The Rover Returns
Thursday, 23rd Oct 2014Five members of Dunfermline Athletic's famous 1987-88 Scottish Youth Cup winning team were guests of the club in the Kingdom Suite at last Saturday's home game against Forfar Athletic - Stuart McVicars, David Sinclair, Raymond Masterton, Andy Williamson and Craig Timney.
David Sinclair was born in Dunfermline and brought up in High Valleyfield. Talking exclusively to this website, he said that the cup winning squad was one of quality and recalled most of the games including the cup final against Dundee. It is easy to understand why he didn't forget the early stages:-
"The squad had been built from the year before when we went out in the early stages of the cup. We beat Cove Rangers 5-0 and I scored a hat trick. I had a man marking me that I couldn't shake but when he went off after 70 minutes I scored three goals.
"Leishman told me at half time that I was better than him and I should be getting away from him but he was on my tail. He lambasted me at half time and his comment at full time was ;that's better, more like you'.
"I remember the game against Rangers at East End. They were favourites because of the names they had then - McSwegan, Spencer and Nisbet. We just clicked and were 3-0 up after twenty minutes and that's how the game finished 3-0.
"Our coaches Jim McArthur and Jock Jobson got us playing more regular games instead of every two weeks or maybe monthly. I think that is how we went on to do so well. We had a fantastic team."
The 45 year old was disappointed that other team members could not make the re-union; Ray Sharp could not be contacted, Shaun Strang is in Australia and Scott Ferguson is in Canada. Davie was in the youth set up at Dunfermline from the age of 12, a dream for a boy who was brought up a Pars fan.
"Jim Leishman played me in the first team at the age of 18. Five goals in five games and he freed me! He kept four or five and where a lot of teams would have chucked us in the reserves because we had done so well, it just didn't happen.
"I was put out to Dunfermline Jubilee at the time. I didn't like it, didn't like the manager. I didn't get on with him and they withheld my registration so I could not go anywhere. I eventually went back to playing under 21s at Kelty Hearts with Joe Small. We had a really good team there but I was only there six months before I was playing in the Raith Rovers first team. The rest is history."
That history was to stretch to 176 appearances for the Rovers, one goal, two First Division championship and one League Cup winners medals. Despite the six years at Starks Park, David claimed he had lots of great memories from his years at Dunfermline:-
"The different coaches gave me a great foundation - Gregor Abel, Iain Munro, Jock Jobson. I was a YTS boy but because Dunfermline were full time we always trained with the first team and that included John Watson and Norrie McCathie. When I got freed from here I wanted to prove that I was good enough. That is why I had a couple of years out to try and go forward again.
"A lot of people don't know that I supported Dunfermline when I was a youngster. I get a lot of gip from the Dunfermline fans but I am a Valleyfield boy and even after I left I came to games before I moved down to Kirkcaldy to stay,"
The true test might be the answer to which score he looks for first on a Saturday, but David handled that with diplomacy:-
"I will not tell a lie, I actually look for both. If they do play against each other, it doesn't matter. If Dunfermline were pushing for promotion then fine but its the same if it's Raith Rovers. I always look for them both."
David was full of praise for Jim Leishman:-
"Everybody knows that he is a character but as a manager he is totally different, more serious and wanting the best for you. I was here for five years and have great memories of Norrie, John and even John McDonald. He was a fantastic left sided midfielder with a great ability on his left foot. The good memories of Ziggy Bowie, Shaggy Jenkins and boys like that last for ever.
"We used to train over in Edinburgh at Peffermill and going across in the mini bus every Sunday morning was fantastic. We had a really good blend in those days."
When David Sinclair arrived at Raith in August 1990 he was just the same kind of player as he had been in that cup winning team - a hard running attacking midfielder.
"I kept that going from my days at Dunfermline. The only reason I was put back to centre half was because one of the guys had a cruciate ligament injury and at that time it took two years. That was the only reason I went back into defence."
David left Raith Rovers in 1996 and that was to join Jimmy Nicholl at Millwall but he only played 8 matches there and after seven months joined Dundee United where he made ten appearances, then five while on loan at Livingston, 45 at Falkirk and even two at Forfar before hanging up his boots at Hill of Beath in 2001.
Work now is with Forth Ports Authority at the container terminal at Grangemouth. His twenty month old boy keeps him away from regular football. Will Sinclair junior be a Young Par?
"We will just have to wait and see, possibly."
- - BP Youth Cup Winners
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