"I came to Sheffield United to get back into the Premier League ... but I ended up wanting to chin the manager"
Former England international Lee Hendrie has lifted the lid on his frustrating time at Sheffield United - which left him wanting to fight then-manager Kevin Blackwell.
Lee Hendrie, the former Sheffield United midfielder, has admitted that joining the Blades over Stoke City was one of the biggest regrets of his playing career - after being left wanting to punch then-United boss Kevin Blackwell. The former England international moved to Bramall Lane in 2007 after a loan spell at Stoke.
At the time he felt the recently-relegated Blades, who had replaced Neil Warnock with Bryan Robson, offered him a better route back into the top-flight, where he had shone with Aston Villa. But it proved disastrous and he played only a handful of times before making a permanent exit to Derby County in 2009.
From there his career continued a downward spiral but he has embarked on a second one as a television pundit after hanging up his boots. But that didn’t see him hold back when asked about his time at United, on a recent episode of the In the Mixer podcast.
“I made a really bad call in not staying at Stoke and going to Sheffield United instead. Honestly, one of my biggest regrets in terms of decisions I made. Because that following season, Stoke got promoted back to the Premier League and that's where I wanted to be. You make wrong calls, don't you? That's what I did.”
One of the biggest frustrations for Hendrie was Blackwell’s management, with Warnock’s former assistant returning to take charge after Robson’s unsuccessful spell was brought to an end. “He infuriates me,” Hendrie admitted. “I've laid him out in my head. Graham Stack does those boxing fights, so if Stack ever wants to get Kevin Blackwell in the ring... Stack's already asked me to go on that.
"I came to Sheffield United to get back into the Premier League ... but I ended up wanting to chin the manager"
“And I'm thinking: ‘If I start to hench up a little bit and I do come across him, I might end up giving him a right hook.’ He was a c**k - I'll just say it. And I don't know what possessed him to be the way he was with the players that he did it to. How on earth one of us didn't actually knock him out is beyond me, given the way he treated us.
“It was a big reflection on the Sheffield United fans too because they thought I'd gone there on a free transfer for the money. It wasn't. I took a pay cut to go there because I saw the potential of getting back into the Premier League, which would take me back to my Premier League wages.
“I really do think it was this - I think he was trying to make a statement that he was the gaffer. And I don't think he needed to do that. It wasn't because we'd come in with a bad attitude. I'd come in and train every day and I'd be the best in training - all the lads would say that.
“Gary Speed was there - God rest his soul - and he had so many conversations with me. He just said: ‘Keep doing what you're doing. If he's sending you to train with the kids, fine; just get on with it. When he's gone, I'm going to take over and you're playing in the team.’
“I really felt Blackwell had something personal against me and I never ever found out what it was. I came back one pre-season and I got fit - I mean, fit as anything. I made sure I came back right. We'd all train together in pre-season, getting fit.
“And I p****d all the running, everything. I felt like I was back to my best - I was good. Played in all the pre-season friendlies and the Sheffield fans were like: ‘Look what we've got here.’ He'd been bombing me off all pre-season, Blackwell had, singling me out.
“Then we had QPR away and the starting eleven comes out. I'm not on the team sheet. I'm not even on the subs bench. I've travelled as well. I looked up at him and he couldn't even look at me. I looked at him, got up and said: ‘This is a f***ing joke.’
“I picked my bag up and walked out of there. It was packed outside with fans and everything. I got far away and just got a taxi back to Birmingham. I was so, so angry. Because I thought that was the time I probably could have really lost it with him. But I don't know - I wonder whether he was prompting me to do exactly that."
United did not play QPR away in the first game of the season during Hendrie’s time at Bramall Lane, but he did not feature at all in the 2007/08 season after Blackwell replaced Robson and not much more the following term as United lost the play-off final to Burnley.
Hendrie came off the bench for the last five minutes of that and was sent off after the final whistle. His and Blackwell’s paths have crossed in the years since. “I was doing a Middlesbrough game as a media pundit and he was obviously Warnock's assistant,” Hendrie added. “I'd told all the gang beforehand: ‘If Blackwell comes near me, don't let him come close.’
“I was speaking to someone and in the corner of my eye, I could see Blackwell walking over to me. I'm thinking: ‘Please, please don't come and say hello to me.’ He comes over and says: ‘Can I have a word with you?’ And we stepped away. He said: ‘Mate, can we just put all this to bed? You just slag me off on every platform you go on.’ I went: ‘You're a c**k’.
“And he went: ‘No, we don't have to be like that.’ I said: ‘Listen, I work in media now I'm not going to cut off my nose to spite my face ... I'm not going to do anything bad to you. But I don't like you. So I'm not going to shake your hand.’
“And he went: ‘Remember I played you in the play-off final.’ He played me for two minutes and I got sent off in the tunnel because I was so frustrated with everything. He went: ‘I left Billy Sharp out for you.’
“I said: ‘Is that all you've got to say to me? Are you forgetting that you sent me to train with the kids? Are you forgetting that I came into training every single day wanting to get in your plans?’ And he just couldn't say anything. He had nothing. That was as close as I got to giving him a clip. But I've got to be professional in what I'm doing and where I'm working.
“I feel that at that time in my career - when I was trying to prove a point and get my career back on track - he had a really bad effect on my trajectory. I'm not blaming him for everything. But I do feel that if I'd have had someone who was going to give me some love and some opportunity to play, I probably would have played until I was 36 or 37.”