John Gillespie Henderson (17 January 1932 – 26 January 2005) was a Scottish international

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

in the English

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

Club career

Henderson was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

in 1932, and started playing football as a youth with his

Bishopbriggs Bishopbriggs (; ) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the northern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the Glasgow city centre, city centre. Shires of Scotland, Historically in Lanarkshire, the area was once part of ...

-based church team and for Kirkintilloch Boys Club. He signed for

as a 17-year-old, and after completing his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

Royal Army Ordnance Corps The Royal Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) was a corps of the British Army. At its renaming as a Royal Corps in 1918 it was both a supply and repair corps. In the supply area it had responsibility for weapons, armoured vehicles and other military equi ...

he made his debut for the first team against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

in September 1951. At first playing as a

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

, he also subsequently appeared at

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

and on the

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politic ...

for the club. Henderson's performance with Portsmouth soon attracted the attention of the

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

international management. A physical player known for his pace, fast crosses and good two feet, he was a regular goalscorer for his seven years with Portsmouth. Henderson moved on in March 1958 to

for £16,000. Wolves won the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

title that season but Henderson did not qualify for a medal. He began the following season still at Molineux and appeared in a handful of early games in what would be another championship-winning campaign, but played only nine matches in all for Wolves. Unable to secure a first-team place, Henderson moved on to

in October 1958 for £20,000, and made his debut against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

on 4 October; he scored twice in a thrilling 4–3 win. Injury interrupted his first season, but he still scored twelve times as Arsenal finished third in the league. He became a regular in the first team in the following two seasons. Swindin's tinkering with the Arsenal attacking line-up meant the versatile Henderson was unable to hold down any particular position in the side, and midway through the 1961–62 season he was transferred to

for £14,000. He had played 111 games for Arsenal in total, scoring 29 goals. In his first season at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

, Henderson helped Fulham reach the

1961–62 FA Cup The 1961–62 FA Cup was the 81st staging of the world's oldest football cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup. Tottenham Hotspur won the competition for the fourth time, beating Burnley 3–1 in ...

semi-final, in which they lost narrowly to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

. Henderson also helped keep the Cottagers in the First Division for two seasons. He was a Fulham regular up until March 1963, when he broke his leg. An attempted comeback was unsuccessful, and he left the club in 1964. He continued to play

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with Poole Town, where he was top scorer as they were promoted to the

Southern League Premier Division The Southern League is a football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from East Anglia, the South and Midlands of England, and South Wales. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and e ...

, and Dorchester Town until his retirement from football in 1971.

International career

Henderson made his representative debut in a B international against England B in March 1953. His first appearance for the senior team came on 6 May, in a friendly at home to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

; Scotland lost 2–1. Henderson's only goal for Scotland came on 3 October, in a 3–1 win over

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in a 1953–54 British Home Championship that doubled as a qualifying group for the 1954 World Cup. Scotland finished runners-up and qualified. Henderson was included in their 22-man squad, but only 13 of the 22 travelled to the finals. Henderson stayed at home on reserve with the likes of

Bobby Combe James Robert Combe (29 January 1924 – 19 January 1991) was a Scottish footballer, who played for Hibernian and was player/manager of Dumbarton for one season. He also represented Scotland and the Scottish Football League XI. A schoolboy inter ...

and Jimmy Binning. Inside forward George Hamilton was also on reserve but travelled after

Bobby Johnstone Robert Johnstone (7 September 1929 – 22 August 2001) was a Scottish footballer who played for Selkirk, Hibernian, Manchester City, Oldham Athletic and Witton Albion. Johnstone also represented Scotland and the Scottish League. Johnstone ...

withdrew through injury. His seventh and final senior cap was also against Northern Ireland, in a 2–2 draw on 5 November 1958.

Personal life

Henderson was married with two sons. After his playing days ended, he left the game and settled in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

where he worked as a storeman for a builders' merchant. He died in Poole in 2005 at the age of 73.

Career statistics

International appearances

International goals

Honours

Scotland *

British Home Championship The British Home Championship (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Championship) was an annual football competition contested between the United Kingdom's four national teams: England, Scotlan ...

runners-up: 1953–54 Poole Town * Southern League Division One promotion: 1964–65

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Jackie 1932 births 2005 deaths Military personnel from Glasgow Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's B international footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Portsmouth F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Poole Town F.C. players Dorchester Town F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players Western Football League players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Royal Army Ordnance Corps soldiers 20th-century British Army personnel 20th-century Scottish sportsmen