Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: godzvilla on March 24, 2015, 09:25:15 AM
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It seems our Lee is turning his life around, sometimes it's hard to forgive him for blowing it all away but credit to the man for getting his act together ( apparently). Hopefully his' Darkest night' has now passed .............Godzvilla!
24 Mar 2015...The Times
Jigsaw man: how Hendrie learnt to pick up the pieces
Former Aston Villa star has found new purpose after bankruptcy and two suicide attempts, he tells Rick Broadbent
Running helps. It is the endorphins and the purpose. “The trouble is when you stop it’s still there,” says the old pro. That is depression for you, but despite candid confessions about bankruptcy and waking up after attempting suicide, this is no misery memoir. Instead, on a patchwork pitch in a ramshackle ground between a motorway and an industrial estate, Lee Hendrie is picking up the pieces.
The man who once had his name dragged through the mud and offensive monikers carved into the side of his £60,000 Jeep is now working with teenagers spat out by football clubs and refitting their dreams to reality. He is also running. It was noting how another Aston Villa old boy, Stiliyan Petrov, battled acute leukaemia that made Hendrie realise he needed to do something with his life. So he signed up to run next month’s London marathon for Petrov and Cure Leukaemia, the cancer charity.
He has also set up an academy. “From the age of seven, kids are told they are going to be the next big thing,” he said at the Castle Vale club, in Birmingham. “They believe it and put their heart and soul into it. Then they find that’s not the case. Some of them have been brought up with a silver spoon in their mouth, have never had to clean their boots or wash their kit, and they find it hard to adjust. They drift down and away. Who picks up the pieces?”
Hendrie may sound like an unlikely jigsaw man. At 21 he seemed to have it all, an England debut dubbed “absolutely magnificent” by Glenn Hoddle, then the national team coach. But there was the other side: the amalgam of “love rat” headlines, a Ferrari 360 Spider and journalists camped outside his house.
And when his property investments crashed as his career ended, he went “downhill into a deep black hole”. He explained: “My mum’s house was being taken from her and that was the final nail for me. My parents had done so much and I was unable to help. I didn’t even think about the impact on my kids or family, I was totally confused, had no real friends to turn to and I started drinking, which is the worst thing you can do with depression. I took a hell of a lot of sleeping tablets. My wife found me. Waking up was the worst thing — facing the embarrassment and seeing everyone completely beside themselves around my bedside.”
The next year he tried to kill himself a second time. “They found me in the toilet. I was KO’d again. This time when I woke up there was nobody there. I was hallucinating. I said to myself, ‘ You need to get yourself sorted.’ ”
That was less than four years ago and “sorted” has meant creating his academy. His “forgotten” charges are all doing a BTEC in sport. The aim is to given them direction and amended hope. “Some of these lads might have a chance, whether it’s non-League or the Conference, and that’s what I’m telling them — you can have a nice life, playing football and doing a job, but you have to earn a living and so you need respect,” he said. “You have to get here on time because it doesn’t matter whether you are working at Tesco or Harvey Nichols: if you’re late they’ll have you out of there.”
Hendrie believes there should be an exit strategy for those at both the Tesco and Harvey Nichols ends of the football cycle. “I do think there needs to be automatic counselling because leaving football is one of the hardest things,” he said. “There is nothing set up, but there should be courses to soften the impact or help people back into football in some way.”
Now 37, he still plays football for fitness and for Basford United in the nninth tier of English football. And he still gets abuse. “It tickles me,” he said. “I get it off players and punters; 19-year-old kids saying things like, ‘ You’ve found your level.’ ” It has ever been thus. Graham Taylor, his former manager, said he had more complaints about Hendrie than the rest of the Villa squad combined. “You get tarred with a brush and you never ever lose that,” Hendrie said. “There was rumour after rumour, from drugs to being a Birmingham [City] fan, rubbish.”
Hendrie says his life has changed in the last year after being discharged from bankruptcy. As for Petrov, now part of Tim Sherwood’s coaching team at Villa Park, he said: “I saw what he’d gone through. The transformation to his entire body was frightening. He’s such an inspiration.” He may not realise it but, as you look around this glamour-free classroom at some of football’s waifs and strays, the same might now be said of Hendrie. The bad boy done good. www.cureleukaemia.co.ukw
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That's tremendous news to see. Great that Lee's moving forward in life and really helping other people.The very best to him.
Love it that he dropped in this line about two of the most destructive things that can afflict anyone too
Hendrie said. “There was rumour after rumour, from drugs to being a Birmingham [City] fan, rubbish.”[/b] :)
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Great stuff. I have a very vested interest in seeing what eductation can do for people and recently visited Maidstone United as part of my job to see the students there doing a BTEC in sports studies just in case their hopes and dreams of being footballers fall through, which will be the case for most of them; mind you, they were telling me they have just sent a lad on trial to the Villa and they had a signed Villa shirt in the boardroom; and were singing our praises as a club. I can also vouch as to the benefits of running, having done London five times and still running five times a week! I always liked Lee, for all his aberrations down the year. I can remember saying he would be the new Paul Gascoigne when he first debuted for England. Which, ironically, he turned out to be but just not in the way I meant at the time...
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I thought this was going to be a thread about the 1000 piece jigsaw of Villa Park he was trying to do in his lounge!
Seriously all the best Lee.
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Full marks to Lil Lee. I hope he gets the breaks his courage deserves. I recall his first game. He hit the crossbar with a fierce volley from the edge of the box. "Great prospect" I said "bad temperament" the man next to me said. Will try to make time to go and cheer him on in the marathon. He has chosen a great role model in Stylian.
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Is he really only 37? What a waste of the last 6 years of his life, he could still be playing.
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We could do with his ability at the moment. He had everything in his locker to be a top class player. I remember him playing for the U-21's with the likes of Bowyer (when he was good), Lampard and possibly Gerrard. He fell behind the former, and certainly well behind the latter two. But he had the talent to be on their level, just not the same application.
Real shame. Another case of almost but not quite. Saying that, had he been consistent he wouldn't have played 270 odd games for us. He'd have been pinched after about 100 games.
He still provided some great memories and brilliant goals. As for as goal compilations go, Hendries is right up there.
Glad to see he's turning things around and still playing. It's also good to see a footballer giving something back to the community after retirement.
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I thought this was going to be a thread about the 1000 piece jigsaw of Villa Park he was trying to do in his lounge!
Seriously all the best Lee.
I thought it was going to say he goes to pieces in the box.
Seriously, I've always stuck up for him on here as he was sound when I saw him out and eventually met him. Made it hard to believe some of those rumours. Good luck Lee.
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An interesting article which raises many topics. Most of which can be answered by the fact the PL seems keen to throw money at the top players but reluctant to invest at the lower levels in education and coaching.
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Good to see him on SkySportsNews covering the odd game even if his punditry, er, needs a bit of work.
Was my favourite player after Dwight left despite all the aberrations. There was always an anticipation that he could do something exciting with the ball and sometimes he did.
Looks like he has fully grown-up now and it's nice that Petrov has inspired him.
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Is he really only 37? What a waste of the last 6 years of his life, he could still be playing.
Yep, just a year older than Frank Lampard. I played against Hendrie in a charity football match about six month ago. The same day Lampard scored for Man City against Chelsea.
Absolutely tragic waste of talent.
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Took my son to see him when played for U21 at Bradford. He was a cut above the rest, then.
Now, my son is 23, has a UEFA B licence and struggles to get a full-time job in football.
As said above, the top leagues need to give far greater support to well-qualified coaching from a much earlier age; and include some life-skills in the curriculum.
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Good to see him on SkySportsNews covering the odd game even if his punditry, er, needs a bit of work.
Was my favourite player after Dwight left despite all the aberrations. There was always an anticipation that he could do something exciting with the ball and sometimes he did.
Looks like he has fully grown-up now and it's nice that Petrov has inspired him.
cLinton Morrison needs more than a bit of work.Has anyone seen him summarising at games...Jesus it's painful.
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Is he really only 37? What a waste of the last 6 years of his life, he could still be playing.
Yep, just a year older than Frank Lampard. I played against Hendrie in a charity football match about six month ago. The same day Lampard scored for Man City against Chelsea.
Absolutely tragic waste of talent.
And it's not like Hendrie has let himself go either. He looks in the same nick as he was 10 years ago. He never relied on pace either. Really is a shame. He seemed to lose much of any of the motivation he had after leaving us. He could still be playing League football now if the desire had been there. Even Heskey is still plodding away in the Championship.
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He's better than Basford, that's for sure!
He's a local lad so always something of a favourite with us, and he did give us a few special moments. He could have been a Villa hero loved by all if he'd kept his feet on the ground.
Good to see him giving a bit back and helping Stan's cause too.
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If anybody knows what he plans to wear in the London marathon I will look out for him, live I mean, not on television.
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Its good that his life is back on the right track and that he seems to have a new prospective. Good luck to him.
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What a great turnaround. I'm so pleased that he's managing to work through his problems. I always liked him as a player (despite of his silly car, clothes, tan and reported questionable off field attitude) to me he always came across as he loved the club. I hope he manages to come through this - good luck Lee.
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Well done to Lee on finishing the London Marathon, running on behalf of Cure Leukaemia.
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Indeed, I saw him the other day and he was a bit worried about it as he said he hadnt had the opportunity to do the training he wanted. Well done Lil Lee.
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Watch his goals on YouTube and it stands out how talented he was and how much he loved scoring for us.
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Have to say I have seen both sides of Hendrie.
I was working at the Villa near the end of his time with us. He turned up to training in what I presume was a brand new range rover sport. He was chatting proudly about it with Delaney on his way into training. That day there were some competition winners (disabled kids) who were there to meet their favourites and get their shirts signed.
The whole first team squad came out except Hendrie, who snuck out and flew off in his new Range. Thought it was absolutely disgraceful.
However I have met him a few times since outside the ground and in press box. Seems a very humble guy now and was extremely nice to my young nephew on his first trip to villa park. Really made time for him and took plenty of photos.
Glad to see he has changed from the spoilt young man he was. Good luck to him
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Hope this is a permanent and sustained move in the right direction for Lee Lee Lee Hendrie. I used to love him as a player but, that aside, this sounds like a fantastic initiative and good news for all involved.
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He enjoyed that didn't he? The keeper had no chance.