William Martin Melville Henderson (born 3 May 1956) is a Scottish former footballer who played in Scotland, England, and the United States. A forward, he scored 52 goals in 244 league games in a ten-year career in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

. He started his career at

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

in 1974, and went on to win the

Premier Division Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of gov ...

title in 1975–76 and 1977–78, as well as the Scottish Cup in

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. He was loaned out to Hibernian, before joining American club

Philadelphia Fury The Philadelphia Fury was an American soccer team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that last competed in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA). The club formerly competed in the American Soccer League and is currently owned ...

in 1978. He then spent three years with Leicester City, winning the Second Division title in 1979–80. He joined Chesterfield in 1981, before being traded to Port Vale in October 1983. However, he was sacked the next year after failing to report for training, and later played for

Spalding United Spalding United Football Club is a football club based in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Sir Halley Stewart Field. History The club was established in 1905 when Fulney Institute and Vic ...

and Bourne Town.

Career

Henderson started his career with Jock Wallace's

, scoring 13 goals in 33 appearances in the 1975–76 season after getting his first goal in a 2–1 defeat to Hearts at Ibrox. He was a member of the

Scottish Cup winning first XI, helping "Gers" beat Hearts 3–1 at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

in front of 85,354 spectators. Rangers also won the

title. However, he scored only one goal in 12 games in 1976–77 as Rangers finished second in the league. He played just twice in the 1977–78 season, and was loaned out to

Eddie Turnbull Edward Hunter Turnbull (12 April 1923 – 30 April 2011) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. He played as a forward for Hibernian and Scotland, forming part of the Hibs " Famous Five" forward line. He then had successful sp ...

's Hibernian. He scored one goal in six Premier Division games for "Hibs" during his loan spell at Easter Road. Henderson moved to the United States to play in the North American Soccer League for

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

. He scored three goals in 17 games at Veterans Stadium for Alan Ball's side. He then moved to England to play for Leicester City in the 1978–79 season, who were managed by his former boss Jock Wallace. He scored six league and cup goals for the "Foxes" in the 1979–80 season, as City won the Second Division title. He scored four goals in the 1980–81 campaign, as Leicester were relegated straight back out of the First Division. He scored 16 goals in 100 league and cup appearances in his three years at Filbert Street. Henderson moved on to Frank Barlow's Chesterfield, who finished 11th in the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

in 1981–82 before dropping out of the division in last place in 1982–83. He scored 23 goals in 87 league games at Saltergate. He joined Port Vale in exchange for Bob Newton and £8,000 in October 1983. He was partnered with

Eamonn O'Keefe Eamonn Gerard O'Keefe (born 13 October 1953) is an English-born Irish former professional footballer. He played as a forward, but in later years was moved into a midfield role. He moved from non-league Stalybridge Celtic to Plymouth Argyle, ...

, and scored seven goals in 28 games in the 1983–84 season. The "Valiants" were relegated to the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

and manager John McGrath lost his job and was replaced by his assistant John Rudge. Henderson was not a popular player with fans, as he had arrived in exchange for a popular player and the club failed to win in his first 18 games. He then failed to turn up for pre-season training at Vale Park for the next season and the club cancelled his contract. He moved on to non-League with

and Bourne Town.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Rangers * Scottish Football League Premier Division: 1975–76 & 1977–78 * Scottish Cup:

Leicester City * Football League Second Division: 1979–80

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Martin Footballers from Kirkcaldy Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Rangers F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Philadelphia Fury (1978–1980) players Leicester City F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Spalding United F.C. players Bourne Town F.C. players Scottish Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players English Football League players 1956 births Living people