Mark Lawrenson

Mark Lawrenson

Personal information
Full name	Mark Thomas Lawrenson
Date of birth	(1957-06-02) 2 June 1957
Place of birth	Penwortham, Lancashire, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1974–1977	Preston North End	73	(2)
1977–1981	Brighton & Hove Albion	152	(5)
1981–1988	Liverpool	241	(11)
1988–1989	Barnet	2	(0)
1989	Tampa Bay Rowdies	20	(3)
1990–1991	Corby Town
1992	Chesham United
International career
1977–1987	Republic of Ireland	39	(5)
Managerial career
1988	Oxford United
1989–1990	Peterborough United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mark Thomas Lawrenson (born 2 June 1957) is a former professional footballer, a defender in the Liverpool and Ireland football teams of the 1980s, and an authorised holder of an incredible mullet. After a short career as a manager, he has since been a radio, television and internet pundit for the BBC, TV3 and Today FM. Though born in England, Lawrenson played for the Republic of Ireland because his grandfather, Thomas Crotty, was born in Waterford. He is married to third wife, Susie, and has two children, Sam and Ruby.

Football career

Preston and Brighton

Mark Lawrenson was born in Penwortham and attended Preston Catholic College, a Jesuit school. His father, Tom, had been a winger for Preston North End. He always wanted to be a footballer, although his mother, Theresa, wanted him to become a priest. He began his career, as a 17 year-old, with his hometown club, Preston North End in 1974 who were then managed by World Cup winner Bobby Charlton. After Preston coach (and former Irish international goalkeeper) Alan Kelly became aware of the young player's Irish connections (and informed Irish international manager Johnny Giles), Lawrenson's solid performances earned him a call-up to the Republic of Ireland national squad, winning the first of 39 international caps at the age of 19. He made his debut on 24 April 1977 at Dalymount Park in a friendly with Poland; the game ended 0–0. Lawrenson's season was made complete when he was voted Preston's Player of the Year for the 1976/77 season.

After 73 league appearances for the Deepdale club he moved to Alan Mullery's Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer before the start of the 1977/78 season for £100,000. Ironically, they outbid Liverpool who also showed interest in the 19 year-old Lawrenson. Lawrenson made his Brighton debut on 20 August 1977 in a 1–1 draw against Southampton at The Dell. He settled in at the Goldstone Ground and made 40 league appearances by the end of his first season of the club. He went on to make 152 league appearances by the end of 1980/81, However the club entered a financial crisis in 1981 and Lawrenson was forced to leave the club to make funds available. Many clubs were interested in signing Lawrenson after his resilient performances for both Preston and Brighton, but it was Liverpool manager Bob Paisley who, finally, secured his signature.

Liverpool

Liverpool offered a club transfer record of £900,000, and Lawrenson joined in the summer of 1981. He was to form a formidable central defensive partnership with Alan Hansen after Phil Thompson suffered an injury, although he was also used frequently at full back or in midfield.

Lawrenson made his first start for the team at left-back in a 1–0 league defeat at the hands of Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on 29 August 1981. He scored his first goal a month later during the 7–0 European Cup 1st round 2nd leg trouncing of Finnish team Oulun Palloseura at Anfield on 30 September. Lawrenson came on for Ray Kennedy in the 64th minute scoring in the 72nd. Also coming off the bench to score his first goal for the club was Ian Rush.

In Lawrenson's first season, Liverpool won the League championship and the League Cup before retaining both for another two seasons, becoming only the third club in history to win three titles in a row. They also added the club's fourth European Cup in 1984, the last time Liverpool would win this honour until 2005.

Lawrenson then dislocated his shoulder about three weeks before the 1985 European Cup final, the Heysel Stadium Disaster. He started the game but took a knock after a few minutes and had to be substituted.

Lawrenson earned a reputation as an accomplished player although he was often called a chopper by his Liverpool teammates and fans alike. In doing so Liverpool rose above derby rivals Everton into second place in the league by just two points. Liverpool then came from behind to win 3–1 in the derby Cup final at Wembley. By now, Lawrenson's first team place was under serious threat from the younger Gary Gillespie. Lawrenson's partnership with team captain Hansen continued for one more season before he, already out through a minor injury, suffered Achilles tendon damage in 1988 which prematurely ended his career. He earned a fifth and final title medal when that season ended.

His Liverpool career ended after 332 appearances and 18 goals in all competitions – one of which was the "forgotten fifth" in a 5–0 thumping of Merseyside rivals Everton on 6 November 1982, a game in which Ian Rush took most of the headlines by scoring four of the five goals and a place in Anfield folklore.

In 1989, he spent one season with the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the American Soccer League.

Management

After his time at Liverpool, he was appointed Oxford United manager in 1988. His time at the club was frustrating and he resigned after star striker Dean Saunders was sold by the board of directors, without Lawrenson's approval.

Over that winter, he made a playing comeback in the GM Vauxhall Conference, making two appearances for Barnet.

Lawrenson also managed Peterborough United from 6 September 1989 until 9 November 1990. However, his spell in charge was mostly unsuccessful, even though he was popular amongst the younger players.

Media career

Lawrenson began his television career providing match analysis on HTV West's local football coverage, before working as a pundit for the BBC but then left briefly to become a coach specialising in defensive tactics for Kevin Keegan at Newcastle United. However, the position was again short-lived and he returned to media work. He has since become established as a pundit, both on BBC television and radio,often finding himself sitting alongside his former defensive partner, Alan Hansen, and, since the departure from the BBC of Trevor Brooking, he has assumed the main co-commentator on major national and international (FIFA) matches covered by the television network. He appears regularly on Football Focus and Match of the Day.

He is also often a co-commentator on BBC Radio Five Live, often working on the feature matches on Sunday afternoons. He previously worked as a pundit for Ireland's TV3 between 2001-2007 for mid-week Champions League games alongside Welsh national (FA) team manager and former Liverpool striker, John Toshack. When the Champions League returned to TV3 in 2010 he no longer provided punditry, instead he was replaced by Tony Cascarino and Martin Keown but he moved into the commentary box alongside TV3 commentator Trevor Welch. He works for Irish radio station Today FM on Premiership Live with presenter Michael McMullan in talking about football related topics, predicting scores and stating facts; usually he does this between 2pm and 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. He also has a column on the BBC website where he gives his views and predictions on the Premier League's weekend fixtures.

Lawro appeared on The Russell Howard & Jon Richardson show on BBC 6 Music in a feature called "Lawro's Top Three" where he randomly chooses 3 objects or items and the presenters have to guess which order his top 3 go in.

One of his most memorable moments as a pundit was when he shaved off his trademark moustache after betting on Football Focus that Bolton would be relegated from the Premiership in the 2001–2002 season. He was ultimately proved wrong by Sam Allardyce's team and kept his word by shaving off the moustache.

He also writes a regular Preston North End column for the University of Central Lancashire's Students' Union newspaper, Pluto, and a weekly column for the Liverpool Daily Post newspaper. He worked with Japanese entertainment company Konami, recording commentary samples for the Pro Evolution Soccer series, alongside ITV commentator Jon Champion, from PES 2008 to PES 2010. He was replaced by ITV pundit Jim Beglin for PES 2011.

Honours

Liverpool

• Football League First Division (5): 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1987–88
• League Cup (3): 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84
• FA Charity Shield (2): 1982, 1986
• European Cup: 1983–84
• FA Cup: 1985–86
• ScreenSport Super Cup: 1986

Statistics

Club

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
Season	Club	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
England			League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total
1974–75	Preston North End	Third Division	3	0					–		–		3	0
1975–76			24	0					–		–		24	0
1976–77			46	2					–		–		46	2
1977–78	Brighton & Hove Albion	Second Division	40	1					–		–		40	1
1978–79			39	2					–		–		39	2
1979–80		First Division	33	1					–		–		33	1
1980–81			40	1					–		–		40	1
1981–82	Liverpool	First Division	39	2	3	1	10	0	6	1	1	0	59	4
1982–83			40	5	3	0	8	2	3	0	1	0	55	7
1983–84			42	0	2	0	12	0	9	0	1	0	66	0
1984–85			33	1	4	0	2	0	9	1	2	0	50	2
1985–86			38	3	7	1	7	0	–		6	1	58	5
1986–87			35	0	3	0	8	0	–		3	0	49	0
1987–88			14	0	2	0	3	0	–		–		19	0
Total	Preston North End		73	2					—		—		73	2
	Brighton & Hove Albion		152	5					—		—		152	5
	Liverpool		241	11	24	2	50	2	27	2	14	1	356	18
Career total			466	18	24	2	50	2	27	2	14	1	581	25

International

Ireland national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1977	2	0
1978	5	0
1979	0	0
1980	7	2
1981	3	0
1982	3	0
1983	5	2
1984	4	0
1985	6	0
1986	1	0
1987	3	1
Total	39	5

International goals

Lawrenson – goals for Ireland
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	26 Mach 1980	Makario Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus	Cyprus	0–2	2–3	World Cup 1982 qualifier
2.	10 September 1980	Lansdowne Road, Dublin, Ireland	Netherlands	2–1	2–1	World Cup 1982 qualifier
3.	16 November 1983	Dalymount Park, Dublin, Ireland	Malta	1–0	8–0	Euro 1984 qualifier
4.				4–0
5.	18 February 1987	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	Scotland	0–1	0–1	Euro 1988 qualifier

Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Oxford United		24 March 1988	25 October 1988	25	4	9	12	016.00
Peterborough United		6 September 1989	9 November 1990	64	25	23	16	039.06

External links

• Past players profile at LiverpoolFC.tv
• Player profile at LFC history.net
• Mark Lawrenson at Sporting Heroes.net