Colin’s Comments (Part 1)
In a two part series, the Official Website gives you a detailed look at the comments made by new Clyde boss Colin Hendry during Wednesday’s press conference at Broadwood.
In this opening part, he gives his thoughts on how he ended up being appointed Manager and his hopes for the future:-
“Someone mentioned to me down at Lytham about the possibility of the job being available.
“As a family unit we were in a situation where we were looking to do something different as well.
“My eldest daughter is about to start University and my eldest son has just finished his GCSEs. My two youngest at 8 and 9 are very flexible. We’ve spent quite a bit of time in the States and I’ve got a business interest over there so we thought we might go back for a while. There were no concrete offers but I had options I could have chased up. People talk about lifestyle but it’s what you make of your situation and I’m sure we’ll enjoy ourselves just as much here. We’re delighted to be back in Scotland and we’ve got the ready made grandparents so it’s brilliant!
“The people at Clyde that I met didn’t have to sell the club to me because they were very professional and articulate in conducting the meetings. There was a lot of warmth at the interviews and I saw that there were a lot of people doing a lot of different roles at the club; that impressed me.
“They just want to see the club go forward and they are all supporters which is important as well. That’s a lot different to a benefactor coming in and investing a lot of money just to see the business flourish. This is from the heart here. The Board and the supporters have done some magical things to allow Clyde to survive and prosper.
“I spoke to many people in the game about the job including two top managers in England that I played under. They told me that if the interviews are right I would get a feel for it and that’s exactly what happened.
“When I went back and spoke to my real boss(!) Denise she agreed with me that it just felt like the right thing to so. I’m delighted to be at Clyde.
“There’s a lot of good work been done here and I don’t want that to go to waste. I’m going to give myself every opportunity to do well and the only way to do that is to try and cover every aspect of what’s needed. Within the duties I’ve got, I know the most important thing is simply to win games of football.
“I know this isn’t going to be an easy job but it is what it is and you step up to the plate. I’ve got to maintain what is already here. I know the situation and the circumstances and what I’ve taken on.
“My reputation is what it is. As a player I am happy with what I achieved and in life in general I am content as well. I just want to be involved in the game again and take it forward. You can’t worry about failure or things not happening for you, you’ve just got to take things forward.
“I hope that this is where my management career starts properly. When I was a young player the last thing I thought about doing was winning a Premiership and SPL medal; that sort of success is the furthest thing from your mind. Captaining my country at a World Cup was something well beyond what I’d dreamed about. At the moment I’m just delighted to be here and be back in management.
“Any manager or coach wants to go as far as they can in their career. Having tasted some success as a player I’ve got a bit of an idea what it’s going to take to do it in management – but it doesn’t always work out like that.
“Managing my country is an ambition but that would be true for Craig Levein, John Collins or any manager in the SPL. It’s not going to happen in the next 12 months anyway! There’s a damn fine job been started by Walter and now continued by Alex. We’re very fortunate in that respect.”