He signed his first professional contract in January 1993 but despite showing great promise, only appeared in seven first team matches, 4 in the Premier League, during a long spell at the City Ground.
[2] He scored on his debut for Scunthorpe United but his loan spell reportedly ended with manager Brian Laws relieving him of his tracksuit in the club car park after the player refused to stay on-loan for another month.
[8] Guinan was an integral part of the side that finished one point behind Chester City in a record-breaking season, scoring 29 goals in 41 appearances.
[10] Guinan's third season at Cheltenham was less successful, scoring just one goal in the League Cup against Bristol City, and was transfer listed.
[12] On 26 November 2010 he signed on loan for Forest Green having played and scoring against them in an FA Cup first round tie for his parent club.
Shortly before his departure it was also announced that two youth players who were under Guinan's guidance would sign professional contracts with the Club and subsequently both made their full 1st team debuts the following week.
His experience and knowledge of the specific age group between 18 - 21 was also recognised by the Talent ID department at the FA and he earned a role in addition to the PFA as a talent reporter for the Professional Development Phase group, subsequently then moving up to work with the Senior England Team and Gareth Southgate, attending games on a weekly basis both domestically and overseas to evaluate player performances for the squad.
[23] Success followed Guinan again and his influence helped the Great Britain squad defeat Malaysia, Ukraine and Russia in the tournament before losing to France after extra time in the final but winning a silver medal for his efforts [24] In 2019, Guinan moved on from the PFA to the FA, continuing to work in coach development after accepting a position and having lead responsibility for the development and delivery of the Football Association's pathway for current and ex professional players who are transitioning from playing to coaching across the highest levels of the game.
He also leads an FA development programme for current and former senior England Internationals which is the "International Player to Coach" programme, the first cohort consisting of Wayne Rooney, Ashley Cole, Michael Dawson and Carlton Cole [25] The first cohort of four started in 2020 with Guinan's programme aiding Ashley Cole to land the England U21 Assistant Coach role alongside Lee Carsley [26] Further cohorts have followed with Guinan helping to develop other senior internationals such as Leighton Baines, Jack Wilshere, Stewart Downing, Emile Heskey, Jermain Defoe, Tom Cleverley, Rickie Lambert, Darius Vassell and Conor Coady.
He supports and mentors both men and women former players transition from the game, providing elite level support on the FA's UEFA A Licence course for senior professional players working with the likes of former Lionesses legend and captain Steph Houghton, former lioness Karen Bardsley and all time WSL goalscorer Vivianne Miedema.