Ian Michael Hendon (born 5 December 1971 in Ilford, Greater London) was an English professional footballer, currently the manager of League Two side Barnet after the departure of Paul Fairclough. He was appointed on a permanent basis on a two-year contract on April 21, 2009.

[edit] Career

A defender, primarily at right-back but sometimes in the centre or in midfield, he began his career with Tottenham Hotspur, winning the FA Youth Cup in 1990. He made his first-team debut in 1989, and made seven appearances for the club over the next four years, also representing England Under-21 seven times.

He had loan spells with Portsmouth, Leyton Orient and Barnsley before joining Orient on a permanent basis in August 1993. He spent three and a half years at Brisbane Road, with a brief loan spell at Birmingham City in 1995.

He later played for Notts County, Northampton Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough United before joining then Conference side Barnet in 2003, having been on loan there six months previously.

Joining up with his mentor Peter Shreeves, who has coached him at Tottenham and Sheffield Wednesday, he captained the club in their return to the Football League in his second season, and remained a key player for four years. At the end of the 2006–07 season, Hendon faced a dilemma. Initially, he was not offered a new playing contract by Barnet, but was given the chance to join Paul Fairclough's coaching staff. He was forced to decide whether to seek to further his playing career with another club, or to stay with the club he has grown to love, and start his coaching career earlier than planned. He decided to stay with the club, to work as Assistant Manager, and is still registered as a player, although not expected to feature in the first-team regularly.

Nevertheless, he featured in the early fixtures of 2007–08, before dropping back as new players arrived. He remained registered as a player until the end of the 2008/09 season when he retired as a player to concentrate solely on management.^[1]

[edit] Management

Following Paul Fairclough's step-down after the 3-0 Boxing Day defeat to Aldershot Town, Hendon was asked to take over the side. Fairclough's last game was a 2-0 win at A.F.C Bournemouth, leaving the side with 19 points from their 23 league games. Performances improved under Hendon, and some adept loan signings including Paul Furlong, Matt Lockwood, Jake Cole and Yannick Bolasie helped to drag The Bees away from the relegation battle and to mathematical safety with four games to spare.

He declared his desire to take the job permanently after his temporary reign concludes in May 2009,^[2] and was given the job on a 2 year deal in April.

[edit] Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

• FA Youth Cup: 1990
• Charity Shield: 1991

Notts County

• Division 3 (IV): 1998

Barnet

• Conference (V): 2005

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Barnet FC profile
• Ian Hendon career stats at Soccerbase
• Ian Hendon management career stats at Soccerbase