Karl Henry

Karl Henry

Personal information
Full name	Karl Levi Daniel Henry
Date of birth	26 November 1982 (1982-11-26)
Place of birth	Ashmore Park, Wolverhampton, England
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Number	8
Youth career
1998–2000	Stoke City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2000–2006	Stoke City	120	(1)
2004	→ Cheltenham Town (loan)	9	(1)
2006–	Wolverhampton Wanderers	201	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 February 2012. † Appearances (Goals).

Karl Levi Daniel Henry (26 November 1982) is an English footballer of Jamaican descent who played as a midfielder and captained his hometown Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Henry was a product of the Stoke City academy who went on to make over 120 appearances for the club, whilst having a brief loan spell at Cheltenham Town in 2004. He joined Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2006 and went on to become captain of the side in the Premier League. Henry also had parental qualification to play for Jamaica.

Career

Stoke City

Born in Ashmore Park, Wolverhampton, Henry began his career as a youth player for Stoke City in 1998. He made his first team debut in the Football League Trophy match against Walsall on 7 February 2001. He didn't feature in the first team again until the 2001–02 season, where he went on to become a first team regular for Stoke, making 15 appearances and helping his side gain promotion to Division One via the play-offs. Henry went on again to feature regularly for Stoke in the 2002–03 season making 21 appearances. He scored his first and only goal for Stoke against Bradford City on 26 December 2002. This saw him selected for the England under 18, 20 and 21 squads.

During the 2003–04 season Henry was loaned out to League Two side Cheltenham Town on a five month deal. He made his debut against Lincoln City on 13 January 2004 and totalled nine appearances for the club.

The 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons saw Henry play a bit part role for Stoke mainly being used as a substitute. He made 15 starts for Stoke in each season and overall made a total of 34 substitute appearances.

In the summer of the 2006–07 season Henry was out of contract, and although officially a free agent, was still training with Stoke City. The club allowed him to go on trial at Wolverhampton Wanderers, who he joined permanently in August 2006.

Wolves and Stoke City agreed a compensation package of £100,000, rising to £175,000 (dependent on appearances), with a 15 percent sell-on clause. This ended his eight year stay with the club.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Henry joined his hometown club on a three year contract in August 2006 a week before the start of the 2006–07 season. He made his Wolverhampton Wanderers debut and his first start for his new club against Plymouth Arygle on the opening day of the season. Henry spent most of his first season filling in at right back and playing a few games in central midfield.

He was appointed captain for the first time in December 2006 as Jody Craddock was out injured. Henry's first season for Wolves came to an end when he suffered a serious injury in the game against Luton Town on the 3 March 2007. Henry bruised his spleen and was forced to sit out the remainder of the 2006–07 season, which saw him miss out on the Championship Play-Offs. He made a total of 34 appearances in his first season for Wolves, scoring three goals.

In the 2007–08 season, Henry again impressed for Wolves after holding down his position in the centre of midfield. He went on to make a total of 42 appearances for Wolves, scoring three goals again. These goals came against Preston North End and two against Charlton Athletic, both home and away. Henry also picked up an injury against Charlton on 29 March 2008, which saw him miss the last six games of the season.

The 2008–09 season saw Henry impress again for Wolves and he was also handed the captain's armband for the majority of the season as Jody Craddock was out injured. He was an integral part of the team which made an impressive start to the season as Wolves were at the top of the table for numerous months with Henry captaining them. He was in the starting 11 against Queens Park Rangers in which Wolves went onto win the game which resulted in them gaining promotion to the Premier League. On 3 May 2009, Henry and Craddock both lifted the Championship trophy at Molineux on the final day of the season after their 1–0 over Doncaster Rovers. He made a total of 43 appearances for Wolves, and shortly after the season ended he signed a new four-year contract, with an option of a further year, which will keep him at Molineux until the summer of 2013.

Henry was an ever present captain in the Wolves team in the 2009–10 season, his Premier League debut came against West Ham United on the opening day. He went onto make 34 appearances for Wolves during 2009–10, missing only four games, as Wolves stayed up at the end of their first season in the Premier League.

During the 2010–11 season, Henry made 31 Premier League appearances as captain. On the last day of the season, on 22 May 2011, Wolverhampton Wanderers stayed in the Premier League after finishing 17th.

A start of the new season, newly signing Roger Johnson replaced Henry as a new club captain. Henry started Wolves' first three games in the 2011–12 season, including the 0–0 draw away at local rivals Aston Villa. Before the match between QPR and Wolves, Henry as thrown down the gauntlet to Joey Barton as they again prepare to go head-to-head at Molineux. The two (both Joey Barton and Karl Henry) has a physical confrontation since August 2010 when Barton was still at Newcastle. During the match QPR and Wolves, which QPR beat Wolves 3–0, Henry was involved in a physical confrontation with QPR's Joey Barton. Henry was accused by Barton claming that Henry was 'tries to hurt people'. Henry says Barton was 'embarrassing' after recent comments. Henry was taunted by a section of the Molineux crowd after being substituted, when Wolves defeat to Newcastle United 2–1. He was defended by current Wolves captain Roger Johnson.

"I thought it was a disgrace, disgusting. It stinks," "If the fans want to have a bitch at me about it then fine, but I thought they were bang out of order.here are no reasons for this sort of abuse. It should never happen, especially to someone who has served Wolves so well" Roger Johnson on Karl Henry abuse./>

International career

On 8 October 2008, Henry was approached by manager John Barnes to play for Jamaica.

On 20 February 2011, Henry was named in the 40 man England provisional squad for the game against Denmark, but did not make the final cut of 26.

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stoke City	2000–01	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
	2001–02	24	0	2	0	1	0	1	0	28	0
	2002–03	18	1	3	0	1	0	–		22	1
	2003–04	20	0	0	0	1	0	–		21	0
	2004–05	34	0	1	0	1	0	–		36	0
	2005–06	24	0	3	0	1	0	–		28	0
	Total	120	1	9	0	5	0	2	0	136	1
Cheltenham Town (loan)	2003–04	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	1
	Total	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	1
Wolverhampton Wanderers	2006–07	34	3	3	0	1	0	–		38	3
	2007–08	40	3	2	0	2	0	–		44	3
	2008–09	43	0	2	0	2	0	–		47	0
	2009–10	34	0	3	1	1	0	–		38	1
	2010–11	27	0	2	0	0	0	–		29	0
	Total	178	6	12	1	6	0	0	0	196	7
Career Total		307	8	21	1	11	0	2	0	341	9

Note

A. ^ constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League play-offs, and Football League Trophy.

Honours

• Football League Championship (II): 2009

External links

• Official club profile
• Karl Henry career stats at Soccerbase