Stephen Francis Henderson (born 2 May 1988) is an Irish professional football coach and former 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 lea ...

who is the goalkeeping coach at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, 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 (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

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 sys ...

club

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

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 association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

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

Conference Premier The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

club

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

on a one-month

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

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 football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

on 13 April 2009 and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 29th List of governors of New Mexico, governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republica ...

said he "did really well". He almost joined League One club

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

on loan until the end of 2009–10 on 25 January 2010, before eventually signing for League Two 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 level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

on an initial one-month loan on 1 February 2010. On 17 September 2010, Henderson joined Yeovil Town 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 association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. 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 sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Portsmouth

On 8 July 2011, Henderson joined

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 ...

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 Jamie Lawrence Ashdown (born 30 November 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent a large part of his career at Portsmouth, for whom he made the majority of his professional appearances. Club caree ...

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, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

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. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a association football, football ground in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and is the home of Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth Football Club. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it ...

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 a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

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 is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. 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 a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

in the League Cup. 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 club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

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 compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

on a three-month loan as cover for the suspended first choice goalkeeper Ryan Allsop and the injured second choice goalkeeper, Darryl Flahavan. In the second game of his loan spell, an away game against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, 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

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 buildin ...

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 e ...

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, 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 ...

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, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against the

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

, for which he was an unused substitute.

Personal life

Henderson comes from a noted Irish goalkeeping family, his grandfather

Paddy Paddy may refer to: People *Paddy (given name), a list of people with the given name or nickname *A nickname or slur for an Irish person Birds *Paddy (pigeon), a Second World War carrier pigeon *Snowy sheathbill or paddy, a bird species *Black ...

, his father, also

Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...

, along with his two uncles,

Dave Dave may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the 1993 film * ''Dave'' (TV series), a 2020 American comedy series * ...

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 men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Men's 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 men's footballers in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Crystal Palace F.C. players

Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Association football goalkeeping coaches 21st-century Irish sportsmen