Swiss defender Stephane Henchoz was part of the best central defence partnership in the Premier League for a few years. He was described by then Newcastle Utd manager Bobby Robson as; “a bloody oak tree, you just can’t get past him”. A lot of Liverpool supporters remember him fondest for publicly stating that he would never ever join Man Utd. He made us even happier a few days later completely marking Van Nistelroy out of the game against the Mancs.
Stephane was born in September 1974 in Billens, Switzerland. He started his football career in 1989 with the Swiss youth team FC Bulle. He began his professional career in 1992 with Neuchatal Xamax in the Swiss Super league. In 1995 he joined SV Hamburg in the German Bundesliga. Stephane spent two years in Germany and in 1996 he was part of the Switzerland squad for the European Championships in England. In 1997 he signed for Blackburn Rovers and started to make a name for himself as a great player. Blackburn Rovers weren’t having a successful time during the next two seasons and at the end of 1998/99 they were relegated from the Premier League. Despite the team underperforming, Stephane was regarded as one of the most consistent players in the side and had started to build a reputation as a great defender.
In the summer of 1999, Liverpool manager Gerard Hoillier made, in my opinion, his two greatest signings in Stephane Henchoz and Sami Hyypia, who joined from Dutch side Willem II. Stephane was signed for a fee of £3.75 million from Blackburn Rovers. The Hyypia, Henchoz partnership gelled pretty quickly during their debut season at Liverpool in 1999/2000. They did however have to wait until October 1999 for Stephane to make his debut as he arrived at Anfield in need of a hernia operation.
Reds fans were initially frustrated with him as he played for Switzerland in an international game before making his Liverpool debut. However it did not take very long for him to win the supporters over with his no nonsense defending. He worked perfectly with Hyypia, as he very rarely ventured forward and allowed Sami to go upfield for set pieces while he remained as the last line of defence. I have heard people criticise Stephane for not scoring goals but that was never his role. His role was to stop the opposition from scoring and this was something that Stephane did on a regular basis.
In the 2000/01 season Stephane really stood out in the team that won the treble. He hardly missed a game and seemed to be getting better with every game. There is no doubt that during this season Henchoz and Hyypia were by far the best central defenders in English football, possibly even Europe. Some of the best attacking players in Europe were stopped in their tracks by Stephane during this season. Players of the calibre of Kluivert and Ronaldo at Bacelona and Henry at Arsenal were made to look fairly ordinary. Stephane was arguably the best shot blocker in the Premier League when he would dive into tackles and more often than not come away with the ball. He was also very reliable when it came to dealing with simple balls into the box and getting rid of crosses.
He played a big part in two of Liverpool’s three cup finals in 2000/01. He gave away the late penalty in the League Cup Final against Birmingham City. This led to an equalising goal but as we all know the Reds went on to win via a penalty shoot-out. In the 2001 FA Cup Final against Arsenal, Thierry Henry found out just how much Stephane would do to stop a goal. The path to goal was blocked by every inch of his anatomy including his arm and hand which stopped two goal-bound shots. Though these were both accidental incidents you understand!
Stephane suffered a few injuries in the 2001/02 season which kept him out of the side. However he still made a huge contribution as the Reds finished second in the Premier League and reached the quarter finals of the Champions League. During the 2002/03 season he suffered more frustrating injuries as Liverpool had a poor season domestically and exited the Champions League at the group stage. It was during a seven week stretch in late 2002, when he was out injured, that the Liverpool supporters realised just how good Stephane was. As awesome as Sami Hyypia was, and still is, there was no doubt that he often looked less formidable without Stephane Henchoz alongside him. During the 2002/03 season Liverpool looked alarmingly vulnerable whenever Stephane was out injured. Despite the poor results that season, there was one success as Stephane helped the Reds to a 2-0 victory over Man Utd in the 2003 League Cup Final.
Stephane missed a large part of the 2003/04 season with persistent ankle, knee and groin injuries. Even when he was fit however, Igor Biscan was often preferred at centre back and occasionally Jamie Carragher was moved inside from right back. Carragher was sensational alongside Hyypia and once Stephane was fit again he ended up playing at right back. The problem for Stephane was that he often appeared sluggish after his injuries, and Steve Finnan was absolutely brilliant at right back, so he had a hard time getting back into the team.
In the summer of 2004, Gerard Houllier was let go and Rafa Benitez became the new Liverpool manager. This signalled the end of Stephane’s time as a regular in the first team. Jamie Carragher was installed as permanent partner to Hyypia and was an absolute sensation. With no place for him in the back four, Stephane was reduced to a bit part role and appearances in the League Cup and reserves. In January 2005, he was loaned out to Celtic on a six month contract and he never played for Liverpool again.
After his contract expired at Celtic, Stephane joined Premier League new boys Wigan Athletic in the summer of 2005. After just one season with Wigan, Stephane rejoined his old club Blackburn Rovers on a one year contract. Stephane didn’t play too regularly during the 2006/07 season but he impressed Blackburn manager Mark Hughes enough to earn another one year contract. He didn’t play during the 2007/08 season and in the summer of 2008 he was released from the club. He never played for another club and retired in October 2008.
Stephane Henchoz was often overshadowed by Sami Hyypia during his time at Liverpool. However anybody who followed football between 1999 and 2003 knows that he was extremely vital to the success of Liverpool as they won four major trophies in three seasons. It is a shame that Stephane isn’t acknowledged more for what he did during his early seasons at Liverpool and hopefully in the future his contributions will be remembered. He was voted in at number 58 in the series ‘100 Players Who Shook the Kop’.
Liverpool FC | Supporters Club | Vancouver, BC, Canada
