charge at Villa Park when Henderson joined Aston Villa in July 2001. A year later, he was in goal when Villa won the FA Youth Cup (below), beating Everton – with Wayne Rooney playing up front – 4-2 on aggregate over two legs. Also in the Villa side that day was Liam Ridgewell, who later had a brief loan spell at Brighton, and Peter Whittingham, who went on to play more than 500 professional games and died in tragic circumstances aged just 35.
Joy for Henderson as Aston Villa win the 2002 FA Youth Cup
Although Henderson was chosen on Villa’s first team bench occasionally, he didn’t play any competitive fixtures for the first team. Those opportunities came via loans.
After a month at non-league Tamworth in the spring of 2004, he spent a month on loan at Second Division Wycombe Wanderers under Tony Adams towards the end of the 2003-04 season, when their last place finish meant they were relegated to the newly formed League Two.
The following season he joined Notts County, another of the clubs who’d been relegated with Wycombe, and had two loan spells, three months under Gary Mills and then a month under his successor, caretaker boss Ian Richardson.
Paul Simpson signed Henderson for Preston but when injuries forced him to retire at just 27, he told skysports.com: “I’ve decided to actually step out of football and give my body time to heal for once.
“It is exciting for me though because I’m looking to go into a completely different environment from playing but stay within football at the same time.
“I’ve been trying to get back fit for a few years now with injections and operations, but I’ve decided that rest is the way forward for it now.
“I’ve not signed anything yet, but there are a good few options for me to choose from, which I am really excited about.”
Henderson, who married 2010 Apprentice winner Liz Locke, now works as a licensed intermediary for agency YMU, who, among plenty of other elite footballers, represent Albion’s Evan Ferguson and Andrew Moran.
In parallel lines 