| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Henderson[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1944-01-24)24 January 1944 (age 81) | ||
| Place of birth | Baillieston, Scotland | ||
| Position | 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 | 6 | (0) |
| 1978–1979 | Airdrieonians | 2 | (0) |
| Total | 342 | (41) | |
| International career | |||
| 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) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
William Henderson (born 24 January 1944) is a Scottish retiredfootballer. He played most of his career forRangers, and spent the latter part of his career withSheffield Wednesday, in Hong Kong withHong Kong Rangers and withAirdrieonians. He also featured at international level forScotland.
Henderson made his career debut in 1960 at the age of 16. He was a very pacyright-winger, and as he was only 5 feet 4 inches tall he became known asWee Willie.[4]
During his time with Rangers he made over 400 appearances and won twoScottish league championships, theScottish Cup four times and theLeague Cup twice,[5] including atreble in1963–64.[4] He was also part of the Rangers team that got to the final of theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup in1966–67 and was part of the campaign that eventually brought the trophy toIbrox in the1971–72 season; however, he was not involved in the 3–2 final victory overFC Dinamo Moscow in Barcelona in May 1972 as he had left Rangers just prior, having fallen out with managerWillie 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 forSheffield Wednesday for the 1972–73 season and made his debut on 12 August 1972 in a 3–0 victory overFulham. 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 againstBolton Wanderers, a match Wednesday had to win to avoid relegation toDivision Three – they won the match 1–0. Henderson left Wednesday at the end of that season and went to play forHong Kong Rangers. In November 1976, he moved toCaroline Hill.[6] He spent three years in the colony and captained theHong Kong League XI (a team made up of foreign professionals plying their trade in Hong Kong) before returning to Scotland for a final season withAirdrieonians.
He made his debut forScotland on 20 October 1962, againstWales 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 overNorthern 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 byPortugal. 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 regardedJimmy Johnstone ofCeltic.[4] In an interview with theScotland on Sunday newspaper in April 2006, Henderson admitted that Scotland's failure to qualify for the1966 and1970 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 theScottish League XI.[8]
Whilst playing for Rangers, Henderson owned and ran ahairdresser's shop in Glasgow. Upon his retirement he opened a pub alongsideAlfie Conn, Jr. inCoatbridge. He later operated a hotel in Lanarkshire and worked forRangers atIbrox on match days as a hospitality host.[4]
Henderson is short sighted and worecontact 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 anOld 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 theCeltic bench!".[4]
| Scotland national team[9] | ||
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 20 October 1962 | Ninian Park,Cardiff |  Wales | 3–1 | 3–2 | 1962–63 British Home Championship |
| 2. | 7 November 1962 | Hampden Park,Glasgow |  Northern Ireland | 4–1 | 5–1 | |
| 3. | 13 June 1963 | Santiago Bernabéu Stadium,Madrid |  Spain | 5–2 | 6–2 | Friendly |
| 4. | 24 November 1965 | Hampden Park,Glasgow | Wales | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1965–66 British Home Championship |
| 5. | 17 May 1969 | Hampden Park,Glasgow |  Cyprus | 7–0 | 8–0 | 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification |
