Tom Hendrie

Tom Hendrie (born October 24 1955 in Edinburgh) is a former professional football player and manager.

Playing career

A midfielder, Hendrie plied his trade at a number of clubs in the late 1970's, Dundee, Arbroath, Gateshead and Goole before settling at Meadowbank Thistle in 1980. Here he made 335 appearances for the club, scoring 30 goals before leaving to join Berwick Rangers in 1992.

Managerial career

Hendrie became manager of Berwick in January 1994 and in his first season he took them to second place in the Scottish Second Division, narrowly missing out on promotion due to league reconstruction. In 1996 he moved to Alloa Athletic and he took them to the Scottish Third Division championship in 1998. In 1999 he took over as manager of St Mirren and in 2000 he guided them to the championship of the Scottish First Division however he was unable to keep them in the SPL and they were relegated the following year, form was poor in the 2001-02 season and following a heavy defeat to Inverness Caley Thistle in September 2002 he was relieved of his duties. He returned to Alloa in December 2003 but was unable to recover the form from his earlier tenure and was sacked in January 2006. He worked as a scout for Hearts for the remainder of the 2005-06 season.

He was well known in Scottish Football for not accepting defeat graciously and would often say his team would deserve something from a game even when they lost and were outplayed. Some opposition fans even named him the Arsene Wenger of Scotland.

For much of his career, Hendrie's involvement in football has been part time and he has developed a simultaneous career as a school teacher. He was a maths teacher at Preston Lodge High School in Prestonpans until his appointment at St Mirren and since leaving the Paisley club has taught at Craigmount High School in Edinburgh.

Managerial honours

Alloa Athletic F.C.

*Scottish Third Division
**Winners (1): 1997-98

St. Mirren F.C. 1999-2002

*Scottish First Division
**Winners (1): 1999-00

Manager awards

* SPL Manager of the Month (1): April 2001

External links

* [http://www.stmirren.info/Managers/Tom%20Hendrie.htm St Mirren profile of Hendrie]