Sunderland appoint former Rangers man as new Academy manager

Sinclair most recently served as Eric Black's assistant manager at Aston Villa, but has experience of the role he will be taking up at the Academy of Light.

Indeed, it was Sunderland Chief Executive Martin Bain who appointed him to the same job at Rangers in 2006

Sinclair has also spent time in the Queens Park youth set-up and worked as a technical director at the SFA.

He will be responsible for the development of the club's Academy, overseeing everything from recruitment to coaching. The role has been vacant after Ged McNamee stood down after 20 years at the club in November.

Martin Bain said of the appointment: “Having the right structures in place to ensure we can recruit, develop and nurture the best young talent possible is fundamental to spearheading our improvement as a football club. Developing an increased number of players through our own Academy system, who are capable of playing for the first team, is a key aim.

“Jimmy brings with him a wealth of experience, which will be hugely beneficial to us as we look to build on the success of our Academy and take things to the next level and we warmly welcome him to Sunderland”.