Frank Sinclair

 ( 1971 Births ) 

He made his first appearance of the 1991–92 campaign in Chelsea's first away game, a disappointing 3–0 defeat to Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park. After this performance he was dropped from the side and failed to make a matchday squad under manager Ian Porterfield. In December 1991, he was sent on a short loan spell at Third Division side West Bromwich Albion to gain some more experience. He impressed on his Albion debut, which came in a 1–1 draw away at Bradford City on 14 December. In only his second appearance for the club, he was sent off for violent conduct in the draw with Exeter City when he was involved in a clash of heads with referee Paul Alcock. Despite video evidence showing that the "butting" was accidental he was still found guilty by The Football Association and received a nine-match ban and a £600 fine. He remained at The Hawthorns and went on to make a total of six appearances for the "Baggies", scoring once before returning to Chelsea in March 1992. He made his comeback for Chelsea in a 1–0 victory over Norwich City in March and made a further six appearances that season, scoring his first Chelsea goal with a header in the 3–1 defeat to Aston Villa in April.

An ankle injury kept Sinclair out of the side at the beginning of the 1992–93 season. He returned to the first team in September in a televised match against Manchester City that Chelsea won 1–0. However, Sinclair's mentor, Paul Elliott, suffered a career-ending injury in the match. Despite this setback, Sinclair made thirty-nine appearances in all competitions, primarily at left-back, as Chelsea finished in mid-table. His impressive performances earned him the Chelsea Player of the Year award in 1993. Glenn Hoddle was appointed as manager for the 1993–94 season, replacing David Webb, and preferred using a sweeper system which saw Sinclair convert into a central defender. He excelled in this position. However, the team's performances were poor, and the side was involved in a relegation battle for most of the campaign. Despite their poor league form Chelsea made it to the 1994 FA Cup final against Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, their first major cup final since 1972. Chelsea could not prevent United from claiming the league and cup double in a 4–0 defeat, with Sinclair conceding the penalty for a foul on Andrei Kanchelskis in the second-half, which was scored by Eric Cantona to make it 2–0. Despite the defeat Chelsea qualified for the next seasons UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as runners-up, their first European campaign in over twenty years.

Sinclair scored on the opening day of the 1994–95 season with a composed finish in a 2–0 win over Norwich City at Stamford Bridge. He scored four minutes into his debut in European football with a header in a 4–2 win over Czech Republic side Viktoria Žižkov in the Cup Winners' Cup. He played in all but one of the European matches as Chelsea reached the semi-finals, where they were knocked out by Real Zaragoza 4–3 on aggregate score. Chelsea again had a disappointing league campaign, finishing in 11th position. Still, Sinclair went on to have his best return for the "Blues" with 47 appearances in all competitions, also chipping in with further goals against Queens Park Rangers and Wimbledon. However, he featured just 15 times in the 1995–96 campaign.

He also found first-team appearances limited under Player-coach Ruud Gullit during the 1996–97 season. However, he made six appearances in the FA Cup and was one of three centre-backs – the others being Frank Leboeuf and Steve Clarke – to start in the 1997 final as they beat Middlesbrough 2–0 to lift the trophy. The following season, Sinclair played in the 1997 FA Charity Shield as Chelsea lost on penalties to Manchester United after he missed the opening penalty. On 9 August, he hit the headlines after celebrating a goal against Coventry City by dropping his pants; he later explained he did this in tribute to his newborn daughter. He went on to score for Chelsea in the League Cup final, again over Middlesbrough, in a 2–0 win. His first-team chances were starting to become limited though, as new manager Gianluca Vialli built a new team, which consisted mostly of continental stars including centre-backs Frank Leboeuf and Marcel Desailly, whilst John Terry was coming through the youth team. He missed the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final victory over VfB Stuttgart due to a calf injury, though did make five appearances in the competition. Due to the injuries and competition for places the League Cup final against Middlesbrough proved to be his final appearance for the club.

He scored two goals in 39 appearances throughout the 1998–99 season, helping Martin O'Neill's "Foxes" to a 10th-place finish. Six of his appearances came in the League Cup, though he was not in the matchday squad for the final, a 1–0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur. He appeared 44 times in the 1999–2000 campaign, and this time, was part of the team that played in the League Cup final, and collected his second winner's medal in the competition as Leicester triumphed 2–1 over Tranmere Rovers thanks to a brace from centre-back partner Matt Elliott.

However, he was limited to 19 appearances by manager Peter Taylor during the 2000–01 season. He was then fined two weeks wages by Leicester in September 2001 for his part in an incident at a Heathrow Airport hotel. Sinclair, along with four Chelsea players, had gone on a five-hour Binge drinking and had stripped off, swore and vomited in front of American Tourism just hours after the September 11 attacks which killed nearly 3,000 people in America. He did though go on to re-establish himself in the starting eleven under new manager Dave Bassett. On 2 March 2002, Sinclair scored the most bizarre of his own goals. After 3 minutes into a game at Middlesbrough, he coolly slotted the ball past keeper Ian Walker in a seemingly laid-back situation in what proved to be the game's only goal. He held the Premier League records for most own goals until his record was overtaken by Richard Dunne.

Leicester finished the 2001–02 season in last place and were relegated out of the Premier League. They then made an immediate return to the top-flight in 2002–03, crowning their maiden season at the Walkers Stadium with a second-place finish in the First Division, Sinclair featuring in 37 games. In March 2004, Sinclair and his Leicester City teammates, Paul Dickov and Keith Gillespie, were arrested in Spain over sexual assault charges while on a training holiday. The charges were later dropped. Leicester released Sinclair following the club's relegation at the end of the 2003–04 season.