Stephen Francis Henderson (born 2 May 1988) is an Irish professional

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 le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Henderson began his youth career with

Belvedere Belvedere (from Italian, meaning "beautiful sight") may refer to: Places Australia *Belvedere, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region Africa * Belvedere (Casablanca), a neighborhood in Casablanca, Morocco *Belvedere, Harare, Zi ...

before joining

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in 2005 at the age of 17. He progressed through the Villa youth system before signing his first professional contract on 5 May 2006.

Bristol City

Henderson agreed to join newly promoted

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

on 30 May 2007 on a one-year contract starting on 1 July, when his contract with Aston Villa expired. He made his debut against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

on 11 August 2007, coming on as a substitute in the second half. He joined

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

club

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on a one-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

on 31 August 2007. He made seven appearances during his spell with the club. He joined Weymouth of the Conference Premier on a one-month loan on 29 February 2008 and spent the rest of the 2007–08 season with the club, making 16 appearances. He was offered a new deal with City in May 2008. Henderson came on as a substitute in the ninth minute against

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

on 13 April 2009 and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...

said he "did really well". He almost joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

on loan until the end of 2009–10 on 25 January 2010, before eventually signing for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

on an initial one-month loan on 1 February 2010. On 17 September 2010, Henderson joined

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

on a 30-day emergency loan, making his debut on 18 September in a 4–2 away defeat to

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

. On 3 January 2011, Henderson re-joined Yeovil on loan for the remainder of the season and subsequently kept a clean sheet on his return against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Portsmouth

On 8 July 2011, Henderson joined

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

on a three-year contract, citing his reasons for leaving Bristol City as frustration at his lack of first-team opportunities. Henderson was back-up goalkeeper for Jamie Ashdown until Ashdown's loss of form. He made his Portsmouth debut at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

in a 1–0 defeat on 1 October 2011 and then kept his first clean sheet for Portsmouth in a 2–0 victory over

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...

on 15 October. Since making his debut, Henderson established himself as Portsmouth's first choice goalkeeper ahead of Ashdown.

West Ham United

On 16 March 2012, Henderson joined Championship rivals

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on an emergency loan from Portsmouth until the end of the season. He was unused substitute for the 2012 Championship play-off Final, a result that ensured West Ham made an immediate return to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. On 21 May 2012, Henderson joined West Ham permanently on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his first-team debut for West Ham on 28 August 2012 against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. West Ham won the match 2–0. He joined Championship club Ipswich Town on a three-month loan on 16 October 2012 and made his debut in a 2–1 defeat at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

on 20 October. He made 16 appearances for Ipswich, and re-signed for the club on loan for the rest of the season on 31 January 2013. He was recalled to West Ham on 21 March 2013. In October 2013 Henderson signed for

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

on a three-month loan as cover for the suspended first choice goalkeeper

Ryan Allsop Ryan Allsop (born 17 June 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for EFL Championship club Hull City. He started his career as a youth player at West Bromwich Albion, before moving to Millwall in 2011. After short ...

and the injured second choice goalkeeper,

Darryl Flahavan Darryl James Flahavan la-hay-van(born 28 November 1978) is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeper coach at EFL League One club Wigan Athletic. He has spent most of his career ...

. In the second game of his loan spell, an away game against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, Henderson dislocated his shoulder after colliding with Forest's Simon Cox. He returned to West Ham for treatment for the injury which was expected to keep him out of football for six months. He left West Ham by mutual consent in July 2014.

Charlton Athletic

Henderson signed for Championship club

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

on a three-year contract on 21 July 2014.

Nottingham Forest

On 22 July 2016, Henderson signed for Championship club

on a three-year contract. On 31 January 2018, Henderson rejoined League One club Portsmouth on loan until the end of the 2017–18 season. On 4 December 2018, Henderson joined League One club

on an initial seven-day emergency loan, which was then extended by another seven days on 12 December and then again until Christmas Day the week after.

Crystal Palace

In July 2019, he joined

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

on a season-long deal following his release from Nottingham Forest. He signed a contract extension in August 2020. He was released at the end of the 2020–21 season.

Return to Charlton Athletic

On 7 September 2021, Henderson returned to Charlton Athletic on a one-year deal. On 10 May 2022, it was confirmed that Henderson would leave Charlton Athletic when his contract expired.

International career

Henderson was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

by the Republic of Ireland at under-16, under-17 and under-19 level. He made his under-21s debut as a substitute in a 3–2 defeat away to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in October 2007. He finished his under-21 career with eight caps. Henderson was called up to the senior national team for a February 2012

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, for which he was an unused substitute.

Personal life

Henderson comes from a noted Irish goalkeeping family, his grandfather Paddy, his father, also

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

, along with his two uncles,

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

and Wayne, are all former goalkeepers.

Career statistics

References

External links

Stephen Henderson profile
at the Nottingham Forest F.C. website
Stephen Henderson profile
at the Football Association of Ireland website *
Ireland profile
at Soccerscene {{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Stephen 1988 births Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate association footballers Association football goalkeepers Belvedere F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players York City F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Expatriate footballers in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Crystal Palace F.C. players