Wayne Hennessey
Personal information
Full name	Wayne Robert Hennessey
Date of birth	24 January 1987 (1987-01-24) (age 22)
Place of birth	Bangor, Wales
Height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)[1]
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Number	1
Youth career
?-2003 2003-2005	Manchester City Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2006–07 2006-07 2006-07 2007-	Wolverhampton Wanderers → Bristol City (loan) → Stockport County (loan) Wolverhampton Wanderers	0 (0) 2 (0) 15 (0) 100 (0)
National team2
200? 200? 2005–2009 2007–	Wales U-17 Wales U-19 Wales U-21 Wales	06 (1) 07 (1) 06 (0) 23 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:50, 24 October 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:10, 14 November 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Wayne Robert Hennessey (born 24 January 1987 in Bangor, Gwynedd) is a Welsh international football goalkeeper currently playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Barclays Premier League after coming through the youth academy system back in 2006. He is also one of three premier league goalkeepers that stands at 6ft 5ins tall.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Stockport County — record breaker 1.3 Wolves 2 International career 3 Honours 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Early career

Hennessey, born in Bangor and raised in Beaumaris, Anglesey, began as a trainee at Manchester City but was released in 2003, whereupon he joined the youth academy at Wolverhampton Wanderers. After progressing through the ranks, he signed professional forms in April 2005.

After remaining in Wolves' reserve and youth teams during the 2005–06 season, Hennessey was sent on trial with Bristol City in July 2006^[2] with a view to a loan move to gain first team experience but was recalled to Wolves after an injury to their first-choice goalkeeper Matt Murray. He did go back to Bristol City in August 2006, however, on a one month loan deal,^[3] but he only made two appearances and returned to his parent club early due to an arm injury.^[4]

[edit] Stockport County — record breaker

To gain first-team football, Hennessey joined League Two side Stockport County in January 2007 on a one-month loan.^[5] On his senior debut against Boston United, he kept a clean sheet and after keeping another five clean sheets in successive matches, his loan spell was extended by an extra month.^[6]

He went on to set a Football League record of nine successive clean sheets and wins.^[7] Stockport broke the 119-year-old record,^[7] when they beat Swindon Town 3-0 on 3 March 2007.^[7] After this accomplishment, he was named the League Two Player of the Month for February 2007.^[8] His feat also means he now holds County's record for the longest period without conceding a goal, beating Harry Hardy's 85-year-old record. His record now stands at 857 minutes, from the start of his competitive club debut, against Boston United on 13 January 2007, until Oliver Allen of Barnet scored on 10 March 2007. He therefore did not concede in his first nine-and-a-half matches of competitive club football.

[edit] Wolves

Hennessey was recalled by Wolves in April 2007 after another injury to first-choice Matt Murray,^[9] and found himself on the substitutes bench for several games. When Murray broke his shoulder on the eve of Wolves' Championship play-off semi-final first leg against local rivals West Bromwich Albion, Hennessey stepped in to make his Wolves debut.^[10] Although a losing effort from Wolves, Hennessey performed solidly over the two legs.^{[citation needed]}

With Murray sidelined for the whole of the 2007–08 season with yet another injury, Hennessey became firmly established at the club's number one, being an ever-present in the league. The season also saw him sign a new deal which will keep him at Molineux until Summer 2012.^[11]

He was ranked 22nd in the Top 50 Football League Players by FourFourTwo magazine,^[12] named in the 2007–08 PFA Championship Team of the Year as well as being named 2007–08 season Player of the Year for Wolves.^[13]

The 2008–09 season saw a solid start for Hennessey and Wolves with eight victories out of the first nine league games. This fine run ended against promotion rivals Reading with a 3-0 loss and a comparably poor performance by Hennessey. Wolves manager Mick McCarthy thought it best to drop the goalkeeper to the bench citing mental fatigue as the reason.^[14] Reserve keeper Carl Ikeme deputised and impressed enough to leave Hennessey on the sidelines until an injury to Ikeme against Sheffield United ruled him out for the majority of the season. Hennessey played for a large portion of the Sheffield United game and kept his place throughout the remainder of the season. The experienced Darren Ward was brought into the side in the January to provide guidance and competition to the young Welshman. Hennessey was part of the starting 11 and made several crucial saves in the game against QPR which culminated in a 1-0 victory taking Wolves back into the Premiership after five years absence.

Wayne has remained Wolves first choice keeper during their 2009-10 Premiership campaign and made his 100th senior appearance for the club in their 2-2 draw at Stoke City on 31 October 2009.^[15] Despite being relatively new to the Premier League scene, his good form continued and earned praise from manager Mick McCarthy.^[16]. However after conceding 4 goals in successive games, Hennessey was dropped for the more experienced Marcus Hahnemann and has warmed the bench since then as the team have gone on to record back to back victories against Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur.

[edit] International career

Hennessey made his full international debut for Wales in a 2-2 friendly draw against New Zealand on 26 May 2007 and has since established himself as his country's first-choice goalkeeper.^[17]

He has also been capped at Under-17, Under-19 and Under-21 level. He once scored for the Under-19 side with a 40-yard free kick against Turkey.^[18]

[edit] Honours

• PFA Championship Team of the Year: 2008
• Football League Championship (II): 2009

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official club profile
• Wayne Hennessey career stats at Soccerbase
• BBC Sport interview

v • d • e Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. – current squad 1 Hennessey · 3 Elokobi · 4 Edwards · 5 Stearman · 6 Craddock · 7 Kightly · 8 Henry · 9 Ebanks-Blake · 10 Keogh · 11 S. Ward · 12 Surman · 13 Hahnemann · 14 David Jones · 15 Halford · 16 Berra · 17 Jarvis · 19 Iwelumo · 20 Milijaš · 23 Zubar · 26 Hill · 27 Mancienne · 28 Friend · 29 Doyle · 31 Murray · 32 Foley · 33 Maierhofer · 35 Castillo · 36 Dunleavy · 37 Bennett · 39 Winnall · 41 Hemmings · 43 Spray · 44 Mendez-Laing · Manager: McCarthy

Persondata
NAME	Hennessey, Wayne Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Professional footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	24 January 1987
PLACE OF BIRTH	Llangefni, Anglesey, Wales
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH