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Trevor Lloyd Sinclair (born 2 March 1973) is an English football coach, professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
and pundit.
As a player, he was
winger who notably played in the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
for
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
,
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
and
Manchester City. He also played in the
Football League for
Blackpool and
Cardiff City where he retired in 2008. He has since come out of retirement on two occasions and has featured for non-league sides
Lancaster City in 2014 and
Squires Gate in 2018. He was capped twelve times by
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, four of which came in the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...
. He won the 1997 ''
Match of the Day
''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary ...
'' Goal of the Season after scoring a
bicycle kick
In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...
in an
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
tie against
Barnsley.
Following his retirement, Sinclair largely worked as a pundit on both television and radio, most notably for
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
on ''
Football Focus
''Football Focus'' is a BBC television magazine programme launched in 1974 covering football, normally broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday lunchtimes during the football season. From the 2009–10 season to the 2020–21 season Football Focus ...
'' and ''
Final Score
''Final Score'' is a BBC Television football news and results programme produced by BBC Sport. The programme is broadcast on late Saturday afternoons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, usually on BBC One. BBC Northern Ireland opts away dur ...
''. During the 2014–15 season, he was named assistant manager of
Lancaster City, who he briefly came out of retirement with. In 2018 he played a single game for
Squires Gate.
Club career
Blackpool
Sinclair was born in
Dulwich
Dulwich (; ) is an area in south London, England. The settlement is mostly in the London Borough of Southwark, with parts in the London Borough of Lambeth, and consists of Dulwich Village, East Dulwich, West Dulwich, and the Southwark half ...
, London, but grew up in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
. He began his career at
Blackpool where he played from 1989 to 1993. When he made his debut for Blackpool, on 19 August 1989, he became the club's youngest ever player, at 16 years, five months, breaking
Colin Greenall's record set nine years earlier. Sinclair's record was in turn broken by
Matty Kay in November 2005.
Sinclair was inducted into the
Hall of Fame at Bloomfield Road when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player
Jimmy Armfield
James Christopher Armfield, (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional football player and manager who latterly worked as a football pundit for BBC Radio Five Live. He played the whole of his Football League career at B ...
in April 2006.
Organised by the Blackpool Supporters Association, Blackpool fans around the world voted on their all-time heroes. Five players from each decade are inducted; Sinclair is in the 1990s.
He made 112 league appearances for ''the Seasiders'', scoring 15 goals.
Queens Park Rangers
In 1993, Sinclair moved to
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
for £600,000, a figure which broke Blackpool's record transfer sale. He won the October 1995
Premier League Player of the Month
The Premier League Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 10 ...
award, although he was unable to prevent QPR from being relegated from the Premier League that season. Throughout the
1995-96 season, Sinclair's name was constantly linked with a move to several of the Premier League's leading clubs, namely
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
,
Manchester United and
Newcastle United - with fees of up to £6million being mentioned.
In May 1997, he won the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's ''
Match of the Day
''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights, during the Premier League season. The show's current presenter is former England international striker Gary ...
'' "
Goal of the Season" competition with a
bicycle kick
In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...
from outside the penalty area whilst playing for QPR in an
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
match against
Barnsley.
In five years at QPR, he made 168 league appearances, scoring 16 goals.
West Ham United
In January 1998, Sinclair moved to
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
for a combined fee of £2.3 million; £2.7 million minus West Ham players
Iain Dowie
Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit.
He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...
and
Keith Rowland
Keith Rowland (born on 1 September 1971) is a Northern Irish football manager and former footballer, who is manager of Tilbury.
As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the Premier League for Coventry City and West Ham United. He a ...
moving to Q.P.R as part of the deal. He scored seven goals in the remaining 14 games to help West Ham achieve an eighth-place finish in the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
. He was a regular over the next two seasons, but a serious knee injury ruled him out of the final four months of the
2000–01 season. His absence coincided with a loss of form for the team, and by the end of the season manager
Harry Redknapp had been sacked.
Sinclair recovered in time for the
2001–02 season and featured 34 times, often on the left wing, as he won his bid to play at the World Cup for England in that position.
2002–03 was Sinclair's final season with West Ham. They were relegated at the end of the season. Forced to cut costs, West Ham accepted a £3.3m bid for the player from
Manchester City.
In total Sinclair spent five years at
Upton Park, playing in a variety of positions including wingback, left and right wing and as a striker when called upon. He made 177 league appearances and scored 37 goals including two goals on his West Ham debut, on 31 January 1998, in a 2–2 home draw against
Everton.
Manchester City
After West Ham's relegation, Sinclair joined
Manchester City in 2003 for £3.3 million, and went on to score City's first competitive goal at the new
City of Manchester Stadium in a
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
tie against Welsh side
Total Network Solutions.
At the beginning of his career at Manchester City, he played on the left wing, where he had performed for England at the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...
. However, the departure of
Shaun Wright-Phillips presented the opportunity for Sinclair to play on his preferred right wing.
Sinclair was released by Manchester City at the end of the
2006–07 season.
Cardiff City
On 10 July 2007, he joined Championship club,
Cardiff City.
He began the season as a first-team player, scoring his first Cardiff goal on 24 September in a 4–2 win in the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
over
West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
. Early on in the season, he suffered from a buildup of fluid in his knee and underwent two operations on the injury which ruled him out until mid-February. He made his return on 16 February 2008 coming on as a late substitute in a 2–0
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
victory over
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
.
On 12 April 2008, Sinclair faced his first club, Blackpool, for the first time since leaving them fifteen years earlier.
He scored Cardiff's second goal in a 3–1 win; however, he refused to celebrate his goal.
On 17 May he made an 86th-minute substitute appearance in the
2008 FA Cup Final
The 2008 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Cardiff City and Portsmouth held at Wembley Stadium, London, on 17 May 2008. The final was the showpiece match of English football's primary cup competition, the 2007–08 Footbal ...
at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
, which Cardiff lost 1–0 to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
. However, four days later it was announced that his contract would not be renewed for the forthcoming season and he was released.
Squires Gate
On 21 February 2018, he joined North West Counties Football Premier League club
Squires Gate at the age of 44 after a 2014–15 season at
Lancaster City.
International career
Sinclair was called up to
Terry Venables
Terence Frederick Venables (born 6 January 1943), often referred to as El Tel, is an English former football player and manager, and an author. During the 1960s and '70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queen ...
' get-together England squad in April 1995, but was not capped for the senior side until 2001. Sinclair earned 12
cap
A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...
s for
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, four of which came in the
2002 World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...
, in which he was a last-minute replacement for the injured
Danny Murphy. In turn, he replaced
Owen Hargreaves
Owen Lee Hargreaves (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was known as a hard-working and "solid defensive midfielder who worked tirelessly to win the ball" and provide his teammates with posses ...
, who was injured early in the competition, in the team and was widely regarded as one of England's best players in the tournament, doing a job on England's then "problem left hand side".
Coaching career
Sinclair was the assistant manager of
Lancaster City. On 25 August 2014, he made a substitute appearance in the second half of a 3–1 defeat to Clitheroe in the league.
As of October 2021, Sinclair runs a football academy with
Bamber Bridge
Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...
manager
Jamie Milligan
Jamie Milligan (born 3 January 1980) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of Bamber Bridge F.C., Bamber Bridge.
Playing career
Milligan started his career in 1997 as a ...
.
["An in-depth look at how Blackpool's players out on loan are getting on"](_blank)
– ''Blackpool Gazette
The ''Blackpool Gazette'' (locally marketed as simply ''The Gazette'') is an English daily newspaper based in Blackpool, Lancashire. Published every day except Sunday, it covers the towns and communities of the Fylde coast. It was founded as '' ...
'', 5 October 2021
Media career
Following his retirement, Sinclair largely worked as a pundit on both television and radio, most notably for
BBC Sport
BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
on ''
Football Focus
''Football Focus'' is a BBC television magazine programme launched in 1974 covering football, normally broadcast live on BBC One on Saturday lunchtimes during the football season. From the 2009–10 season to the 2020–21 season Football Focus ...
'' and ''
Final Score
''Final Score'' is a BBC Television football news and results programme produced by BBC Sport. The programme is broadcast on late Saturday afternoons in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, usually on BBC One. BBC Northern Ireland opts away dur ...
''.
Sinclair has worked as a sports commentator, notably on
TalkSPORT.
Personal life
Sinclair is of partial
Irish
Irish may refer to:
Common meanings
* Someone or something of, from, or related to:
** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe
***Éire, Irish language name for the isle
** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
and
Scottish descent through his mother, who was born in
Sligo and his stepfather was from Glasgow.
He lives on the
Fylde coast
The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills to ...
and is a supporter of his previous clubs
West Ham
West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham.
The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...
,
Manchester City,
Blackpool and
QPR
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football, football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home ...
, as well as Scottish club
Celtic.
In February 2015, he said that three of his children had joined Blackpool's academy.
As of October 2021, his eldest son, Isaac, was playing for
Bamber Bridge
Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...
.
His middle son, Sky, was named as an under-21 player in Blackpool's squad for the 2021–22
EFL Championship campaign. He signed a professional contract at the end of the previous campaign. Sinclair's youngest son, Kobe, began a scholarship with Blackpool in 2021.
Controversies
In January 1999, Sinclair was convicted of causing criminal damage to a car, following a night of drinking with other West Ham players at the club's Christmas party in
Romford
Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...
.
In November 2017, Sinclair was arrested on suspicion of drink driving, common assault and criminal damage after a woman was hit by a car in
Lytham St Annes. On 2 January 2018, Sinclair was convicted of drink driving, urinating in a police car and racially abusing a police officer by calling him a 'white cunt'. He was sentenced to 150 hours of unpaid work, disqualified from driving for 20 months and ordered to pay £500 compensation to the abused police officer. Following this conviction, he was subsequently fired from his role as a BBC pundit.
Following the death of
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
, Sinclair tweeted asking why "black and brown" people should mourn. His comments were met with widespread condemnation, including that of his fellow TalkSPORT colleague
Simon Jordan.
TalkSPORT subsequently announced that Sinclair would not be featured on air at the station whilst an investigation into the tweet was carried out.
Career statistics
Club
International
Honours
Blackpool
*
Fourth Division play-offs:
1992
West Ham United
*
UEFA Intertoto Cup:
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
England U21
*
Toulon Tournament
The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...
: 1994
Individual
*
Premier League Player of the Month
The Premier League Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 10 ...
:
October 1995
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
Sinclair in the Blackpool Supporters Association Hall of FameEngland U21 stats
at the FA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Trevor
English footballers
Blackpool F.C. players
Queens Park Rangers F.C. players
West Ham United F.C. players
Manchester City F.C. players
Cardiff City F.C. players
Lancaster City F.C. players
Premier League players
English Football League players
England under-21 international footballers
England international footballers
England B international footballers
2002 FIFA World Cup players
Footballers from Dulwich
1973 births
Living people
Black British sportspeople
Northern Premier League players
Association football wingers
People convicted of racial hatred offences
British people convicted of hate crimes
Sportspeople convicted of crimes
British association football commentators
FA Cup Final players