Former Rangers star Colin Hendry has opened up on his Ibrox spell starting off on a sour note after Dick Advocaat ignored an agreement the Scotland captain had made with then-chairman David Murray as part of the deal to bring his to the club.
Hendry’s move to Ibrox saw him agree as part of the deal that he would wear the number 5 jersey and be named as captain – however, he would go on to wear 35 and never be club captain despite wearing the armband a number of times.
Dutch international Arthur Numan would wear 5 during his entire time at Ibrox while Italian defender Lorenzo Amoruso was appointed captain after delays meant Hendry wasn’t signed until after the season started.
Hendry feels that Advocaat blamed him for the deal not getting done in time for the opening game of the 1998/99 season, signing a few days into August.
“The thing about the captaincy and the number 5 jersey, this was all agreed with the chairman and my agent at the time,” Hendry told the Rangers Review.
“But the problem was the season started before I had signed because Dick wanted me done before the first game of the season.
“The first game of the season was at Hearts away and normally for the first game of the season you’ve got to appoint your captain and appoint your team numbers for the season.
“So these decisions had to be made prior to me getting to Ibrox and Dick, more or less, blamed me for not signing quick enough and for that I don’t get the number 5 jersey.
“He said ‘The number 5 jersey in Holland is the left-back’, which was given to Arthur Numan and I’m like ‘Yeah, but we’re not playing in Holland Dick, we’re playing in Scotland.’
“He didn’t want to change the captaincy in the middle of the season but that’s a managerial type of thing and that’s what he went with.”
Hendry’s signing a real sliding doors moment for Rangers’ modern history
Had Hendry been signed in time for the opening game of the 98/99 season, it could have had a huge effect on Rangers for years to come.
Hendry with the armband may well have meant no captaincy for Barry Ferguson and, depending on who you ask it had a big part in Fergie’s rise to prominence at Ibrox.
Who knows how things might have worked out had Hendry been named Rangers captain but there’s little doubt the former Scotland skipper would have given everything during his time wearing the armband.
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