Ronnie Sinclair

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Ronnie Sinclair
Personal information
Full name Ronald McDonald Sinclair[1]
Date of birth (1964-11-19) 19 November 1964 (age 59)[2]
Place of birth Stirling, Scotland[2]
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Stirling Boys Club
1981–1982 Nottingham Forest
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1982–1986 Nottingham Forest 0 (0)
1984 → Wrexham (loan) 11 (0)
1984 → Derby County (loan) 0 (0)
1985 → Sheffield United (loan) 0 (0)
1986 → Leeds United (loan) 0 (0)
1986–1989 Leeds United 8 (0)
1987 → Halifax Town (loan) 4 (0)
1988–1989 → Halifax Town (loan) 10 (0)
1989–1991 Bristol City 44 (0)
1991 → Walsall (loan) 10 (0)
1991–1996 Stoke City 80 (0)
1994 → Bradford City (loan) 0 (0)
1996–1998 Chester City 70 (0)
1998 Stoke City 0 (0)
1999 Leek Town 4 (0)
1999–2000 Witton Albion
Total 241 (0)
International career
Scotland Youth
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ronald McDonald Sinclair (born 19 November 1964) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

As a player he made 275 league and cup appearances in a 16-year professional career in the English Football League with Nottingham Forest, Leeds United, Bristol City, Stoke City and Chester City, as well as spells on loan with Wrexham, Derby County, Sheffield United, Halifax Town, Walsall and Bradford City. He won promotion out of the Third Division with Bristol City in 1989–90 and out of the Second Division with Stoke City in 1992–93, and was voted as Chester City's Player of the Season for 1996–97. He later went on to coach at Stoke City, Aston Villa and Port Vale.

Playing career[edit]

Capped by Scotland at youth and schoolboy level, Sinclair joined Nottingham Forest as an apprentice from Stirling Boys Club and he signed professional forms in October 1982.[1] However, he failed to make a first-team appearance for the City Ground club and it was in a loan spell with Fourth Division side Wrexham in the closing stages of the 1983–84 season that Sinclair gained his first Football League action. Over the following two seasons he spent time on loan with Derby County, Sheffield United and Leeds United without making the first-team, but he was snapped up on a permanent basis by Leeds in June 1986 for £10,000.[3] He made eight league appearances the following season before twice joining Halifax Town on loan.

In September 1989 Sinclair moved to Bristol City, who he helped win promotion from Third Division in his first season at Ashton Gate. By the early stages of the 1991–92 campaign he was out on loan again though, spending time with Walsall before beginning a five-year stay with Stoke City in a £25,000 move in November 1991.[3] Sinclair faced regular competition for the goalkeeper's shirt with Stoke but played more than 20 games in his first three seasons at the club.

After falling out of favour, Sinclair joined Chester City on a free transfer in August 1996. After conceding just 43 goals in 1996–97, Chester qualified for the Third Division play-offs with Sinclair voted the club's Player of the Season. The Blues lost to Swansea City in the semi-finals and the following season saw Sinclair miss 13 league games following the emergence of Wayne Brown. He was not selected again after a 5–0 thrashing at Exeter City on 4 April 1998 and manager Kevin Ratcliffe announced later in the month that Sinclair's contract would not be renewed.[4] He later played four Northern Premier League Premier Division games for Leek Town, before signing with Witton Albion in December 1999 after manager Nigel Gleghorn looked to rest first-choice goalkeeper Phil McGing.[5] He made his debut for Witton on 4 December 1999 and made 15 appearances as the club finished third in the Northern Premier League Division One at the end of the 1999–2000 season, missing out on promotion and the league title on goal difference.[6]

Coaching career[edit]

Sinclair never played professionally again after leaving Chester and has spent most of his time working as goalkeeping coach with Stoke City, where he initially was registered again as a player. He became the assistant academy manager, before moving to become the academy goalkeeping coach at Aston Villa. He was appointed as goalkeeping coach at Port Vale by manager Neil Aspin in December 2017.[7]

Career statistics[edit]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[8][9][10]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Wrexham (loan) 1983–84 Fourth Division 11 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 12 0
Leeds United 1986–87 Second Division 8 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 9 0
Halifax Town (loan) 1986–87 Fourth Division 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
1988–89 Fourth Division 10 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 11 0
Total 14 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 15 0
Bristol City 1989–90 Third Division 27 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 32 0
1990–91 Second Division 17 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 21 0
Total 44 0 5 0 3 0 1 0 53 0
Walsall (loan) 1991–92 Fourth Division 10 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 11 0
Stoke City 1991–92 Third Division 26 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 28 0
1992–93 Second Division 29 0 2 0 2 0 5 0 38 0
1993–94 First Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1994–95 First Division 24 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 28 0
1995–96 First Division 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0
Total 80 0 4 0 2 0 10 0 97 0
Chester City 1996–97 Third Division 37 0 3 0 1 0 3 0 44 0
1997–98 Third Division 33 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 35 0
Total 70 0 3 0 3 0 3 0 79 0
Leek Town 1996–97 Northern Premier League
Premier Division 		4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
Career total 241 0 12 0 9 0 17 0 279 0
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup, Football League Trophy, Football League play-offs and Full Members' Cup.

Honours[edit]

Bristol City

Stoke City

Individual

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "Leeds United F.C. History". ozwhitelufc.net.au. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  2. ^ a b "leeds-fans.org.uk: Leeds United Player Profile: Ronnie Sinclair". leeds-fans.org.uk. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "leeds-fans.org.uk: Leeds United Player Profile: Ronnie Sinclair". leeds-fans.org.uk. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
  4. ^ "Sinclair Released by City". chester-city.co.uk (see 29 April). 29 April 1998. Retrieved 4 January 2008.
  5. ^ "Ronnie sizes up challenge to keep Witton at the top". Warrington Guardian. 8 December 1999. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  6. ^ "1999–2000 PLAYERS RECORDS". wittonalbionfc.co.uk. Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  7. ^ Baggaley, Michael (4 December 2017). "Former Stoke City keeper Ronnie Sinclair joins Port Vale's coaching staff". Stoke Sentinel. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  8. ^ Ronnie Sinclair at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  9. ^ Ronnie Sinclair at Soccerbase Edit this at Wikidata
  10. ^ "PlayerStats – LeekTownSE". leektown.net. Retrieved 11 April 2022.
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