Andrew Sinton (born 19 March 1966) is an English football manager and 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, rugb ...

, who is club ambassador for Queens Park Rangers. As a player, he was a

left midfielder 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 ...

who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for Queens Park Rangers,

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for Cambridge United,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings wh ...

and

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

before finishing his career in non-league with Burton Albion,

Bromsgrove Rovers Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. was a non-League football club from the town of Bromsgrove in Worcestershire. The peak of the club's success was in 1993 when Rovers finished runner-up in the Football Conference. They went into administration during the ...

and Fleet Town. He earned 12 caps playing as an international footballer for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. He was described as "a hard-working midfielder with a good footballing brain and who created many goals". Following retirement, Sinton managed non-league side Fleet Town for five seasons, then AFC Telford United for three seasons, where he won promotion with the club to the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...

Club career

Sinton was a schoolboy footballer, playing for the England Under 15 team. He signed for Cambridge United on leaving school, and made his debut aged 16 years 228 days on 2 November 1982. He is the youngest player to play a league game for Cambridge, and is one of only two product of the club's youth team to become a full England international:

John Ruddy John Thomas Gordon Ruddy (born 24 October 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Birmingham City. Ruddy began his career at Cambridge United, before signing for Everton as a 19-year-old. He spent five ...

of Norwich City followed Sinton to this accolade in 2012. Sinton was the outstanding player in a poor Cambridge side, which suffered successive relegations in 1983–84 and 1984–85. He was signed by

in 1985 for just £25,000. He was signed for QPR by

Trevor Francis Trevor John Francis (born 19 April 1954) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for a number of clubs in England, the United States, Italy, Scotland and Australia. In 1979 he became Britain's first £1 million player fol ...

in 1989 for £350,000 and went on to play 160 league games, scoring 22 goals including the first goal in the notable 4–1 QPR victory at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wembl ...

in 1992. Sinton played for QPR in the first year of the Premiership, where he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

in a 4–2 win against Everton on 28 December 1992, before moving to

for a then club record £2.75million in August 1993. He spent two and a half years at Hillsborough but returned to London early in 1996 to link up with former Rangers boss

Gerry Francis Gerald Charles James Francis (born 6 December 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. Playing career Francis made his first team debut for Queens Park Rangers against Liverpool in March 1969. He was captain and central midfield pla ...

. He came on as an 89th-minute substitute, for David Ginola, in the 1999 Football League Cup Final that Spurs won 1–0 over Leicester City. He made his last Premiership appearance for Tottenham Hotspur in 1999, before spending three years with

and then signing for Nigel Clough's Burton Albion in August 2002.

International career

On the international front, Sinton made his England debut in a 1–1 draw in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in November 1991 and went on to acquire 12 caps – including two in Sweden during a disappointing

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

campaign. He played David Platt through on goal for England's penalty claim that was turned down, and absolutely should have been given, in their 2–0 defeat against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

in October 1993, towards the end of Graham Taylor's reign. His last appearance for his country came the following month, in the 7–1 rout of

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

. He also played for England Schoolboys,

England B England B is a secondary football team run occasionally as support for the England national football team. At times they have played other nations' full teams; they have also played matches against 'B' teams from other football associations. S ...

and the

Football League XI The English Football League XI was a representative side of the Football League. The team regularly played against the Scottish Football League XI and other national league select teams between 1891 and 1976. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

Management career

Sinton was appointed manager of

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 t ...

Division One outfit Fleet Town in summer 2005, having spent the previous season as the club's Football Development Officer. On 26 May 2010 it was announced that, from a large field of applicants, Sinton had been appointed manager of A.F.C. Telford United in Conference North. In his first season in charge, he led them to a second-place finish in the league and clinched promotion to the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

via the playoffs. In his second season at the club, he kept them out of the Conference National's relegation zone all season and secured safety with two games still remaining. On 31 January 2013, it was announced that Sinton had left A.F.C. Telford United by mutual consent after a 16-match winless run, the worst in the club's history.

Personal life

In May 2015 Sinton was back in football when he was appointed as former club Queen's Park Rangers first club ambassador. His role includes attending games and fan events, working with commercial partners as well as with the club's Media and Communications, Marketing and Club in the Community teams to help promote Queen's Park Rangers. He was a driving force in creating 'Forever Rs', the club's former players association, in 2016.

Honours

As a player

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

: 1998–99

As a manager

A.F.C. Telford United * Conference North play-offs: 2010–11

As an individual

* Brentford Supporters' Player of the Year (2): 1986–87, 1987–88

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinton, Andy 1966 births Living people People from Cramlington Footballers from Northumberland English footballers England B international footballers England international footballers Association football midfielders Cambridge United F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. players Fleet Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players UEFA Euro 1992 players English football managers AFC Telford United managers National League (English football) managers Fleet Town F.C. managers Queens Park Rangers F.C. directors and chairmen England youth international footballers English Football League representative players