Frank Sinclair is the new head of Coaching Development at Port Vale
Frank Sinclair joins Port Vale: Former Chelsea defender Frank Sinclair has joined the club as the head of Coaching development.
The former Jamaican player made more than 750 senior appearances during his two and a half decade playing career.
Chelsea debut
English-born Sinclair started his career at Chelsea, a bettors favorite. He progressed through the junior ranks to turn professional and made his debut in the Football League back in 1991. He also spent a few months playing on loan at West Bromwich Albion where he impressed and was promoted to the first-team at Chelsea during the 1992–1993 Premier League season. He was awarded the Player of the Year award for his brilliant season in 1993 but he ended up on the losing side in the ’94 FA Cup final. However, he did win a medal during the 1997 FA Cup final, when his team beat Middlesbrough. Frank also managed to score the opening goal in extra-time as his team took home the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998, even though an injury later on in the game.
Moving on
That year, he joined Leicester City for £2 million and stayed there for six seasons. He won his second League Cup final two years later when Leicester beat Tranmere Rovers. In the summer of 2004, he joined Burnley where he was appointed club captain and he also played for Lincoln City, Wycombe Wanderers, Wrexham and Colwyn Bay.
In 2015, he was made caretaker-manager of Brackley Town and was also a manager for Hednesford Town for a few months starting in December 2015. He was then named manager of the Conference North Club where he stayed until the spring of 2016, when he resigned, but made a return just a couple of days later when chairman Steve Price convinced him to come back. The team won four out of the six remaining games with Sinclair in charge, but he decided to leave the club for good a month later.
He also coached at Stoke City, Radcliffe and, of course, Port Vale and even helped Stoke’s U23 team prior to being named a coach.
Frank Sinclair joins Port Vale
Sinclair expressed his delight to be offered the job at Vale Park. He stated that he loved the set-up and the fact that the club is family-friendly as well as a community-based club with a powerful synergy between all of the departments.
Sinclair also believes that a great part of his work is going to that of “bridging the gap” between the younger generation of players and the players in the first-team.
He expressed his intention to bring them together and create a greater sense of belonging to the same team. Sinclair realises that it is important for younger players to be able to express the right type of attitude and be confident in their own strength so they can have a fair chance to join the main team. This kind of confidence is similar to the one a professional blackjack player would teach people interested in walking into his footsteps and going pro.