A Player's Perspective (Edusport to Braves) - David Sinclair

Experienced and long serving midfield maestro David Sinclair re-signed this week for the 2020/21 season. ‘Sinky’ is entering his fourth year with the club and is still hungry to get this club promoted into the Scottish professional leagues. 

Braves fans will have heard a lot about what the transition from Edusport Academy to Caledonian Braves was like from the Owner Chris and Manager Ricky but we caught up with Sinky to find out what it was like being a player for this club during all the changes every year.

So Sinky you’ve been here for a  long time, what was your thinking when you joined the club at the beginning?

Initially I was just back from playing in Iceland, there was a few clubs interested and I was not bored of Scottish football but I wanted something different. It was Ryan McCann (former player/coach) who contacted me asking if would come down to Edusport. At first I was unsure dropping down a level but he explained the project to me and how it would be good to help other young players and that is what convinced me to join in the end.

How was it at that start? The French Academy players were coming over to play for the year, how was it going into a team like that?

It was really strange at the start, I think there was only me and 3 or 4 loanees from Rangers and Partick Thistle who were Scottish. It was strange for me because its a full time academy that trains nearly every day, they didn’t train at night, so I only trained on the Friday, finished work, trained and played Saturday, I enjoyed it though, I was at an age where I had been abroad to play already and I think I suited the French guys for the way they want to play with my style of getting the ball down and passing, so it was a really good click and I enjoyed helping the guys progress in their year as well.

You’ve been here a long time now, how did you deal with the turnover every year?

Aye that’s me on my fourth year, I’m expecting a testimonial soon! Hopefully Chris can sort that, PSG or Lyon preferably! But it was a big influx of players every year, there was some good ones but because the guys didn’t turn until after the season started it was difficult for the coaches to build the team around it for an instant click. I think it worked though and we done well, we finished in respectable places in the lowland league, playing against good teams with brand new squads every year.

What was it like with the transition? You took time out for work before you came back, how was it coming back to a brand new club?

The year before we were bringing in experienced  Scottish players like Scott McLaughlin, Matty Flynn etc so you could see it was going somewhere. I took 6 months out in the January for work before coming back when it was then Caledonian Braves. It was a total new changing room but you can see that we’ve kept the majority of the squad now and we can look to build on that without a huge influx of players and a new squad to get used to again.

Did the uniqueness of the club always bring you back, like it was being apart of something special?

I did get bored playing the same teams 4 times a year, I think a club that’s ambitious enough to create a documentary and create an app, something totally different with fans across the world and that has kept me here. Its also been the staff at the club who has helped with their ambition the professionalism at the club. Even training is very professional, its on par with league one teams I’ve been at previously

How important for the club has Ricky been? Is he the one who keeps it all ticking over?

Ricky has been great, I have a good relationship with him, I play the way he wants and he wants to play the way I want to. I like his training, he’s a very good coach. He’s been the mainstay here for a long time. The people at the club, the amount work that everyone does behind the scenes is a huge credit to show the club is striving and that project is working well.

Where would you like to see the club progress too in the future?

Obviously the whole aim is to get the Braves in to the professional leagues, from he owner down to the players, but it’s not going to be as easy as that. It is the plan though and I want to be a big part of that and I’m striving each year to make that happen.

You can watch Sinky’s full re-signing interview over on BRAVES TV!