Lee Hendrie

Lee Andrew Hendrie (born 18 May 1977) is an English former professional footballer and pundit for Sky Sports.

As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Aston Villa where he spent fourteen years.

Having been brought off the bench in the 85th minute of the play off final against Burnley at Wembley he was subsequently sent off after the final whistle had blown for directing foul language at referee Mike Dean.

Following the Blades unsuccessful play off campaign Hendrie was placed on the transfer list as the club sought to cut its wage bill.

Born in Solihull, Hendrie was red carded on his debut for Aston Villa as a substitute in a 1–0 defeat at Queens Park Rangers on 23 December 1995.

He went on to achieve the accolade of the club's "Young Player of the Season" award in the 1997–98 season.

He also played for the England U21 and England B sides, and earned one full cap for England in 1998.

He has also played in Football League for Stoke City, Sheffield United, Leicester City, Derby County, Brighton & Hove Albion and Bradford City.

Following a spell in Indonesia with Bandung he became a journeyman in non-league football, playing for Daventry Town, Kidderminster Harriers, Chasetown, Redditch United, Tamworth, Corby Town, Highgate United, Basford United, Nuneaton Griff and Gloucestershire based Montpellier FC.

Whilst at Aston Villa he played in the 2000 FA Cup Final.

After losing his place in the Villa team during the 2005–06 season it seemed Hendrie's long spell at Villa Park was coming to an end, with Portsmouth reportedly showing an interest in his services.

On 29 September he joined Stoke City on loan, on the recommendation of his father.

On 30 January 2007, he extended his loan spell with the Potters until the end of the 2006–07 season.

He played 28 times for Stoke scoring three goals which came against Leeds United, Sunderland and Norwich City.

During Hendrie's time with Villa, he crashed his Porsche as he tried to make a plane for a European game and his manager Graham Taylor had to deal with other disciplinary matters.

Hendrie signed a three-year contract with Sheffield United after arriving on a free transfer in July 2007, making his debut on the opening day of the season, a 2–2 home draw with Colchester United.

However, he was dogged by injuries for the first half of the season.

Hendrie scored his first goal for the Blades in a 5–0 win over Morecambe in the League Cup in September 2007, but was unable to hold down a regular first-team place as the club struggled in the bottom half of the table.

He scored his first league goal for Sheffield United in a 2–1 win over Queens Park Rangers on 12 January 2008.

With the departure of Bryan Robson in February 2008, new manager Kevin Blackwell quickly allowed Hendrie to join Leicester City in an emergency loan deal, with a view to a permanent move.

He scored the winning goal for Leicester in a 1–0 win over Scunthorpe United on 29 March 2008 but could not prevent the club's relegation to League One and he subsequently returned to Bramall Lane.

He was sent off for Blackpool versus Reading on 9 December 2008 and returned to Sheffield United on 31 December 2008 having made six appearances.

Having returned to Bramall Lane once more he vowed to try to force his way into first team contention having been given a wake up call by his time at Blackpool.

He made a number of further substitute appearances for The Blades up to the end of the season.

In November 2008 he joined Blackpool on loan initially until 1 January 2009, making his debut as a second-half substitute the same day in the West Lancashire derby at home to Preston North End at Bloomfield Road.

On 1 September 2009, Hendrie joined Derby County in a swap deal that involved Jordan Stewart moving in the opposite direction.

Partly due to injury, Hendrie made just five starts for Derby before he moved to Brighton & Hove Albion on loan for the rest of the season on 23 March 2010.

It was announced on 13 May 2010, that he would leave Derby at the end of his contract after just 10 appearances from his nine months with the club.

Hendrie was set to join Scottish-side Aberdeen but the deal fell through at the last minute.

Instead, he started training with Championship side Reading, but was not offered a contract and was instead offered a short-term deal at his cousin John Hendrie's former club Bradford City by manager Peter Taylor.

Taylor had previously managed Hendrie for England under-21s.

Talking about his signing and the short-term deal, Hendrie said: "These next few weeks will be very interesting for me, and I will knuckle down. I have to use this to build up my fitness and get back to my peak."

On 1 January 2011 it was confirmed by Bradford manager Peter Taylor that Hendrie's deal would not be extended due to finances and that the player had in fact, left the club.

Taylor said "I feel really sorry for him. He has been a superb professional during his time at the football club. Lee's a great lad, he's still a great player. We have a League Two budget and we could only take this deal so far".

Hendrie had played 14 times for The Bantams and had scored twice.

Hendrie was offered a deal by Conference National side Mansfield Town but turned it down because of a better offer from Bandung, a club from Indonesian breakaway league, Liga Primer Indonesia.

On 26 January 2011, Indonesian club Bandung announced the signing of Hendrie on a free transfer.

Hendrie signed a two-year contract with the Indonesian outfit and was assigned the number 10 jersey.

He was both the first Englishman and the first player with Premier League experience to sign for a Liga Primer Indonesia club.

He made his debut on 5 February 2011 in a 1–0 defeat against Persema Malang.