Scott William Inglis "Billy" Sinclair (born 21 March 1943) is a Scottish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as an

wing-half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Sinclair started his career with

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

before moving to English side

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in 1964. Having only made one appearance for Chelsea, he moved to Northern Ireland to sign for

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

. Due to an arrangement between Glentoran and American side Detroit Cougars, Sinclair played ten games in the 1967

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...

season. He returned to his native Scotland in 1968, spending one season with

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, where he made ten appearances, before a return to Glentoran the following season. He had a spell with Linfield before moving to Australia to play for Club Marconi. His last club was

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

, before going into management.

Coaching career

While at Sligo Rovers, Sinclair assumed the position of player-manager, before briefly managing

Glenavon Glenavon Football Club is a Northern Irish semi-professional football club that competes in the NIFL Premiership. Founded in 1889, the club hails from Lurgan and plays its home matches at Mourneview Park. Club colours are blue and white. Gar ...

. He also managed

Cliftonville Cliftonville is a coastal area of the town of Margate, situated to the east of the main town, in the Thanet district of Kent, South East England, United Kingdom. It also contains the area known as Palm Bay. The original Palm Bay estate was ...

between 1985 and 1992.

Personal life

Sinclair was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2020. His son has spoken out about the treatment of ex-footballers, and has called for better welfare support, as well as the disease to be treated as an industrial injury.

Honours

Glentoran * Irish League: 1966–67, 1969–70 Sligo Rovers *

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally us ...

: 1976–77 Individual * Malcolm Brodie Lifetime Achievement Award: 2021

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinclair, Billy 1943 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders United Soccer Association players Greenock Morton F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Marconi Stallions FC players Sligo Rovers F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. managers Glenavon F.C. managers Cliftonville F.C. managers Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland English Football League players