Hendrie: "Blackwell destroyed my confidence"

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Linz

Linz

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Not that I want this to degenerate into the usual slanging match, but I thought this was an interesting read.

The Telegraph and Argus: LINK

Lee Hendrie hoping to rebuild career with Bradford City

Lee Hendrie believes his return to Yorkshire with City can rebuild his confidence that was shattered at Sheffield United.

The former England international goes straight into Peter Taylor’s squad for this afternoon’s clash with Gillingham after signing a short-term deal.

He (Kevin Blackwell) destroyed me. It got to the stage where I thought I’d become a bad player overnight
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After a career which included more than a decade at Aston Villa, it will be Hendrie’s first taste of football at the bottom level.

But he is just grateful that Taylor has given him the chance to forget the frustrations that began at Bramall Lane when Kevin Blackwell succeeded former City boss Bryan Robson.

Hendrie said: “Blackwell just shut me out completely. I was even having his staff asking me why I wasn’t playing because they couldn’t understand it.

“He was using me as an example of the attitude he wanted from his players and saying I’d be a big part of his plans. But then he’d take me places and not even put me on the bench.

“I’d be travelling down to QPR and not even get a shirt. He just destroyed me.

“It got to the stage where I thought I’d become a bad player overnight. I’d played in the Premiership for so long but suddenly my confidence took a big dent.

“Then I went to Derby and it was the same again. You get that knockback and things don’t work out.

“I haven’t had a manager putting an arm around me and saying ‘come and enjoy your football’. But then I came here and the gaffer’s said exactly that.”

Hendrie played for Taylor in the England Under-21 set-up before winning his only senior cap as a substitute against the Czech Republic in 1998.

After trials recently at Reading and Aberdeen, he needed little persuasion to link up again with a manager he rates as one of his best, even if it meant dropping into League Two.

The 33-year-old added: “He’s passionate about his football as well as being a genuine bloke – and I haven’t come across many managers like that.

“I’ve been up and down and dragged through low patches by certain managers but he’s given me the confidence to enjoy my football again and just go out and play.

“I’m not coming here for the money. I just want to put a message out to people that I’m still here. “I’ve been desperate to get back involved. I want to play for as long as I can.

“I know there are hundreds of players who haven’t got clubs. I’ve got this chance and I want to grasp it.

“I’ve played so many games, a lot at the top level, and it’s tough when you’re being asked to go on trial. But the gaffer said he knew what I was about and has just told me to do what I can do.

“The next few weeks are going to be interesting. I’m going to really knuckle down and try to get myself back to my peak.”
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It'd be interesting to hear the other side of the story obviously...
 

Lee, ask someone to buy you a calendar for Xmas. It is no longer 1998 and you are no longer an up and coming star. You didn't get a game because you were crap and whilst your confidence may have taken a hit, your bank balance didn't.
 
i'd be interested to see howard, harper, billy and cotterills opinions.. we have had an awful lot of players leave with a bad taste in their mgouths over the last season.. a classic sign of bad management is staff leaving.. i reckon ched is still suffering with the hangover (i hope) of hoofys management style
 
Linz said:
"It got to the stage where I thought I’d become a bad player overnight"
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Not quite, Lee. You were already a bad player when we signed you.

I suspect you became a bad player when you ceased to be able to run. Hope that helps narrow things down a bit.
 
"Why isn't he playing me, Big Sam? Gary?"

"Because you're a lazy orange bighead Lee."

"That's destroyed me."

"That's showbiz, tango boy."
 
SwissBlade said:
Hendrie was a little prick. End of
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That said, his warm-up away at Preston the year before last was one of the funniest things I've seen watching the Blades, and certainly the only selling point of that match!
 
super_pig said:
i'd be interested to see howard, harper, billy and cotterills opinions.. we have had an awful lot of players leave with a bad taste in their mgouths over the last season.. a classic sign of bad management is staff leaving.. i reckon ched is still suffering with the hangover (i hope) of hoofys management style
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Funny how the 'proof' always fails to take account of the players who have done well under Blackwell. Funny too that the ruined players mostly go on to feature on the benches of other clubs, some in lower divisions...
 
Guesty said:
That said, his warm-up away at Preston the year before last was one of the funniest things I've seen watching the Blades, and certainly the only selling point of that match!
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He was the best ever warmer up-er just pipping Billy Sharp because Hendrie liked to play to the crowd
 
It has to be said, while I don't necessarily think Blackwell was the best motivator in the world, Hendrie's only complaint against him seems to be that he didn't play him. He then says the same happened at Derby - but not at Bradford.

Now, spot the difference between United/Derby and Bradford. I think a look at the league table should solve the mystery. It's nothing to do with management style. It's that a League 2 standard player will get a game in league 2, and not in the Championship. Keeping players happy when they're playing is the easy bit. Keeping a player happy when he's not playing is more difficult...
 
To be honest, I still stand by that Hendrie wasn't given a proper chance.
 
hendrie was given a major chance under Robson and he fuked up with that so was actually blackwell who decided he couldnt do it anymore, sheff utd can ruin any players career look at jordan stewart hes gone persuing his DJ career in Zante
 

Will someone pass the milk?

Seriously though, although Ched is yet to show his top form, he was good in my opinion on Saturday and with a proper striker PARTNER, he'll get even more.

I shouldn't say this, but I really wish Billy hadn't gone by the time Blackwell left.
 
syd said:
hendrie was given a major chance under Robson and he fuked up with that so was actually blackwell who decided he couldnt do it anymore, sheff utd can ruin any players career look at jordan stewart hes gone persuing his DJ career in Zante
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14 (with some of these used as a sub) games out of a possible 38, is not what I would define as being given a 'major' chance.
 
Robbie said:
14 (with some of these used as a sub) games out of a possible 38, is not what I would define as being given a 'major' chance.
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Hendrie has done nothing since we got shut of him, and did nothing for those clubs we loaned him to. Nor did I see anything to suggest we should have given him an extended run in the team.

He didn't have the legs to play anywhere in a 4-4-2, and wasn't good enough to accommodate in a 5-man midfield (which you'd need to do to compensate for his immobility).

We should never have bought him.
 
Hmmmm then it was the same again at Derby and 2 failed trials at Reading and Aberdeen.

I think you should look at yourself Lee
 
syd said:
hendrie was given a major chance under Robson and he fuked up with that so was actually blackwell who decided he couldnt do it anymore, sheff utd can ruin any players career look at jordan stewart hes gone persuing his DJ career in Zante
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I actually really hoped that he'd be exciting for us. Absolutely nobody was ever going to shine under Sornob though, and he didn't. That era was just a point in time which set us back so far, it's hardly believable.

Hendrie was never going to get a chance under Blackwell, but really I just wish that the last few years were written out, and we start again.
 
Attitude problem, Hendrie, nah.........

Since being unfairly frozen out at Villa (his words), he's had spells at 7 different clubs in 3 years starting about 40 games. OK he's had injuries but I think his career pattern and so called problems suggest it's more to do with him as much as anything else. I notice he made the bench at Bradford on Saturday :)

Must admit, I thought he'd do well for us and maybe he got caught up in the whole Robson thing. A fit and fired up Hendrie from a few years ago would probably do us now !
 
I don't know either Hendrie or Blackwell beyond things I've read about them but the feeling I get is that they are both 2 of the biggest wankers to grace Sheffield United Football Club, so pointing and shouting isn't going to make me change my mind. Maybe a coherent argument I'd read...
Y'know "biggest wankers to grace Sheffield United Football Club" is probably worth a thread of it's own if it hasn't already been done.
 
Any player who gets given a black eye by Billy Sharp within a few days of joining the Club deserves little respect. More so the fact he was on a ridiculous wage at the time rumoured to be in excess of 17k a week. He played billy big bollocks and got battered by a Billy.

A complete tool who gave nothing on the pitch for the red and white shirt that was so obviously beneath him. His greatest claim to fame whilst representing the Club is managing to get sent off in a play off final at the end of the game after playing only 5 minutes.

Yes Blackwell was a poor manager but that had little impact on how Hendrie robbed the Club blind during the period he was here.
 
mattbianco1 said:
Hendrie speaking up about Blackwell again.

The squad we had that season was the best in the league. Ruined by 2 very shit managers

www.examinerlive.co.uk

Hendrie's scathing attack on Blackwell as he recalls United spell

Former midfielder was shipped out on loan within days of Kevin Blackwell being named manager
www.examinerlive.co.uk www.examinerlive.co.uk
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"I have never got to tell the story, which one day I will do."

Is he waiting for Blackwell to die or something?


Talk about two wrongs not making a right though, we shipped Lee Hendrie out to Derby, and got Jordan Stewart in return.
 

Klaatu Barada Nikto said:
"I have never got to tell the story, which one day I will do."

Is he waiting for Blackwell to die or something?


Talk about two wrongs not making a right though, we shipped Lee Hendrie out to Derby, and got Jordan Stewart in return.
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He will sit on the story til he needs some more money.
 
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