Colin Hendry

Edward Colin James Hendry (born 7 December 1965) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer.

Hendry, who played as a defender, notably played in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers, with whom he was part of the title-winning side of 1995. He also played top flight football in both England and Scotland for Dundee, Manchester City, Rangers, Coventry City and Bolton Wanderers, as well as stints in the Football League with Preston North End and Blackpool. He earned 51 caps for Scotland, scoring three times, and was part of the Tartan Army's Euro 96 and World Cup 98 squads.

Following on from retirement, Hendry took over as Blackpool manager and later had a spell in charge of Clyde. He later returned to Blackburn as part of their coaching staff, having previously had a spell as assistant manager of Boston United.

Playing career

Club

Hendry first played for his local semi-professional club, Highland League outfit Keith, and Islavale, a North Scottish Junior club. He began his full-time professional career in 1983 with Dundee. During his early career, Hendry played mainly as a striker. In 1987 he was transferred to Blackburn Rovers, where he was converted into a defender. One of his first appearances came in the Full Members Cup final, where he scored the only goal in the 1–0 Wembley win over Charlton Athletic.

He played over 100 games for Blackburn before joining Manchester City in 1989, where he was named Player of the Year in the 1989–90 season. His days at City were numbered, however, after he fell out of manager Peter Reid's plans when Reid took over in November 1990 on the departure of Howard Kendall to Everton.

He was re-signed for Blackburn by Kenny Dalglish in November 1991 for a fee of £700,000 and helped them to great success including promotion from the Second Division and winning the FA Premier League. In 1998, he got a move back to Scotland to play with Rangers where he was signed by manager Dick Advocaat for £4 million. However, despite winning the domestic treble in his first season, his time there was relatively unhappy with Advocaat claiming that Hendry was "not his type of player". After his spell at Rangers, Hendry moved back to the Premier League to Coventry City who paid £750,000 for him in February 2000. Hendry had a difficult spell for the Sky Blues with his appearances being limited, he was loaned to then First Division side Bolton Wanderers. He impressed manager Sam Allardyce who made the move permanent in February 2001, with Bolton agreeing to pay a fee of £500,000 should they gain promotion at the end of that season, which they subsequently did. He later moved to Preston North End on loan and finally Blackpool, initially a loan before being made permanent, before retiring from playing football. Overall, Hendry played more than 500 league games and scored more than 40 goals in a playing career spanning 20 years.

In November 2018, Hendry played a league game for Blackburn Sunday League side Moorgate F.C.

International

Hendry managed to win 51 caps for Scotland despite the fact that he was a latecomer to the international scene, not making his debut until he was 27. He captained Scotland in the 1998 World Cup. His last Scotland appearance, on 28 March 2001, saw Hendry score two goals in a 4–0 win over San Marino. His international career was ended as he was subsequently banned for six matches for elbowing San Marino substitute Nicola Albani later in that game.

Coaching career

Hendry landed his first managerial job in June 2004 when he was appointed manager of his former club Blackpool replacing Steve McMahon. He was dismissed by the club on 29 November 2005 following a poor run of results.

On 9 September 2006 Hendry joined Boston United as assistant manager to Steve Evans.

On 11 June 2007 he became manager of Scottish First Division side Clyde. Hendry lost his first three games in charge. He picked up his first victory in a Scottish Challenge Cup