Dublin-born goalkeeper Stephen Henderson has joined Nottingham Forest on a free transfer from League One's Charlton Athletic.
Henderson made 22 appearances in the Championship with Charlton last season; a year in which the club found themselves in disarray both on and off the field. The club ultimately finished 22nd in the Championship, and were relegated to English football's third tier.
Henderson, however, has evidently been viewed as too good for the Championship, and has been snapped up by Forest on a three-year contract.
The goalkeeper made more league appearances for Charlton than any other club in his career. Having come through the ranks at Aston Villa, Henderson then joined Bristol City, but failed to make a senior appearance at Ashton Gate. A whole host of loan spells in the lower divisions followed (York City, Weymouth, Aldershot and Yeovil) before earning a shot with Portsmouth in 2011.
Henderson established himself as first-choice, but owing to Portsmouth's financial difficulties, he joined West ham United in 2012, then in the Championship. Up0n promotion, he was loaned out to Ipswich.
Another loan period with Bournemouth followed, where he made just two league appearances before dislocating his shoulder in a clash with Simon Cox.
Henderson then rebuilt his career with Charlton in 2014,
He has yet to be capped at senior international level with Ireland, but was part of the squad which faced Bosnia in the Euro 2016 play-offs, and has picked up eight caps with the Irish U-21s.
Upon his signature, Nottingham Forest have asked fans for a slightly odd request, asking any supporters interested in sponsoring Henderson to contact the club's marketing department.
For the price of £745, Forest fans can sponsor a player in the squad in return for these benefits:
- Meet your sponsored player and the rest of the squad at the 2017 Player Sponsors’ Lunch- Receive the player’s match-worn shirt, framed photograph of player/shirt presentation and an action shot of your player- Enjoy two Robin Hood Suite hospitality tickets for any league game (excluding gold-rated fixtures)- Your company logo/personal acknowledgement with link through to your website on player profile page of the official Nottingham Forest website- Your company logo/personal acknowledgment alongside your sponsored player on player sponsors page of every home matchday programme- Your company logo/personal acknowledgement next to your sponsored player on the big screens at every home game
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