FRANK SINCLAIR is an unlikely hero.
Unfashionable even at his peak, this is a man best remembered for the calamitous and frequently hilarious own goals he plundered while at Chelsea and Leicester.
Or the time he and several drunken Blues team-mates heckled American tourists at Heathrow. Or the night he was arrested – falsely – on a mid-season tour of Spain.
And let’s not forget the time he dropped his shorts after scoring at the right end against Coventry, which hardly went down well.
If someone had said ‘management material’ back then, you’d have laughed. Yet ten years on, the 41-year-old isn’t just in the dugout – he’s also working miracles.
When Sinclair took over at Colwyn Bay in February, the club was sinking fast. Two managers had failed to arrest the slump. With just a fortnight of the season remaining and the Seagulls nine points adrift, it looked like the big centre-back would be the third.
The gnarly finger of the Evo-stik Northern Premier beckoned. But then, shazaam! Sinclair worked his magic. In the space of just 15 days, the Seagulls won every single one of their final six matches, beating the drop by an incredible five points.
The man known for his blunders had played a blinder, and launched a management career to boot. So what was the secret?
“No secret,” says Sinclair, who also played for Burnley, Huddersfield and Wrexham in a 22-year career that yielded an FA Cup and two League Cups.
“The players were always good enough. If I didn’t have faith in them, I wouldn’t have taken the job. It was just about giving them confidence and playing to their strengths.
“I’d seen two managers try to get us playing the way they wanted. It hadn’t worked for either of them. But having been a player here for 18 months, I was in a situation where I knew the players and I thought I could see what would suit us and what we needed to help us out.
“Luckily I was also able to sign three or four payers who were really instrumental – the likes of Shelton Payne who got six goals in eight games. Jamie Ellison, who got four or five. A few old faces like Fraser McLachlan, who was very experienced. In the end though, it was plain old hard work that got us over the line.”
Strengths
In hindsight, maybe it is no surprise that Sinclair has settled so seamlessly into the dugout given the number of managers produced by the Chelsea side he grew up in.
Ruud Gullit, Gianluca Vialli, Roberto Di Matteo, Gianfranco Zola, Mark Hughes and Steve Clarke have all managed in the top flight, while Gus Poyet is currently plying his trade in the Championship.
“There were always some pretty strong opinions in that dressing room,” he laughs, before adding that he fully intends to “home in” on his old mates’ nous and contacts.
Sinclair also worked under Martin O’Neill at Leicester, but it is the memory of his first three Chelsea bosses that he is mining the most.
“[Glenn] Hoddle, Gullit and Vialli were all player-managers at Chelsea,” he says. “So as someone who went from being a team-mate to a manager, thinking about how they made the transition, interacted with the players – that is something I really drew on.
“Playing at the level I have, you get used to certain standards. And obviously you get players who aren’t up to those. But you have to be understanding.
“I genuinely don’t ask players to do anything they’re not capable of. I just want them to play to their strengths and if they do that I’m happy.”
For Sinclair – who has already added several new faces to his squad – helping young players is second nature in any case.
“I grew up at a club where, historically, the old guys always helped the young pros,” he says.
“People like Glenn and Steve helped me improve, helped me settle, helped me grow into a man. So when I got a bit older I did the same. I’ve used that ethic everywhere I’ve gone and now I want to do it as a manager.”
Before February, Sinclair was happy mixing playing with a burgeoning career as a pundit on Chelsea TV, Talksport and the BBC.
Now, though, he is fully focused on his new role – and modest enough to realise that Premier League experience means little in the muck and nettles of Non-League.
“I know I’m starting from scratch,” he admits. “Everything you’ve done as a player is wiped off the board.
“It’s now about what I can do as a manager and, quite rightly, I’m starting at the bottom of the ladder. But for me, that’s the best way and I’m prepared to learn every day.
“It’s a tough job and if you don’t get results you’ll be gone. But I’ll be giving it a good go. I’ve got ambitions to manage at a higher level but for now I’ve got a big enough job on my hands.”
