ON the night that Celtic clinched the league title at Firhill after a 5-1 win over Partick Thistle back in 2014, a young Liam Henderson excited supporters with a goal, then with his post-match assertion that he wasn’t even the best member of his family on the books.
The older Henderson brother has always been younger sibling Ewan’s biggest fan, and backs him to establish himself in the Celtic first team in a way that he ultimately couldn’t manage, moving on to a successful spell at Hibernian before expanding his horizons in Italy.
Ewan doesn’t necessarily agree with his older brother’s assessment of their abilities, with Liam now impressing with Serie B side Lecce, but he is leaning heavily on his influence and advice as he tries to persuade new manager Ange Postecoglou that he should be playing a regular part in his midfield.
Having enjoyed loan spells at Dunfermline and Ross County, Henderson feels ready to make his mark. And as he is now entering the last year of his deal, there’s no time like the present, as he acknowledged following a decent run-out against Bristol City on Wednesday night.
“I Facetime [Liam] every night,” Henderson said.
“Because we got back so late from Bristol it will be a wee while longer before we talk. But it’s usually every day.
“He’s miles better than me, he’s done so much more. I’m looking up to him to try to achieve what he has. He’s the better player, I’d say.
“He helps my game all the time. He’ll probably watch the game against Bristol City and he’ll speak to me about things I can improve on.
“He’s been a great help for me since a young age, telling what I should and shouldn’t do.
“He watches as many games as he can on Celtic TV. He’ll tell me things I did well and things I did bad and need to improve on.
“I need every bit of help that I can get. He’s always been really good with me.
“It is the final year of my contract. But it’s a big year for everyone. Obviously, there’s a new manager in and there are opportunities for everyone here. I’ll just keep my head down and keep on working hard and we’ll see what happens.
“I’ve got a year left and I’ve got to push as hard as I can to try and get into the team and also stay in it.
“You’ve obviously got to have confidence in yourself. I’m playing at a massive club and I’ve been at Celtic since I was a young age.
“I know what it takes to play for Celtic.”
It is at this time of year that the 21-year-old knows he has the chance to do just that.
“It’s been very good for me to get games under the belt,” he said.
“Obviously pre-season’s about playing games and getting your fitness up and everyone’s had that. I think we’ve played very well in the matches.”
Henderson has been encouraged not only by his own performances, but by his new manager’s reputation for giving youth a chance being backed up by his actions since his arrival.
“He’s been excellent,” he said. “Since the first day he’s been very professional. He’s been excellent with every player and I’m buzzing about things.
“If you look at the history of his teams, it doesn’t matter what age you are, if you’re good enough you’ll play. So that’s obviously good for all of the young players here. We know if we do well then we’ll get a chance.
“Every day we’re working to a real high standard. Every session is very intense and if you’re doing that in training then you’re obviously going to benefit on the pitch for games.
“Every manager’s got their own things and every manager’s demanding different things from us.
“He has been very intense but I’ve really enjoyed it.”
Not that Henderson considers himself as simply a promising youngster anymore. With those two loans under his belt, and over two years having passed since his Celtic debut, he feels it is now time for the younger Henderson to become a man in football terms.
“Going out and getting games was a great experience for me,” he said.
“Obviously, playing against men every week was a big factor for me too.
“It was a big jump from reserves to the first team, higher standards. But I enjoyed both loans very much.
“I’ve been around the first team quite a while, so I know the boys very well. It’s been good.
“I just keep my head down and hopefully make the squad. We’ll see what happens.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here