Earlier on in the close-season I wrote an article on why Scott Sinclair would be back to his best in the coming campaign.
He had proposed to his girlfriend, they were on the verge of having a baby and everything in his life had settled to the point where he could finally concentrate all his attention on the football. I am pleased it looks like going exactly the way I’d hoped.
The manager has been fulsome in his praise for how Scott has handled pre-season. He has played well in the friendlies. He feels mentally strong. All of this is to the good, but even more important is the player’s own comments of yesterday, about how he sees his future here and that the idea of leaving never entered his head.
Scott was our best player in his first season here. He was, in fact, Scotland’s best player and by a considerable distance. Even last season, in what some said was a disappointing campaign for him – and clearly, by the standards of his first it was – he still managed to finish as top scorer at the club. That’s a testament to what he brings to the side.
A fully focussed Scott Sinclair, brimming with confidence, ready to take on all comers again, is exactly what the doctor ordered. He’s a formidable weapon for the club to have, the kind of footballer defenders fear to play against. And if he is on his game and we have that attacking spark of his, I don’t see how we can be stopped.
Scott Sinclair is important to how we play. With Kieran getting up the left he can cut inside and give the defenders more than they can handle. With the new season looming it is great to hear the manager rave about him and great to hear Scott himself talking up the club.
Media speculation towards the end of the last campaign suggested that he was unhappy, and that he was bound to head home this summer. Scott himself scotched those rumours at the time, and yesterday he reaffirmed his commitment to the cause.
That makes me very optimistic for the season ahead.
Get ready for a new, and improved, Scott Sinclair.