DISAPPOINTED Eastleigh boss Ian Baird has advised departed midfielder Will Hendry to take up golf or tennis – because he isn’t a team player.

While Baird rates Hendry’s ability, he feels his attitude leaves a lot to be desired, resulting in the 23-year-old being released this week by the Blue Square Bet South outfit for a breach of club discipline.

Having been booed by a handful of Spitfires fans when he was substituted during the 1-0 home defeat by Basingstoke on October 2, Hendry was named on the bench for the next two games.

Illness ruled him out of training prior to the 5-0 FA Cup triumph at Clevedon, where he went on for the last 15 minutes, and Baird stuck with an unchanged side for Saturday’s 3-0 league win over Dartford, sending Hendry on in the 87th minute. So peeved was the former Millwall player with his lack of action that he refused to take part in any post-match running with head coach Matt Gray.

“As is normal with 99.99 per cent of clubs, we ask the subs to go out after a game for a bit of a blow and a sweat to keep their fitness levels up,” said Baird.

“Will, in his own dynamic way, refused to do any running after Saturday’s game and said to Matt that he hadn’t come here to do running and not to play.

“He didn’t speak to me about it, but he rang Matt on Monday, allegedly saying he wasn’t happy, and Matt told him he needed to speak to the manager.

“He rang me, started a tirade and I stopped him mid-sentence and told him he wouldn’t be playing for Eastleigh again because he’s not a team player.

“I didn’t want to waste any more time or breath on Will Hendry.” Despite Baird’s slightly tongue-in-cheek approach to the matter, he is genuinely disappointed to see a player of Hendry’s ability letting his talent go to waste.

Apart from a successful spell with Hayes & Yeading, whom he helped into the Conference National, the Slough-born playmaker has led a nomadic existence of late, with Dagenham & Redbridge, Maidenhead United and AFC Wimbledon among his ports of call.

He joined Eastleigh in mid-August, initially non-contract, and agreed a deal for the rest of the season towards the end of last month.

“The tale of the tape is how many clubs a player has had in a short space of time,” said Baird. “I’m sure there will be a lot of takers for Will and plenty of managers who think they can get the best out of him.

“One person actually said to me that he wouldn’t last five minutes and I admit I started to think I’d made a mistake after two weeks.

“I really hope Will proves me wrong because I wouldn’t like to think of a lad of his ability ending up on the scrapheap.

“It’s disappointing because, deep down, Will’s a good lad, but he’s got an unbelievably inflated opinion of himself as a footballer. I can live with that, but only when someone’s playing well.

“In the two games Will missed, we scored eight goals and kept two clean sheets. What gives him the divine right to think he should walk straight back into the team?”