It does seem an odd choice, when there were rumours of rejoining his boyhood club I could understand it. Lots of players, particularly in South America, like to go back to where they started out at the end of their career but I can’t imagine a young Henderson was kicking the ball about with his friends dreaming of pulling on a Brentford shirt.
With their manager leaving, Norgaard (presumably who Henderson is the replacement for) and rumours around Mbuemo it feels like they could be in for a season of struggle.
Decent choice to be honest. Nothing wrong with Brentford. You all think now Frank has gone they will get relegated but the club is run in a similar way to the way Edwards was designed to run ours.
I reckon they will surprise. Be good for Kelleher to have a familiar face anyhow.
The limitation of the idea of these top players returning to their boyhood club at the end of their career is that in the interim they developed 20 years of first hand experience of what a backwards shithole of a club it was.
Journalists based on that patch have said a number of times they had no interest in signing him and they’ve already spent £70m odd on three central midfielders.
I don’t think they will get relegated. The fact that they’ve appointed someone from their existing team probably shows that they are doing some things correct.
They’ve got some good players in there (even accounting for people who’ve left or likely to leave). And have a good scouting team in place.
A lot of that has to do with the work Frank has done to keep it in place. But I back them to surprise quite a lot of people and finish in the 10th - 13th positions.
Since leaving Liverpool Hendo has been bouncing around a bit. Saudi Arabia was disappointing, given his vocal support of the LGBT community. Still, to err is human, to forgive divine. So no need to hold a grudge.
Then he goes to Ajax. Great European pedigree and name, with a reputation for playing good football. But he left early and it looked a little antagonistic along the way, with one or two of the quotes I seem to remember.
The romance and symmetry of ending with your boyhood club has been knocked on the head, as he makes a move to Brentford, who admittedly, even in transition after Frank, will likely be better than Sunderland.
I wonder if he will continue doing this for a few years? It all looks a bit messy to me, but perhaps he will be rocking up as a 41 year old, playing in some far eastern league? I haven’t got a clue about his personal life, but is he dragging his wife and young children around with him for all of this?
I think Brentford’s ground is in a desirable part of London, isn’t it? Just over the river from Kew Gardens. I’m sure it would be easy for someone with his money to find a nice house with good schools in that part of London, or even further afield. Probably better housing and schools than you’d find in Sunderland. Maybe the same was true for Milner; family would prefer to live in or near Brighton rather than Leeds.
