Club History | Seventh Hall of Fame - October 2010

Cammy Fraser, Jackie Sinclair, Ian Westwater and Stevie Crawford were inducted into the Dunfermline Athletic Hall of Fame at a function held at Forresters Park Resort on Saturday 9th October 2010.

Club Historian Duncan Simpson introduced the induction of Jackie Sinclair into the Club`s Hall of Fame:-

"Jackie Sinclair was a very special talent. He joined Dunfermline in 1960 and so was a Stein signing. As we all know Stein signed a lot of young local guys and went on to do that to good effect at Celtic but he did fantastically well at Dunfermline as well. Jackie Sinclair played in the first team at the age of 18 and scored a hat-trick when he was only 18 years of age. That might sound great but it is even better when you realise that he was a winger and not centre forward.

"In 1962 he had one of probably his two greatest moments in his footballing life because he was selected by Jock Stein to play against the great Valencia. They were a fantastic team at that time. do not underestimate how good they were because they had just won a European trophy - the Inter Cities Fairs Cup - the season before so we are not talking about any old European team, we are talking about one of the top teams in Europe who had beaten us 4-0 in the first leg in Spain.

"Famously Stein put Sinclair on one wing and Edwards on the other wing. He made sure the game went ahead on a very cold frosty evening just before Christmas in December 1962. As a lot of people will know Dunfermline won 6-2 which was a remarkable achievement and will remain one of the greatest European achievements by any Scottish team ever and Sinclair was right at the heart of that.

"In some ways it is sad that Jackie wasn`t in a winning team because he went on to play for the next three or four years. Some will say the greatest Dunfermline team of all was that of 1964-65 when they lost the league championship by just one point. They reached the final of the Scottish Cup and probably would have won it had it not been for the fact that Jock Stein had now shifted camps and was now with Celtic. Dunfermline went ahead twice only to lose by three goals to two in one of the greatest Scottish Cup finals ever.

"Jackie was a much sought after player and he moved to England, to Leicester City and then to Newcastle United where he had his other greatest moment. He played in the final of the Fairs Cities Cup which was the UEFA Cup of those days (v Ujpest Dosza) and to this day Newcastle supporters treat him as one of their greatest legends because he scored a goal in that final and played fantastically well.

"He hadn`t forgotten his roots and in 1974 in a team that Jim Leishman played in, he came back to play with Dunfermline for a season before he retired.

"Sadly Jackie is no longer with us as you know in an ironic way he passed away around about the time we were remembering the 25th anniversary of Jock Stein`s death. It was a very poignant and very sad moment. Jackie`s memories will without any question live with Dunfermline Athletic for its entire history."

On behalf of Jackie`s family former team mates Willie Callaghan and Dan McLindon accepted the award. Willie commented:-

"Jackie looked up to me because I had been at Dunfermline as a fifteen year old. I was there two years before Jackie and we came the best of pals. Even by the way he spoke, I knew that he was going to do something - he was ready to go to the top. He was cocky but he had a love and respect for his parents and family put him in good stead and I felt he was awful like me.

`His attitude was `I am going to win`. I always remember us - we were referred to as the `young ones` - by the big team - the Charlie Dicksons, Ronnie Mailer, John Sweeney - we looked up to them. Jackie was concerned about how he would get on with these boys but I said don`t bother about these boys they will come to you. That was the kind of club it was."

Willie made reference to a heavy defeat at the hands of Rangers in front of 21,000 fans at East End Park in November 1963:-

"We had gone undefeated but then lost 4-1. We were all sitting in the dressing room with our heads down - oh God forbid! Then we all heard this cuffuffle in the corner. It was Jackie taking his pants off and he just looked at us and said `well at least I had a good game!` That was Jackie`s attitude - he never had a bad game.

"That performance when big Jock selected him against Valencia - the fact that the park was a bit dodgy Torvill and Dean refused to skate on it. Jackie went out there to cuff Valencia and he did. I always say that was the best performance of any player who played at East End Park. He was absolutely brilliant and a great wee guy."

Dan McLindon (above) made a short but powerful address:-

"Tonight is a fitting tribute to a first class footballer. The same as Willie, I remember Jackie as very confident and he loved the banter in the dressing room. Jackie would be described today as a right wind up merchant.

"When I was thinking about what to say about him I thought `what would Jackie be saying?` I believe he knows that this night is on. I think Jackie will be saying to himself, I am going to gather a few of my friends round about me today. He will get big Willie Cunningham, John Lunn, Jimmy Stevenson the trainer, big Jim Fraser, Tommy McDonald and Geordie Miller. And by the way he will invite Jim Baxter because he was just along the road at Hill of Beath. He will come along and Jackie will have them all there because Jackie will know this night is on, but they will not.

`This is how Jackie will wind them up. He will be looking down and go `hey take a look at that boys. Cairneyhill - a big crowd there tonight. By God there`s something on there tonight. I`ve just heard big Jim Leishman say its a sell out. Och, I remember now, there putting me in that Hall of Fame thing, that legends thing.`

"He will see Willie and me getting up and he will be nudging Geordie Miller and he will be saying `look at these two, look what`s getting up to say a few words - Jack and Victor!`

"That will be enough for Baxter, he has taken enough and Baxter will be in with `oh Jackie see that Dunfermline Hall of Fame thing, that`s been going on a wee while, has it taken you all this time to get into it? See the Rangers, when they had theirs at Ibrox I was one of the first in`. Jackie will say `Jim, that`s not how they do it at Dunfermline, they do it different, they keep the best to last!"