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Reading RAFCBLUE’s post on another thread got me thinking about the circumstances around Henderson’s departure from the club. His parting words were:
"To find out my 7 1/2 year association with AFC Rochdale was coming to an end via social media was a shock to say the least.
“I only received an email yesterday morning confirming that the offer the club had previously made to extend my contract was being retracted and I was therefore being released.
“I am not just shocked but unbelievably upset and disappointed to have found this out in this manner.
“It was always my intention to try and stay at Rochdale and make it to my testimonial year and try and become the all time top scorer of the football club.
“I had been in negotiations with the football club, for some time, regarding an extension prior to the covid-19 pandemic but if I am honest the lines of communication were extremely inconsistent to say the least.
“I was not trying to ask for more money than what the club was offering and we ended up at a stand-off over some minor details. The negotiations became protracted and it became clear I was not being told the full truth."
________
How are people feeling about this now? I do wonder if more shit from underneath Bottomley’s carpet has been found that would substantiate Henderson’s version. If I recall rightly at the time people believed Henderson, then Bottomley released a statement that seemed to tip the balance in his favour. Obviously, much has happened since then to demonstrate how we should treat Bottomley’s words.
Reading Henderson’s statement, it does seem like he had a genuine desire to stay here and that an agreement could have been reached. Can anyone shed any more light?
Its not as easy to get relegated when you have a decent goal scorer. And a new investor maybe didn't want to have anyone on big ( ish and for us) wages. Equally you wouldn't want the best player in a decade opening his mouth about deliberately crappy tactics and meaningless managerial interviews... Hence BBMs cheek in asking to be paid to leave before announcing he had a new job...He had followed his orders and achieved relegation and wanted a bit more cash whilst everyone else was grabbing some. Stripping what was left of the corpse he had created. Covid produced the perfect opportunity for scoundrels, no matchday unrest, no real oversight, a compliant team manager, a compromised Chairman and a complicit board... Bottom and the rest took full advantage for their own ends
Everyone knew that Hendo was out of contract in June 2020. Hendo and his agent would have known their worth and he would have been one of if not the top earner at the club.
The key bit of information:
"I only received an email yesterday morning confirming that the offer the club had previously made to extend my contract was being retracted and I was therefore being released."
Who sent that email/did that piece of communication?
There is no doubt in my mind that with Ian Henderson in the team we would not have been relegated from League 1.
Henderson is out of contract this Summer I think and he is not catching / injured at Salford currently.
Would have fancy a January move to Dale and have a crack at that record?
George Bernard Shaw had it right:
"He who can does; he who cannot, teaches."
https://www.visittheusa.co.uk/
That thought actually flashed through my mind, apparently he has a "Bad back"... difficult to disprove, easy to claim. Is he available, would he accept an apology , would RS want him, 9 appearances this season at Salford and 36 years old , if he is in the right frame of mind I would think an 18 month deal in January would be OK , he doesn't have serious previous injury problems and I bet covering his mortgage for 18 more months would suit him very well. I dare say one or two people at the club still have his number...
Another thought... did the departure of Henderson and the money freed up disguise the self-approved pay rise for Bottom and the contract extension for BBM? What other pay rises were paid at or around that time?
And did he really spend £50k on Covid measures per his TV interview? there must be a lake of sanitiser under one of the stands or was it just more BS or another "deal" with an unknown company that had read the books about Brian Clough and his transfer sweeteners?
I think it's harsh to say we didn't have a good striker last season and I think it's too simplistic to say we'd have definitely stayed up had we kept Ian Henderson.
Henderson averaged a goal every 232 minutes last season in League Two.
Humphrys averaged a goal every 193 minutes in League One.
Humphrys' injuries let us down and although he was undoubtedly less injury prone in his time here, we've seen this season that Henderson isn't infallible in that sense anymore.
I definitely tend to side with Henderson's story now that we've seen all the BS that Bottomley was spouting.
On Henderson coming back and breaking that record it would be a great story that I would love to see. Is it the right thing for the club right now? I'm not so sure. Financially and Risk wise it'd be a bit of a gamble I think but so are all signings.
On a move - it is always up to player and club but Hendo is 36 and out of contract at the end of June.
Playing regularly and scoring regularly
Rochdale has always been a club where if you are player who wants to play you will get game time.
We helped a 35 year old Grant Holt in 2016 and Holty has always helped us! Holt got 18 months at Hibernian out of that soiree at Dale.
Could Hendo use Dale as a springboard to get one final deal?
I bet Salford will want him off the wage bill if they could move him on but Salford and Hendo could come to a compromise on that six months making him "free".
Not sure how many he is off Reg's record but if he had a crack at playing in 20(ish) games he'd have a fair shot.
George Bernard Shaw had it right:
"He who can does; he who cannot, teaches."
https://www.visittheusa.co.uk/
Don't forget the statement in response was allegedly from our former chairman. He who so loved the club he sold his 110,000, inherited, shares to a consortium of charlatans.
Andrew Kilpatrick Statement ( https://www.rochdaleafc.co.uk/news/2020/june/chairmanstatement_220620/): Ian writes that he was only notified by email of his release. Notwithstanding Ian’s request in April, this was not the case. Brian Barry-Murphy had verbally spoken to Ian at length on 13th June and informed him clearly of the Club’s policy regarding out of contract players and his release.
I only received an email yesterday morning confirming that the offer the club had previously made to extend my contract was being retracted and I was therefore being released.
So you can only conclude that on 13th June 2020 Barry-Murphy phoned Ian Henderson (as noted by Andrew Kilpatrick) to tell him he was being released which was followed up by an email to Ian Henderson by someone representing the club (as noted by Ian Henderson's statement)
Clearly BBM didn't rate him!
George Bernard Shaw had it right:
"He who can does; he who cannot, teaches."
https://www.visittheusa.co.uk/
The thing that stands out for me, and i thought was a bit odd at the time, was that the statement came from (or under the name of) Kilpatrick - the otherwise dumb Chairman
He was notably hands-off, and the version of events he purports to disclose would almost certainly have been passed to him, i.e. they're second-hand
Who was instrumental in the details of negotiations with Hendo? The CEO, of course. You know, the one who negotiated a new contract for BBM behind everyone's back. The coward that he is shows clearly in this statement, in using his stooge of a Chairman to 'front up' for his inability to (at best) to get Hendo's contract renewal sorted, or more likely deliberately put a spoke in the wheel to ensure it didn't happen
To insure in his own mind he remained the most important person at he club. He certain couldn’t have coped with Henderson being the “darling” of the fans. Then there was the possibility of us remaining in Div one had Henderson stayed at the club. He couldn’t risk it, as it would have put his master plan in jeopardy.
The way Dale have playing Hendo and if he started the season here he would have had a decent relationship with beesley and well past his target.
But at 36yrs old and not catching due to injury or out of favour would hendo be worth a punt ! For me its a no. Hendo may be at that stage where niggling injuries take longer to heal and for me Dale have seen a few of those players recently.... If hendo is fit then a possible 6months with an option of another 12months could benefit both parties...... If hendo could get 10goals plus in 6months that will no doubt add those 3pts to the tally instead of 1pt... Main worry at present is if EOC leaves....
My all time favourite Dale player Mr Lyndon Symmonds
I have to say at the time I was 100% behind the club. Sentiment about records etc are fine but I thought it was a massive risk to be giving a 3 year contract to a 34 year old on mega (in Dale terms) money. I get that he wanted to maximise his income and look after his/his family interests for what was potentially his last contract but I couldn't help but think he was being a bit greedy. On top of that we had Humphries to hopefully replace many of Henderson's goals and keep us up.
We now know that the person handling negotiations on behalf of the club was errr, lets says disingenuous / had a conflict of interest so looking back, we can't believe a word that he said. Of course it still would have been a risk but I do believe now that there was a deal to be done with Henderson even if it was a 6 month deal on decent money so he could bag a few goals, get the record and move on on a free transfer with everyone's blessing.
Complete incompetence doesn't even begin to cover it.
I would look to sign Henderson possible on loan or permanent until the summer, with the possibility of a new contract in the summer.
I am convinced that Hendo would have scored the goals to keep us last season, but for poor management decisions of DB and of the course the footballing genius BBM to let him go to save money.
I am sure he would welcome an invite to a sportsmans dinner one day and all will be shared. Would be interesting wouldn't it.
I have no doubt that the club were panicked by the covid impacts and the need to cut the budget. They probably used any dragging of feet, or small issues, to withdraw the offer with great relief. BBM would have agreed with Botts if he was told he could recruit a replacement who was 10 years younger blah blah blah. Hindsight is a wonderful thing - but relegation was the outcome and the club has taken a bigger hit as a result. I wonder if that is on a CV. I suspect not
As Fitzchris pointed out at the time Hendo had more than one agent working for him, which is unusual at this level. I have no doubt he fully understood his potential value to well financed lower league clubs. Which Dale were not. I think the Chairman’s comments about e mail only contact and the BBM call were true, as they were never challenged. Hendo as we know loved a challenge!! The whole truth regarding any negotiations will never be revealed to the likes of us. The one thing that nags at me here is if the CEO was in charge of negotiations and didn’t have the interests of the club as a priority wouldn’t he have agreed to whatever Hendo wanted. So overcommit the club and generating unrest in the dressing room? Said at the time I still felt once water had flowed under the bridge he might have a way back in, to get that record. Which is the thing that probably nags him.
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