William Shakespeare head-butted his victim and then kicked him as he lay on the floor Stoke Crown Court heard

“William Shakespeare head-butted his victim and then kicked him as he lay on the floor, Stoke Crown Court heard. Lear: Do you bandy looks with me, you rascal! (Striking him) Oswald: I’ll not be strucken, my lord. Lear: Nor tripp’d either, you base football player (Tripping up his heels)

Now this from the Evening Sentinel, Stoke, 1995. Consider the following dialogue from King Lear, 1608. Lear: You whoreson dog! You slave! You cur! Oswald: I am none of these my lord; I beseech your pardon. He will not tempt fate by saying so, but just four more victories and the walls of restraint Blackburn have constructed around themselves can come tumbling down Just like Nuttall Street..

“I know you can never say never in football, but I can’t see myself playing for anyone else,” he said. “I think it’s always better to be in on the start of something than when it’s the finished article.”It is the end of something, namely the arduous struggle with United, which currently preoccupies Hendry. The more responsible defender he has evolved into should, he feels, be capable of battling on well into the next century; recent partners Kevin Moran and Tony Gale were past 36.Hendry hopes it will be with Blackburn, to whom he is tied for a further three years. It would be quite a contest: Hendry still takes a goal conceded as a personal affront, but no longer responds by marauding upfield like some latterday Rob Roy and leaving gaps behind him.He attributes this new-found discipline to Blackburn’s greater array of attacking alternatives – “They push anyone forward rather than me!” – as well as to Harford’s coaching expertise and his own experience.

You can’t take it for granted you’ll be here next year.”Hendry is equally forthright in tackling the allegation that Blackburn lack flair, suspecting it contains an element of jealousy “I certainly don’t feel bored, and nor do our supporters We’ve scored more goals than anyone else. And there’s a difference between being boring and being well prepared, which the manager and Ray Harford make sure we are.”The carping came to a head after the win at Everton a fortnight ago Hendry is unrepentant: “We were under the cosh for once. They thought they’d steamroller us like they did United, but we played them at their own game Someone told me we’d been booed off. I said `Oh, I’m sorry’, tongue in cheek, and it was reported as me apologising to the crowd.”The canny Kenny invariably claims Hendry and Shearer for his side in practice matches, so that the Premiership’s best centre-half and centre- forward seldom test their mettle against one another. If you look at our side in the play-offs less than three years ago, it hasn’t changed dramatically.”Nevertheless, he asserts, the club’s capacity to outbid all-comers in the transfer market has had a positive effect: “It puts pressure on the players to perform at their best all the time.

The argument that Blackburn have bought success is intercepted by Hendry much as he would a pass to Anthony Yeboah this afternoon.”In real terms our rivals have spent similar sums over five or six years – it’s just that our buying has been compressed into a shorter time. Tim turned and said: `People haven’t grasped it yet, but this club is going to be massive’.”Another defining moment was the capture of Shearer for £3.3m, a fee which in the summer of ‘92 seemed exorbitant “To be honest, it was,” Hendry said. “But it’s turned out to be one of the bargains of all time.”Dalglish subsequently lavished many more millions on Chris Sutton et al, which perhaps explains the lack of enthusiasm nationally for what ought to be a romantic revival of a famous club. He remembers the point, in their first season back among the lite, when the scale of what was happening sunk in.”I was walking round the pitch with Tim Sherwood, with half the ground being rebuilt around us.