Trevor Sinclair

Trevor Lloyd Sinclair (born 2 March 1973) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and pundit.

As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League for Queens Park Rangers, West Ham United 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, four of which came in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He won the 1997 Match of the Day Goal of the Season after scoring a bicycle kick in an FA Cup tie against Barnsley. Following his retirement, Sinclair largely worked as a pundit on both television and radio, most notably for BBC Sport on Football Focus and Final Score. 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.

Blackpool
Sinclair was born in Dulwich, London, but grew up in Manchester. 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 2006.

Sinclair was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Bloomfield Road when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player Jimmy Armfield 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 for £600,000, a figure which broke Blackpool's record transfer sale. He won the October 1995 Premier League Player of the Month 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, Manchester United and Newcastle United - with fees of up to £6million being mentioned.

In May 1997, he won the BBC's Match of the Day "Goal of the Season" competition with a bicycle kick from outside the penalty area whilst playing for QPR in an FA Cup 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 for a combined fee of £2.3 million; £2.7 million minus West Ham players Iain Dowie and Keith Rowland 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. 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 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. 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 over West Bromwich Albion. 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 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

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 at Wembley Stadium, which Cardiff lost 1–0 to Portsmouth. 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
In 1994, Sinclair was called up to the Republic of Ireland squad by Jack Charlton, but was unable up declare for his mother's homeland as he had already played at U21 level for England. This meant he missed out on the World Cup on 1994. Sinclair was called up to Terry Venables' get-together England squad in April 1995, but was not capped for the senior side until 2001. Sinclair earned 12 caps for England, four of which came in the 2002 World Cup, in which he was a last-minute replacement for the injured Danny Murphy. In turn, he replaced Owen Hargreaves, 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 manager Jamie Milligan.

In January 2024, Sinclair was appointed as an assistant coach for the men's India national football team.

Media career
Following his retirement, Sinclair largely worked as a pundit on both television and radio, most notably for BBC Sport on Football Focus and Final Score.

Sinclair has worked as a sports commentator, notably on TalkSPORT.

Personal life
Sinclair is of partial Irish and Scottish descent through his mother, who was born in Sligo and Jamaican descent through his birth father. His stepfather was from Glasgow. He lives on the Fylde coast and is a supporter of his previous clubs West Ham, Manchester City, Blackpool and QPR, 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. 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.

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, 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. Sinclair returned from his suspension in January 2023.

Honours
Blackpool
 * Fourth Division play-offs: 1992

West Ham United
 * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1999

England U21
 * Toulon Tournament: 1994

Individual
 * PFA Team of the Year: 1996–97 First Division
 * Premier League Player of the Month: October 1995