From Stock bottom to a high flier
LOAN SPELLS HAVE BOOSTED HENDERSON’S ENGLAND BID
LOAN ranger Dean Henderson believes his education at the school of hard knocks has been the making of him.
The 22-year-old goalkeeper, currently starring for Sheffield United, has spent fourand-a-half seasons out on loan from parent club Manchester United.
He started in the National League North with Stockport, aged 18, right, and played at all three levels of the Football League before making it to the top flight with the Blades.
Henderson’s experiences could not have been more removed from the cosseted academy life at Old Trafford.
And a sink-or-swim moment on his Stockport debut against Nuneaton is particularly memorable.
Opposition striker Rob Duffy had heard about the keeper playing his first game and decided to give him a ‘welcome’.
“A big, fat centreforward said, ‘Put the ball on the goalie, he’s pooping himself’,” recalled Henderson ahead of today’s home game against Norwich.
“I thought, ‘I am’. He has put it up, the ball has held back in the wind and hasn’t even reached the box.
“I’ve got to the end of the box and thought, ‘I’m going to have to slow down here’. I stopped, he flicked it on and it’s trickled into the goal. I thought ‘Oh God’. I had 4,000 fans at Stockport giving me hurlers, saying ‘Get back to Man United, you’re useless’.”
Rather than hide, Henderson had the character to come for the next high ball and caught it as his side fought back to earn a 1-1 draw.
“I felt amazing,” he said. “Right from there I’ve always built on that. “I went from feeling my worst to my best in one game.”
That confident attitude stood Henderson in good stead as he progressed up the football pyramid with loans at Grimsby and Shrewsbury before reaching the Blades.
Henderson is now on Gareth Southgate’s England radar, while David De Gea’s dip in form has led to calls for him to be given a chance at Old Trafford.
He aims to be first choice for club and country but says he will not feel like a Manchester United player until he makes his debut for them.
He said: “That’s my aim, to play for United, but until that happens I have no right to say I’m a United player.”