FRANK SINCLAIR has revealed he received a bullet in the post in the wake of one of his worst performances for Chelsea in an FA Cup final.
Sinclair is a well known figure around Stamford Bridge after coming through the youth ranks at the club to establish himself as a first team regular.
But the former Jamaica international admits there was a time when he questioned staying with the Blues following a sick message sent through the post which was racially motivated.
Sinclair, 48, had enjoyed a nightmare Cup final for Chelsea when they were thrashed 4-0 by Manchester United in 1994.
The defender gave away a penalty and also made another howler to gift United a goal as the side managed by Glenn Hoddle was thumped at Wembley.
But soon after, things took an even worse turn when he opened some fan mail at the club’s training ground and discovered a bullet with “Go back to where you came from” scrawled on a note.
Sinclair told the Athletic:After the emotion of losing a cup final, which was bad enough, to receive that hit me really hard.
It made me question whether I wanted to play for the club again.
I was just blown away. It was scary. Id never seen a gun or touched a bullet before. So to pick something like that out of the post was intimidating
This was back in the day when you did everything yourself. As players, you didnt employ someone to go through your mail for you. Things would be sent to the club and passed on to you.
Normally, people would ask for signed pictures and things like that. This was a day where it was more of the same and then I opened this. I was on the receiving end of racism and it was frightening.
But instead of walking out on the club, Sinclair opted to remain – insisting there was no way he was going to let an idiot have such an impact on his career.
And he went on to win the FA Cup, League Cup and European Cup-Winners Cup during his time with Chelsea.
He added:I didnt want this so-called supporter to get the better of me
I wouldnt let something negative like that get in my way. People at the club helped me too.
“They told me, Youd be letting those people win, dont let them stop you.
