Henderson Leaves The Club

[Portland Bill]

Unfortunatley for you Riaz you don't get signed ( and have your contract renewed) by a Championship club if you can't read the game.

Were talking top pro footballers here, there not mugs.

[Redcliffe 78]

some people cant see pass his very good shot stopping...

he cause's so many problems by being so slow to come for the ball its unreal.

Sheff Utd away springs to mind, when he accidently head-butted fontaine - he caused that confusion, because fontaine was expecting him to come and collect - but he was slow as usual.

One game?, Yeovil fans player of season the second part of the season, Millen and the club wanted him to sign a new contract, WOW Riaz, reserve games i seem him play he looked good to me.

[Portland Bill]

some people cant see pass his very good shot stopping...

he cause's so many problems by being so slow to come for the ball its unreal.

Sheff Utd away springs to mind, when he accidently head-butted fontaine - he caused that confusion, because fontaine was expecting him to come and collect - but he was slow as usual.

So David James doesn't make the odd mistake either!!

McCallister and now Gerkin, perhaps you should pop up to the training ground and give them some coaching!!

[Riaz]

So David James doesn't make the odd mistake either!!

McCallister and now Gerkin, perhaps you should pop up to the training ground and give them some coaching!!

It's not the odd mistake though is it?? Every game he looks dodgy.

Gerken and Mcallister should be long gone from this club. They are both not good enough. There are lucky to be here.

[Redcliffe 78]

It's not the odd mistake though is it?? Every game he looks dodgy.

Gerken and Mcallister should be long gone from this club. They are both not good enough. There are lucky to be here.

Every game he looks dodgy, like when i close my eyes when James makes a clearance.

[Brislingwood Red]

As on the OS.

Sad that it turned out this way as I preferred him to Gerken. Oh well onwards and upwards, although I do think he'll do well wherever he goes (more than likely Portsmouth).

As the OS says we are due a tribunal fee, how much do you think it will be? I'd guess about 350k?

More like 25k rising to 75k at a push I reckon.

[Portland Bill]

It's not the odd mistake though is it?? Every game he looks dodgy.

Gerken and Mcallister should be long gone from this club. They are both not good enough. There are lucky to be here.

Just glad your not on the coaching staff, I would imagine we would have about 3 players left by now.

But you wouldn't have a clue who to sign!!

[Riaz]

I have said that 2 players out the WHOLE squad ain't good enough!

Poor point made their bill, try again!

[Chappers]

A lot of short-term thinking on here, and in all honesty, I think that will ultimately be the cause of our demise as a Championship Club if we are not careful. As a Club, we are not rich enough to buy promotion, and in terms of turnover are definitely in the bottom half of Championship clubs. Faced with that, plus a Chairman willing to support the Club, the obvious way forward is to be smart, which means developing youngsters (Both Acadamy and lower division purchases), freebies that will improve the Club, Premier League loanees, and then if you do have to spend, or sign a player on decent wages, target the spending wisely. As I have always said, nothing against DJ, good keeper, good pro, but he was just not what we needed. I just don't think that the 'extra value' he added on the pitch justified his signing. It's easy to knock Henderson, but he proved at Yeovil that he could be very good, if given a run of games. Fine, James may be better short-term, but you'd expect an old pro to be better than a youngster learning his trade. However, if you look forward, Hendo was a far better option, and given time to develop, he either fills the keeping position for a number of years, or City get a nice transfer fee. For a Club with City's limited resources, taking the expensive short-term option continually is just not sustainable in the longer-term. For all the stuff about him not signing, I think he saw the writing on the wall once we signed DJ, and realised that moving on was his best option.

As I said in another post, if roles were reversed and we were signing a young player who impressed greatly in Div 1 last season, and were likely to get him on the cheap, we'd be absolutely delighted. I think Pompey have done a great bit of business, and it's one hat City will regret. As for Gerks, he does not command his area brilliantly, but is one hell of a good shot-stopper, I don't have any great problem with him, and he is far from the worst Championship keeper.

[Mr Popodopolous]

A lot of short-term thinking on here, and in all honesty, I think that will ultimately be the cause of our demise as a Championship Club if we are not careful. As a Club, we are not rich enough to buy promotion, and in terms of turnover are definitely in the bottom half of Championship clubs. Faced with that, plus a Chairman willing to support the Club, the obvious way forward is to be smart, which means developing youngsters (Both Acadamy and lower division purchases), freebies that will improve the Club, Premier League loanees, and then if you do have to spend, or sign a player on decent wages, target the spending wisely. As I have always said, nothing against DJ, good keeper, good pro, but he was just not what we needed. I just don't think that the 'extra value' he added on the pitch justified his signing. It's easy to knock Henderson, but he proved at Yeovil that he could be very good, if given a run of games. Fine, James may be better short-term, but you'd expect an old pro to be better than a youngster learning his trade. However, if you look forward, Hendo was a far better option, and given time to develop, he either fills the keeping position for a number of years, or City get a nice transfer fee. For a Club with City's limited resources, taking the expensive short-term option continually is just not sustainable in the longer-term. For all the stuff about him not signing, I think he saw the writing on the wall once we signed DJ, and realised that moving on was his best option.

As I said in another post, if roles were reversed and we were signing a young player who impressed greatly in Div 1 last season, and were likely to get him on the cheap, we'd be absolutely delighted. I think Pompey have done a great bit of business, and it's one hat City will regret. As for Gerks, he does not command his area brilliantly, but is one hell of a good shot-stopper, I don't have any great problem with him, and he is far from the worst Championship keeper.

Couldn't agree more. Short-termism is a bad sign, as you say James excellent short term but maybe partially because of the James signing we have now lost a player who not only would have slotted in seamlessly to replace James- a replacement is now surely needed which will cost money, wages etc- but Henderson with a bit of luck, had he come off (always thought he looked decent tbh), could have been a keeper for us to rely on, nurture have as our No.1 for a good decade to decade and a half.

[spudski]

A lot of short-term thinking on here, and in all honesty, I think that will ultimately be the cause of our demise as a Championship Club if we are not careful. As a Club, we are not rich enough to buy promotion, and in terms of turnover are definitely in the bottom half of Championship clubs. Faced with that, plus a Chairman willing to support the Club, the obvious way forward is to be smart, which means developing youngsters (Both Acadamy and lower division purchases), freebies that will improve the Club, Premier League loanees, and then if you do have to spend, or sign a player on decent wages, target the spending wisely. As I have always said, nothing against DJ, good keeper, good pro, but he was just not what we needed. I just don't think that the 'extra value' he added on the pitch justified his signing. It's easy to knock Henderson, but he proved at Yeovil that he could be very good, if given a run of games. Fine, James may be better short-term, but you'd expect an old pro to be better than a youngster learning his trade. However, if you look forward, Hendo was a far better option, and given time to develop, he either fills the keeping position for a number of years, or City get a nice transfer fee. For a Club with City's limited resources, taking the expensive short-term option continually is just not sustainable in the longer-term. For all the stuff about him not signing, I think he saw the writing on the wall once we signed DJ, and realised that moving on was his best option.

As I said in another post, if roles were reversed and we were signing a young player who impressed greatly in Div 1 last season, and were likely to get him on the cheap, we'd be absolutely delighted. I think Pompey have done a great bit of business, and it's one hat City will regret. As for Gerks, he does not command his area brilliantly, but is one hell of a good shot-stopper, I don't have any great problem with him, and he is far from the worst Championship keeper.

Spot on Chappers...

I agree DJ is a fantastic keeper, but has he brought much more to the Club?

He'll be off at the end of the season most likely. Gerkin will have lost 2 years experience in the Championship, we've lost Henderson, and imho lost two other fine keepers in Weale and Basso because of poor man management. What a waste...

So we'll be back to square one next season, with most likely a Keeper who has played second fiddle for the last two years.

Undoubtably DJ was/is a fine Keeper, but did our team look more assured in his presence last year?

At least with the rest of the Team, KM looks to be building for the future.

[cityhead]

Spot on Chappers...

I agree DJ is a fantastic keeper, but has he brought much more to the Club?

He'll be off at the end of the season most likely. Gerkin will have lost 2 years experience in the Championship, we've lost Henderson, and imho lost two other fine keepers in Weale and Basso because of poor man management. What a waste...

So we'll be back to square one next season, with most likely a Keeper who has played second fiddle for the last two years.

Undoubtably DJ was/is a fine Keeper, but did our team look more assured in his presence last year?

At least with the rest of the Team, KM looks to be building for the future.

Spot on Chappers,

From what i have seen Riaz, there is no evidence that DJ is a fantastic keeper, and no evidence that our defence last year was any more assured than before he arrived. People keep harping on about the fact that he played in the Premier League and the last world cup, without distinguishing himself. The errors and poor distribution towards the end of last season were laughable and he is supposed to be a shoe in for a coaching role when he hangs his boots up, so why wouldn't henderson want to stay and learn from this great master of goalkeeping.

As predicted earlier in the season the presence of DJ has and will have further a detrimental effect on the club and results - and as aconsequence we lose a very promising player.

[Riaz]

Spot on Chappers,

From what i have seen Riaz, there is no evidence that DJ is a fantastic keeper, and no evidence that our defence last year was any more assured than before he arrived. People keep harping on about the fact that he played in the Premier League and the last world cup, without distinguishing himself. The errors and poor distribution towards the end of last season were laughable and he is supposed to be a shoe in for a coaching role when he hangs his boots up, so why wouldn't henderson want to stay and learn from this great master of goalkeeping.

As predicted earlier in the season the presence of DJ has and will have further a detrimental effect on the club and results - and as aconsequence we lose a very promising player.

We had a terrible defence, but he managed to get something like 14 clean sheets... enough said.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

some people cant see pass his very good shot stopping...

he cause's so many problems by being so slow to come for the ball its unreal.

Sheff Utd away springs to mind, when he accidently head-butted fontaine - he caused that confusion, because fontaine was expecting him to come and collect - but he was slow as usual.

and some people called Basso a clown and said he was'nt fit too take over Phillips gloves and then Basso became a god and Phillips was the anti-christ.

Not forgetting that Phillips was a good shot stopper, allegedly.

[Mr Popodopolous]

Edit, double post.

[miketh2nd]

Is a shame has ended this way seeing as we waited so long for him to come good and then pretty much told to go else where once they gave Gerken the two year contract. Don't blame him for leaving at all and can see why he'd rather be no2 at Pompey then 3rd here and most lightly be on loan again! Will be very annoyed if we now go and sign another Goalkeeper as this would go totally go against the new policy of giving young players a chance.

[Esmond Million's Bung]

Is a shame has ended this way seeing as we waited so long for him to come good and then pretty much told to go else where once they gave Gerken the two year contract. Don't blame him for leaving at all and can see why he'd rather be no2 at Pompey then 3rd here and most lightly be on loan again! Will be very annoyed if we now go and sign another Goalkeeper as this would go totally go against the new policy of giving young players a chance.

I blame Gary Johnson.

[Chappers]

We had a terrible defence, but he managed to get something like 14 clean sheets... enough said.

It's never been about knocking DJ. First point is that, once Caulker arrived our defence was not that bad. Second point - The cost per week of employing DJ, factoring the cost of hiring a third keeper as cover was, say £12K per week - Was the difference that he made, as opposed to DG or SH, really worth that much money? Did it really make that much difference to our final position?

Would that money have been better spent on strengthening other part of the team? With finite resources, we have to spend wisely and get real value. Had we not already had 2 good keepers, the signing of DJ would have been ideal, but as it was, it was just marginally improving an area of the team that was not a particular problem, and definitely not a priority.

[Riaz]

It's never been about knocking DJ. First point is that, once Caulker arrived our defence was not that bad. Second point - The cost per week of employing DJ, factoring the cost of hiring a third keeper as cover was, say £12K per week - Was the difference that he made, as opposed to DG or SH, really worth that much money? Did it really make that much difference to our final position?

Would that money have been better spent on strengthening other part of the team? With finite resources, we have to spend wisely and get real value. Had we not already had 2 good keepers, the signing of DJ would have been ideal, but as it was, it was just marginally improving an area of the team that was not a particular problem, and definitely not a priority.

We needed a goalkeeper at the time, as we thought promotion was realistic - We would'nt have got promotion with gerken in goal.

If gerken had been in goal, I'm sure things would have been much worse than they were.

Mind you, I cant argue with anyone who says DJ is a expensive luxury and that we could have given henderson a chance.

[Monkeh]

We needed a goalkeeper at the time, as we thought promotion was realistic - We would'nt have got promotion with gerken in goal.

If gerken had been in goal, I'm sure things would have been much worse than they were.

Mind you, I cant argue with anyone who says DJ is a expensive luxury and that we could have given henderson a chance.

hindsight it easy,

what if we gave henderson the nod as number one and we still started last season like we did,

He would of been hung out to dry and slagged off hugely and we could of still been in the postion of him walking away leaving us with just Gerken,

You don't get a chance to sign the best english goalkeeper (at the time) very often and it was taken and increased media coverage of the club until the opening at least,

Hendo left he didn't want to play for the club he is the same as basso no matter what way you look at it,

[BCFC_Dan]

It's all well and good to talk about developing youngsters but every season our first priority has to be staying in this division, and to do that you need a number of reliable, experienced professionals.

Our defensive record last season wasn't great, despite having one of the best goalkeepers in the division playing. If we had a solid back 4 in place I'd say fair enough, give a kid a try in goal, but the combination of an inadequate back 4 and an inexperienced goalkeeper could be disastrous.

There's absolutely no point in having a team of promising youngsters if we're back in league one and can't keep hold of them.

[GrahamC]

It's all well and good to talk about developing youngsters but every season our first priority has to be staying in this division, and to do that you need a number of reliable, experienced professionals.

Our defensive record last season wasn't great, despite having one of the best goalkeepers in the division playing. If we had a solid back 4 in place I'd say fair enough, give a kid a try in goal, but the combination of an inadequate back 4 and an inexperienced goalkeeper could be disastrous.

There's absolutely no point in having a team of promising youngsters if we're back in league one and can't keep hold of them.

Absolutely.

For me there are two issues here that don't seem to have been covered already by this (already lengthy) thread.

Firstly as Coppell alluded to, it was SL who wanted to sign James, so all this stuff about the money being better spent elsewhere suddenly becomes moot, as effectively it is SL's money that has funded him and that's how he chose to spend it.

The second one is that at the start of last season Henderson's "experience" amounted 3 starts for us and 8 in League Two for Aldershot, therefore it made perfect sense for him to spend time on loan at Yeovil rather than sitting on our bench.

If as a result of that, he decided that he didn't want to stay to be James' deputy for 2011/12 then our strategy of signing up the very useful Gerken as one of our two keepers, thereby avoiding the Basso/Weale situation again, was in my mind the right course.

If Henderson wanted to stay and be happy to understudy James for one more year personally I'd have gone with that, but no-one really knows if that was ever even an option, do they?

[Somerset_Sam]

He has decided he doesnt want to stay at City, gone and already forgotten.

[Riaz]

hindsight it easy,

what if we gave henderson the nod as number one and we still started last season like we did,

He would of been hung out to dry and slagged off hugely and we could of still been in the postion of him walking away leaving us with just Gerken,

You don't get a chance to sign the best english goalkeeper (at the time) very often and it was taken and increased media coverage of the club until the opening at least,

Hendo left he didn't want to play for the club he is the same as basso no matter what way you look at it,

I did'nt say we should'nt sign james - I said I can understand the arguments against.

Hendo left to be no 2 for pompey - He could and should be no2 here.

[Monkeh]

I did'nt say we should'nt sign james - I said I can understand the arguments against.

Hendo left to be no 2 for pompey - He could and should be no2 here.

I wasn't saying you did Riaz although it came across as such, It just happened to be your post I replyed to for the arguements for thats all,

For all we know Hendo could of been no2 for this coming season but as he didn't bother to come to training on friday and reject a good contract from city we'll never know

[Lack of Action Man]

I suppose It's all about hindsight though like Monkeh said:

what if we gave henderson the nod as number one and we still started last season like we did,

He would of been hung out to dry and slagged off hugely

Which would have been detrimental to his confidence leading to poor performances etc etc

Another point to add is that youth isn't always best with goalkeepers.

Kasper Schmeichel having been axed from leeds was a story that caught me off guard: http://www.leicester.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=245600

He's a good young goalie but according to their fans got less confident as the season went on and ended up being a question mark in the team.

What if something similar happened with Henderson? He would then most likely be getting the same sort of slating Gerken gets and fans would be questioning why he's in the team.

[spudski]

It's not purely about the performance between the sticks, with a player of DJ's experience, you are also paying for his knowledge and experience, and hopefully it can be past on to others in the Team.

What happens on the Training ground and in the changing room can have a major influence on the rest of the Team.

Is that individual responsive to critism by the manager. Does he just look at the floor and shake his head, or come back with an 'in the face' comment?

Is he willing to interact with the players and management Team, or is he purely a loner and wishes to be left alone to 'get on with his job'?

Does he instill confidence in his team on the field, or are they worried about upsetting him?

What sort of Keeper is going to turn up on the day? One day someone who will encourage...the next someone who will berate...

Do fellow team mates walk on eggshells around him?

All food for thought....

[slartibartfast]

Quite surprised this has caused a three pager!

He's a young ok keeper, but him leaving isn't a show-stopper.

Don't know the guy, but he did appear to have a bit of an edge to him, he seemed a bit of a "Phillips" kind of guy (without the appearances to walk the walk).

He's gone,don't wish him any ill will, nor any particular good fortune, he just didn't register one way or the other.

let's move on.

[Dolman Block B]

The final chapter...

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_7028527,00.html

[Lack of Action Man]

The final chapter...

http://www.skysports...7028527,00.html

Hints of sour grapes in that article for me, I can understand his frustration but surely there had to be some aspects of his time at City that deserved recognition rather than bigging up Pompey like that.