Here's to you, Ian Henderson - an ode to the GOAT

Of course, not many can actually say they were there to see the GOAT break Rochdale's all-time appearance record by skippering the side in the Jersey Mike's Trophy defeat to Doncaster Rovers on Tuesday, but it is a moment in time nonetheless.

And, naturally, he scored to extend the club goalscoring record he already holds.

But rather than fixate on the lower-key stage for this historic moment, we're choosing to reflect on the journey as opposed to the destination as our writers Matt Turner, Jimmy Moorhouse and Michael Baines share just what Hendo means to them...

MATT TURNER

When I look back at Ian Henderson’s Rochdale career, I actually do so with the slightest tinge of sadness.

That might not sound like the most conventional way in which to start a tribute, but hear me out…

Back in March 2013, Hendo’s arrival at Dale barely registered with me for a couple of reasons, one of them being that I was right in the middle of my final few months at university and as such, trips to matches were rarer than I would have liked.

But much more pertinently, my Grandad – the man who ignited my love for this football club of ours – was undergoing cancer treatment. He passed away in December of that year.

As such, my sadness lies in the fact he never got to experience just how much Hendo would go on to do for the club he loved so dearly.

Grandad’s heroes were Reg Jenkins and Albert Whitehurst – both well before my time of course – and I scarcely imagined anyone in my era would be able to get close to them when it comes to writing themselves into club history.

And yet, here we are.

“Greatest of all time” debates are, naturally, subjective but in this case, the numbers speak for themselves. Nobody has scored more Rochdale goals and now, nobody has played more Rochdale games than “The GOAT.”

But it is how he has gone about it that has truly mesmerised me.

Forwards tend to come in set moulds – you’re either big, strong and adept aerially, a nippy, “on the shoulder” type, a penalty-box poacher or a workhorse who would defend from the front.

And in the rare instances that someone would come along who was a combination of all of them, they would never really be here for long.

But Hendo was – and remains – something altogether different. The thinking man’s footballer whose brain appeared to be five steps ahead of those trying to stop his magic feet.

While no slouch in his prime, he was never blessed with out-and-out pace but he more than made up for that with an uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time as well as an outstanding technique that remains prevalent to this day.

I have so many things to thank Hendo for, so here goes…

Thank you, Hendo, for giving me some of the best days of my life – my friends and I were lucky enough to be in an executive box for both the FA Cup win over Leeds United to see his sumptuous volley, and the promotion-sealing win over Cheltenham Town later that year in which he scored.

After the latter game, he personally presented my friend with a memento having heard about him going a decade without missing a Dale game, home or away – the true measure of the man.

Thank you, Hendo, for making me realise that an entirely “small” front two could not only work but thrive – I’m talking, of course, about the outrageously fluid partnership he enjoyed with Matt Done in the mid-2010s, a period in which Keith Hill’s side played some of the best football I have ever seen from a Rochdale team.

Thank you, Hendo, for scoring some of the most technically outrageous goals I have ever seen live – Leeds, Cheltenham, Chesterfield, Morecambe (twice). I could go on…

Thank you, Hendo, for leaving when you did – again, that might sound a weird thing to say but it is difficult not to look back at the way in which he departed the club he adored as something of a catalyst for people looking a bit deeper into the catastrophic and underhand way in which the club was being killed from the inside by those who purported to be its custodians.

Thank you, Hendo, for coming back, not just to scoop the records you had rightfully earned but to play the most crucial of roles in the club’s rebirth and return to the EFL.

But most importantly – thank you, Hendo, for being the most incredible ambassador for our football club. Rochdale loves you more than you will know.

Now, about that statue…

JIMMY MOORHOUSE

If memory serves, I was at the game where Ian Henderson made his home debut for Dale, scoring the equaliser in in a 4-1 win over Wycombe Wanderers.

Nobody would have predicted what would follow, with a further 172 goals in a Rochdale shirt.

When he left for Salford, I thought that we would be denied the chance for Hendo to take over Reg Jenkins as our all-time top scorer, and it seems crazy to be sitting here now with our number 40 still bagging goals in League Two at the ripe old age of 41.

Naturally, when a player makes that many appearances and scores so many goals for one side, there are likely to be plenty of memorable moments, and Hendo has given us plenty of special ones over the past 13 years or so. Leeds, of course, will be the pinnacle for many of us.

Who’d have thought that perhaps the best moment of his Hendo’s career would have come courtesy of an inch-perfect cross from Graham Cummins?

I remember that Paddy Kenny was incredible for Leeds that day but he could only stand and watch as that volleyed chip sailed beautifully over his head to crown that famous 2-0 win.

Chips have become something that he’s become well-known for over the years, not just among Dale fans but other lower-league fans, many of whom will have seen the striker score against their sides.

His goals against Morecambe last season were both “Hendo specials” and although I wasn’t there in person, I remember the joy of seeing his one against Cheltenham in the comeback victory in 2013 live on Sky Sports. Surely no other League Two player in history would have the necessary composure, skill and technique to pull that finish off?

Away from the spectacular goals and dinks, we’ve also seen a remarkable amount of goals where Hendo has emphasised the most important skill for a striker – being in the right place at the right time.

After all, a bundled tap-in against in the dying moments against Sutton probably means more than the beautiful curled finish against Chesterfield for example.

Of course, his record-breaking goal, suitably against Salford, was also a memorable one. Not only because it was a beautiful header to earn us the win in what was a horrible season, but also as it was assisted by an incredible pass from Ethan Brierley, who had walked out with Hendo as a mascot a few years earlier.

This emphasised Hendo's impressive longevity but also really summed up what this club is all about.

That season where he and Matty Done linked up as fluid front two was truly magic to watch and although he might not be as quick as he once was, there's an argument that Hendo only got better during our spell in non-league.

As we saw on Saturday, the whole team and crowd is lifted when he's on the pitch, and his speed of thought is still far quicker than most in the division.

So, while we all want to cherish our memories of Hendo as he marks this important milestone, perhaps the most admirable thing about him is that at 41, we all still know how much he has to offer, both on and off the pitch.

So don't rule out him reaching 200 goals or maybe even 600 appearances, whichever comes first.

MICHAEL BAINES

When I first started watching Rochdale, one player was a consistent presence: Gary Jones.

The all-action midfielder was an ever-present and was the epitome of Rochdale to me at the time.

He was there for all the memorable moments: the play-off final at Wembley in 2008, promotion in 2010, our (then) joint-highest finish in the League One Season of 2010/11 including a thunderbolt at St Marys against Southampton.

He was a player that would never leave, who would play for Rochdale forever (at least in a naïve boy’s eyes) and whose 531 appearances would simply never be beaten.

Now, they have.

In the lower leagues, players staying at one club for a long time rarely happens.

Compared to the Premier League, where names such as Giggs, Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard et al evoke memories of specific clubs, you’d be hard pressed to think of many players that have stayed in one place for comparable lengths of time.

James Coppinger at Doncaster, Kevin Ellison at Morecambe and Jones himself yes, but particularly in the modern age, players move more frequently. It makes sense in terms of progression, both in wages and levels.

This is what makes Ian Henderson’s story at Rochdale all the more remarkable.

Having signed from Colchester in the 2012/13 season, few would have imagined what was to come.

For some reason, the love affair between Rochdale and Hendo just seems to work. This is a man from Bury St. Edmunds who, aside from Dale, has spent the majority of his career down south, yet something keeps him tied to a club that has, let’s be honest, been starved of success.

Like Jones, Henderson’s Rochdale career evokes so many memories. It helped that we won promotion in his first full season, but so many moments of individual brilliance spring to mind – most of them chips, of course.

THAT lob against Leeds will live with me forever: the arrogance to view a goalkeeper with such experience as Paddy Kenny (barely) off his line and volley the most perfectly weighed shot back across goal and in, in a televised match in the FA Cup, against Championship opposition?! Incredible.

I remember being incredibly frustrated with Hendo once we’d been promoted to League One, as he seemed to just keep getting sent off.

As is so often the case with fickle football fans, my Dad and I used to joke that Keith Hill was banned from subbing him off as he never seemed to, regardless of the situation.

Looking back, why would he? Henderson has always had a moment of genius in him, and his fitness level has always been a huge credit.

It was always expected that he would finish his career with Dale and contract extensions were seemingly guaranteed, and then… he left?

His move to Salford came so out of the blue and at a bad time for the club, and the only shining light is that it hasn’t affected his reputation with the fans.

He was so close to breaking Reg Jenkins’ goal record, and it seemed so unfathomable that a club legend wouldn’t be given that opportunity.

When the truth came out, in terms of the contract being put on the table and then bizarrely pulled, it helped to clear the air and prove that not only was it not down to him, but that he had wanted to stay.

His return to the club was a welcome boost, showing a desire to chase down that record and fulfil his aim of retiring here.

The record-breaking goal of course came that season, in poetic circumstances: Rochdale fan Ethan Brierley lofting the ball forward for Hendo to head into his previous team’s net, making it 130 goals in a Dale shirt. It was fully deserved for a Dale legend and would have felt like a fitting place to end his career had things not panned out as they did.

A season that ended in relegation to the National League would have felt like the wrong place for his career to end, and so it transpired with yet another extension.

Henderson’s finishing is remarkable for a player that has played so many games at a club like ours - he went 10 Rochdale seasons in a row scoring double figures, with varying numbers of appearances.

That doesn’t happen by just being in the right place at the right time, even if that is a trademark of Hendo. Whenever the ball comes to him in space, with the goalkeeper even remotely off his line, fans expect.

There was a game in the National League where he broke free, lifted it goalwards and fans celebrated. The ball hadn’t even crossed the line before we erupted – the end result was assumed and why not: Leeds, Cheltenham, Morecambe and Liverpool U-21s (to name a few) all brought wonderful, chipped goals, to the extent that, when Connor McBride scored a similarly brilliant goal against Altrincham away, my first thought was – he’s been working with Hendo.

Even now, players like Dajaune Brown score goals and say in interviews that they have been working with Hendo in training.

532 appearances do not come with luck. Yes, there is an element of it in terms of injuries, but moreover that is down to his commitment, professionalism and work ethic. A player that chose number 40 as a target for an age he wanted to reach in football is still going at 42.

He could have retired after breaking the goal record, but relegation meant we had unfinished business.

He could have retired after his 40th birthday, but had unfinished business again as we lost to Southend in the play-offs.

He could have retired after our Wembley triumph, and I imagine many assumed he would, but no. Still he plays on, and still Dale fans clamour for him to be in the team more often.

Does breaking the appearance record mean he has achieved all he possibly can in Rochdale blue? Fans will certainly hope not, and maybe he WILL play forever.

One thing is for sure though – his records will never be broken… right?