Jack Hendry

I still remember coming out the stadium in Salzburg, spewing about how rank he was that night. Totally bullied.

We've moaned about the likes of Dykes torturing Ajer & Julien but strikers in the SPFL would have a field day against Hendry. Not the answer at all.

 

Sell him.
He's not one of the lads who has been victim to Lennons mismanagement, he simply just isn't good enough.
No point pretending to keep him for the qualifiers or till we get someone else in, all that does is delay what we need done pronto.

Sell the lad, wish him all the best and see you in a few years when you are playing against us in a Europa2 game somewhere.

 

One of the worst I’ve seen in a Celtic jersey and a * to boot as well

 

Sheffield United, Burnley and another premier league club after him allegedly. Hopefully we can veto the buy clause in the loan and sell him onto one of then instead

 

We can't veto it but if there are other clubs interested then Hendry could go elsewhere.

 

I wouldn't be getting too carried away with his form over there. 3 guys who failed to make the grade with us are all having an impact in that league and the huns put 9 goals and counting past the 2nd top team in their division. The quality, I would suggest isn't all that. If we can get a good price for him then I would sell. He was absolute muck when he was here.

 

Burnley are among Premier League clubs monitoring Celtic defender Jack Hendry.

The 6ft 4ins centre back has been starring for Belgian side Oostende where he is on loan this season and a string of man of the match performances have alerted scouts in the English top-flight.

Brighton and Sheffield United are also taking an interest in the 25-year old Scotland international, with Celtic's hierarchy due to make a decision on his future this summer.

A ball-playing defender, Hendry has benefited from regular football with Oostende rising to fourth in Belgium's First Division. Indeed the Belgian side are also keen to make Hendry's loan move permanent.

Celtic are well aware their defence has been a problem area this campaign, while Burnley are assessing options with James Tarkowski considering his future at the end of the season.

Brighton expect more interest in Ben White, while Sheffield United have been hit by a series of injuries and will reassess their squad once their Premier League status is determined, with relegation looking most likely.

 

The Euros are looming and Jack Hendry aims to gatecrash the Scotland squad - by helping the Belgian equivalent of Hamilton Academical into the Champions League.

A transformation from perpetual strugglers to a runners-up finish is quite the stretch.

But that's the target on-loan Celtic defender Hendry is chasing with Belgian club KV Oostende, whose startling rise has resuscitated the Scotland cap's career.

Hendry was out of favour at Celtic and down on his luck last summer after a loan move to Melbourne City lasted two games before he suffered a cruciate ligament injury.

"I needed to hit the reset button," he tells BBC Scotland. "Going to Australia was an opportunity to get away from everything, get my confidence back, get back playing. Then I picked up that bad injury.

"When I was out there, coronavirus started and I came back and had a few months to make myself into the best shape possible. I used that time to get one up on people who maybe weren't working as hard.

"Oostende really wanted me. They finished low down the league last season but I felt I could have a good impact. Thankfully it is paying off."

'I'm desperate to play for Scotland again'
Pitching up in Ostend on the Belgian coast was a leap of faith for Hendry. Since starting life in Belgium's bottom tier in 1981 following a merger of the fishing town's two professional clubs, Oostende have never finished higher than fourth in the top flight.

They yo-yoed between divisions until going up in 2013 and staying there. Having finished second bottom of the 16-team table last season, they are currently fourth - just two points adrift of Antwerp, who occupy the second Champions League place - with Hendry a key figure in defence.

"Oostende are like a Hamilton back home - a club that's lower down in the SPFL is comparable," he says. "It's a small, local club with good people around it.

"That shows how big it would be if we got into that Champions League spot and achieved something hugely impressive."

Such an achievement would not go unnoticed across Europe. And Hendry hopes it resonates with Steve Clarke as the Scotland head coach formulates his squad for the Euros this summer.

Having won the last of of his three caps in October 2018 - and with Scotland's 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign kicking off with a triple-header this month - Hendry isn't short of incentives.

"The first time I played for Scotland was my proudest moment and I'm desperate to put on that jersey again," he adds. "All I can do is maintain my standards to give the coach a difficult decision to make.

"Coming to Oostende, I've progressed as a player and person. I've really matured, grown up quite a lot. I'm playing against good opposition and international quality strikers every week.

"Scotland have been playing with the back three and I've been part of the same system system here. Playing in the middle, I can show my pace, power, and ability on the ball. If I was to get that Scotland call-up again it would really suit my style."

'Whichever club I choose, I need to play'



Aside from international matters, Hendry faces a pivotal summer. Oostende are keen to take up the option to make his loan deal permanent, while Burnley, Wolves and Werder Bremen have been credited with an interest in the 25-year-old.

With another year on his Celtic contract, and the prospect of a fresh start in Glasgow with Neil Lennon gone as manager, Hendry is ruling nothing out.

"I'm open to anything that comes my way," he says. "It's vital that wherever I choose next season, I need to play every week to continue my development. If Celtic want to keep me, that's something they would need to make a decision on."

While Hendry has thrived in Belgium, Celtic have imploded back home. Lennon has departed in the wake of the failed bid for a 10th successive title and a new manager is being sought.

"It's frustrating that I was never given the opportunity to show what I could do [under Lennon]," says Hendry. "The way I'm performing, I could have a real good impact and it's not been nice seeing the way the season has panned out for them."

Hendry has sampled life in Australia and Belgium at an age where many Scottish footballers haven't made it beyond the border.

His playing time is complemented by broadening his horizons away from football and the defender and his girlfriend have used their apartment in Bruges - 20 minutes from Ostend - as a base for seeing the sights.

"There's a lot of history in Belgium and Bruges is a lovely city," says Hendry. "I've been to Brussels, been along the coast, it's a great country to explore with all its history.

"You have to make the most of it and experience the culture. It was the same with Australia - I got to see a part of the world I probably wouldn't have otherwise.

"If any Scottish player is considering a move abroad, I'd definitely recommend they go for it. Go and experience something different and take yourself out of your comfort zone."

 

This * has a high opinion of his self ay..

 

Just seen a small clip of his interview on Sky Sports and thought he came across well.

Like I said earlier in the thread, I’d have my doubts about him coming back to us given his first spell. It’s hard to bounce back from how poor he was and the pressure if he makes one mistake will go through the roof.

But failure is part of success and that difficult period he endured could be the making of him. We are really light at the back and if Ajer goes early in the window we might need him.

 

Seems to talk as if he has accepted he isn't coming back to Celtic (fair enough), but also seems to want to blame the club for not giving him proper chances, he had a fair few to be fair.
Nearing the end of this section though, he maybe starts to touch on why it didn't work here - he may have tried too hard and been too in his own head while playing for us. Which is exactly how he looked at times, thinking he was a ball playing defender and good enough for this level, when reality he needed to just continue as he was at Dundee and let the experience lift him in due time.


Seems like a decent enough lad, speaks fairly well and wish him all the best.

Just do not see it ever being at the level that Celtic need him to be at.

 

What 3 players are doing well in that league?.
I only know of Hendry, Shved is bang average and lucky to get on as a sub.
Only other I can think of is Eboue who I don't think ever gets a game. Can't think of who else we had is playing over there.

 

To be fair, Shved has been on a run of games this year


I don't know much about his spell, but considering earlier in the season the manager there had to publicly call him out, I gonna assume he has bucked up his ideas to beconsidered a starter in the last run of games?

 

Tbh, our defence is so * poor maybe giving him a run after the loan might be something to consider.

Ajer came back not too well.

 

Welsh and Hendry for the qualifiers gives me the fear, no offence to either.

 

Digging a little deeper into Hendry’s spell in Belgium the team he is playing for are a very small club with little to no expectation. They are having a great season by there standards.

As a small team they play with a back 5 of which both their full backs seem to have good pedigree as Belgian U21 internationals. They also have two young CBs that play either side of Hendry. One Tanghe is very quick and Theate is another Belgium U21 international so they all seem like capable footballers given the standing in the game Belgium have as an international team.

I am a little surprised at their managers comments about Hendry being a real leader to them and having brought them on. I would never have seen that in him. Also feedback from a Belgian journalist that covers Oostende and Brugge was Oostende would do very well to keep Hendry as there would be interest from others.

They also have a big man little man combination upfront in Gueye and Sakala giving them a target man to hit (Gueye) with long balls or the option to play long balls in behind for Sakala’s pace, so there is options for the man in possession without having to play out from the back.

My guess is Hendry has matured a bit and probably come on with regular game time something he has never had in his career. Did he not also start out as a winger at one point as a youth?

Most importantly the system and probably lack of expectation at Oostende suits him. Probably not dissimilar to his short spell at Dundee before we bought him, it might not have been a bad idea to have left him there for the season to keep playing.

There’s no doubt he was well out his depth when here before and the thing with the tickets is terrible behaviour but ultimately it will come down to who is our new head coach and how he wants to play.

 

* that it will cold day in * before I ever think Jack Hendry would have helped us out with anything. For what it's worth Antwerp are ahead of his current club and we seen how poor Antwerp were against the huns