Ian Henderson from Thetford is described as a fiery centre-forward. He is the younger brother of Tommy who was once also on the books at Carrow Road but died in a car accident in December 2000. "He's got a lot of qualities but in recent years Ian has added quite a bit to his game. His movement off the ball has improved and his goalscoring has improved. He's an aggressive front runner and our job is to take that aggression and focus it in the right manner." said Academy director Sammy Morgan.

Ian nearly became Norwich's youngest ever senior debutant when Nigel Worthington gave him a place on the bench for the home game with Coventry. A year later, he made his debut as substitute against Coventry, albeit at Highfield Road, in a 1-1 draw on 23rd October 2002. He was the first youth team product to debut for the Canaries since Robert Green. He scored his first goal for the Canaries in the 4-2 defeat at Wimbledon on 2nd November 2002. He was rewarded with a three year professional contract at the end of January 2003 and ended the season with 22 appearances to his credit.

As a result of a fine season, he was called up in May 2003 to the England Under-18 squad for a tournament in Lisbon against Portugal, Sweden and Spain. Ian was one of only three players in the squad to come from outside the Premiership. Ian played in all three games partnering Newcastle's Lewis Guy. Henderson had goals disallowed in the win over Sweden and the draw with Portugal but scored England's first in the 2-0 defeat of Spain that gave the Lisbon Trophy to the young England side.

Within weeks though, Ian was called up to the Scottish Under-19 side that would compete for the Northern Ireland Milk Cup 2003. Henderson is eligble for Scotland through his Scottish father and since he has not played a UEFA/FIFA-recognised competitive match, he was not yet tied to any particular national team.

On 11th January 2007, he was loaned to Rotherham to gain match fitness and experience in a deal that was initially for a month but was then extended to the end of the 2006/7 season. Henderson made 18 appearances for the Millers, scoring once. At the end of the season, Henderson was released by the Canaries.

Ian signed for Northampton Town on 28th June 2007 in a double deal with Chestefield's Colin Larkin also signing for the Cobblers on the same day.

Ian was released by Northampton on 27th December 2008 after having his contract terminated.The decision means that he is free to find a new club when the transfer window opens at the beginning of January 2009. Ian made 33 appearances for Northampton, made up of 12 starts and 21 as a substitute but did not score for them

Ian then signed for Luton on 31st December 2008 until the end of the season. He knows fellow Hatters Paul McVeigh, Rossi Jarvis, Chris Martin and Michael Spillane from his Norwich City days. Henderson however could not prevent Luton from being relegated on 13th April 2009 into the Conference following a goalless draw with Chesterfield.

He signed for Turkish side Ankaragucu on 24th July 2009 as did former England international Darrius Vassell

When his Turkish adventure didn't work out, he trialled with Colchester at Christmas 2009 before signing for them in the January 2010 transfer window. Henderson knows Colchester manager Aidy Boothroyd from when Boothroyd was youth team coach at Norwich. He made his debut for Colchester as a substitute in their 5-0 home defeat to Norwich on 16th January and was promptly sent-off.

In December 2010, Henderson was linked with a switch to either Readng or back to Norwich City.

Henderson was released by Colchester, along with Michael Rose, Carl Pentney and Tom Bender, at the end of January 2013.

Henderson signed for Rochdale on 26th February 2013.

Rochdale and Henderson won promotion to League One on 26th April 2014.

On 19th June 2020 Henderson was one of eight players released by Rochdale. He had scored 125 goals for Rochdale, making him their second highest scorer of all time. He had made 343 appearances.

On 29th July 2020 he signed a two year deal with Salford City. He was released by Salford at the end of his contract on 21st May 2022. He had played 66 games scoring 21 goals.

Henderson returned to Rochdale on 12th July 2022 signing a one year deal.

Henderson was in the Rochdale side that lost 1-0 at Stockport on 22nd April which saw them relegated from the Football League after 102 years. They had lost 26 of their 44 fixtures.