Jack Hendry has declined in a major way since joining Celtic.
If time flies when you’re having fun then the last 12 months must’ve felt like a decade for Celtic centre-back Jack Hendry.
One year on from his £1.5 million move to Celtic from Dundee, Hendry has gone backwards. He isn’t having fun.
The 23-year-old started the season as one of the Hoops’ main centre-backs, but a series of shaky performances, culminating in fans slating him on Twitter, has seen his confidence and playing time dented in a serious way.
Hendry hasn’t kicked a ball under Brendan Rodgers since October and now the Northern Irishman has a dilemma: does he loan him out for the next five months or stick with him in the hope that it clicks all of a sudden?
Going by Monday’s announcement, the latter option might be the smartest.
Former Celtic centre-back Stephen McManus, who made over 150 Premiership appearances for the Parkhead club, returned in a coaching capacity yesterday.
McManus, the new Under-18s coach, wouldn’t directly be working with Rodgers’s senior side, but he would be in the same vicinity as Hendry on a daily basis and surely the 36-year-old would be willing to pass on some physical and mental advice with regards to playing centre-back.
Hendry’s problem isn’t so much that he’s a terrible defender, because three caps for Scotland say otherwise, but his confidence is shot to pieces and maybe, just maybe, McManus is the perfect figure to help rebuild it.
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