West Ham defender Doneil Henry failed to make a first team appearance for the club since joining in January from Toronto for a fee of around £1.5m, but he had been a regular fixture for the Development squad during his two months in East London.
Henry was recommended to the club by Ryan Nelson, former manager of Toronto, and former player under Sam Allardyce at Blackburn when he was manager. West Ham sent scouts to watch him in action, and deemed the move worth their while.
With a number of defensive injuries, the Canadian was set to make his first team debut against Chelsea last week before the club received a call from Blackburn asking if they could take the 21-year-old on a months loan. The Hammers agreed to the deal as it would give Henry some invaluable first team football in English football. Before we even get into his performances for Rovers, his account of that day is quite remarkable in itself.
‘My mind was focusing on the Chelsea fixture that we had tonight and meeting my team and getting ready to go to the hotel. I got a call from the manager in the morning and I was told I was going on loan and I was hopefully playing that night. I had to collect my stuff from Upton Park, sign some paperwork and then be on a train. I got on the wrong train, asked the ticket man if it was going to Sheffield to find out I had to get off and get on another train.
After that finally I recognised some people in Blackburn kit at the train station and from there I was in safe hands. I met the team, did pre-game stuff and then just played. I was just really happy to play. It’s been a while. I knew me thinking too much wouldn’t be good, I just wanted to get on the pitch as soon as possible and establish myself in the team.’
– Henry on his first day with Blackburn.
The young central defender has been a hit since signing on loan, but what do the Rovers faithful think of his performances? We spoke with Blackburn fan Gary Smale about Henry’s impact on the side, and how he’s faired thus far.
The story of Henry’s first day with Blackburn is quite remarkable, joining up with his team mates the same evening of his debut. What do you think it says about him as a player and person?
It was the stuff of dreams, wasn’t it? Missed trains; late meetings with the gaffer and then to go on to make your debut and have that impact within a few hours of having met your new team mates says a lot about him as a player, although as a person his public transport skills leave a lot to be desired.
Gary Bowyer was full of confidence for Henry’s ‘magnificent’ man of the match performance on debut against Sheffield Wednesday. What does he add to the Rovers defence?
He was pretty much thrown in at the deep end, so naturally you don’t want to see them buckle under pressure. He keeps his line well, looks to play a pass wherever possible and isn’t shy of a tackle. He was involved in the move for Adam Henley’s goal and his clearance for their goal hit Rudy Gestede before bouncing back into the path of Maguire so you can’t really fault him for that.
Blackburn are gunning for a play-off place this season, has Henry’s addition in defence helped solidify the side?
For a team who have kept only seven (I think) clean sheets in the league all season, a solid defence is all we want. It’s too early to say whether or not Henry’s arrival will help shore things up and unfortunately our defence has been chopped and changed that many times due to injuries and selection bingo that you can no longer predict who will be starting any game.
You got to watch Henry in action the other night against Bolton where he assisted in Rhodes’ late winner. What did you take away from that performance?
Before the assist he was very unlucky not to have scored himself from another set piece, having flashed a header narrowly wide of the post. That would have been the icing on a very solid home debut cake after putting the big lump Emile Heskey on his arse in the opening couple of minutes. Obviously I wouldn’t be saying that if Bolton had scored from the resulting free kick… hindsight n’ that.
Only on loan at the club until the start of next month, would you like to see Henry’s stay extended until the end of the season, or is it too early to say?
Given the way he’s settled in so quickly and based on his performances so far I’d love to see it extended, but I think without injuries to key players (and Grant Hanley) in that position at the time I’d have to question whether or not we would have been in the market for another defender.
It’s nice to see that Big Sam was able to help us out though, especially considering the circumstances under which he left our club. We have a few games left during his loan spell here and I hope he gets more minutes behind him, just don’t think you can have him back on a whim now that James Tomkins has dislocated his shoulder.
On loan at Blackburn until the start of next month, and it’s unknown whether Henry’s loan will be extended, or whether he’ll be recalled by the club, who are going through a bit of a defensive injury crisis with both Winston Reid and James Tomkins out for several games, with Tomkins possibly missing the rest of the season with that dislocated shoulder.
Henry has been Blackburn’s highest rated player, on average, since signing for the club, earning their Man of the Match rating for the win against Bolton. If he continues to impress, he could stake a claim for a role in the first team next season, but for now, good luck Doneil, keep doing your thing!
