Reginald Waldie Blinker (born 4 June 1969) is a former 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 ...

who played as a left winger. During his 17-year senior career, he amassed

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

totals of 307 games and 57 goals over 12 seasons, mainly with Feyenoord. He also played three years in Scotland with Celtic. Born in

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

, he represented the Netherlands national team at international level.

Club career

Born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

, Blinker began his career with Feyenoord in 1986. He stayed at De Kuip for ten seasons, including one on loan at FC Den Bosch, and formed an efficient winger partnership with Gaston Taument (from

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

, the pair combined for 61

goals). On 4 March 1996, Blinker joined

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

for £275,000, scoring a brace on his debut, a 3–2 away defeat against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa P ...

. He was suspended by FIFA for a time at the end of the year, after it was discovered that he had signed for

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a f ...

without telling the management at Feyenoord and then subsequently signing for the English club. In August 1997, Blinker moved to Celtic in

part exchange __NOTOC__ A part exchange or part exchange deal is a type of contract. In a part exchange, instead of one party to the contract paying money and the other party supplying goods/services, both parties supply goods/services, the first party supplying ...

for

Paolo di Canio Paolo Di Canio (born 9 July 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer and manager. During his playing career he made over 500 league appearances and scored over one hundred goals as a forward. He primarily played as a deep-lying forwar ...

as part of the club general manager Jock Brown's infamous 'trade' deal with Sheffield Wednesday. He re-joined former Feyenoord coach

Wim Jansen Wilhelmus Marinus Antonius Jansen (; 28 October 1946 – 25 January 2022) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a midfielder or defender, he spent most of his career at Feyenoord, winning honours including the European C ...

, who had been appointed the previous month, going on to win the

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994 ...

and the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...

in his first season and scoring 12 goals in 70 competitive games. Blinker returned to the Netherlands in the summer of 2000, signing for RBC Roosendaal. After suffering top flight relegation as last, he joined Sparta Rotterdam, meeting the same fate; he played for amateurs Deltasport Vlaardingen for a few more years, before retiring at the age of 37.

International career

Blinker won three

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for the Netherlands national team, while at Feyenoord. He made his debut on 24 March 1993 in a 6–0 home win against

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

qualifiers where he featured 70 minutes, in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

. Blinker made his last appearance nearly one year later, in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

with

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

Post-retirement career

Upon retiring, Blinker became a publisher of lifestyle magazines for the professional football world in the Netherlands, the company being named ''Life After Football''.

Honours

Feyenoord *

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. O ...

: 1990–91, 1991–92, 1993–94, 1994–95 * Dutch Supercup:

Celtic *

: 1997–98 *

: 1997–98

References

External links

Beijen profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Blinker, Regi 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Paramaribo Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Association football wingers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players DHC Delft players Feyenoord players FC Den Bosch players RBC Roosendaal players Sparta Rotterdam players Premier League players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Celtic F.C. players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland