Lawrie Sanchez

Lawrie Sanchez

Personal information
Full name	Lawrence Philip Sanchez
Date of birth	22 October 1959 (1959-10-22)
Place of birth	Lambeth, England
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Youth career
1974–?	Southampton
	Thatcham Town
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1978–1984	Reading	261	(28)
1984–1994	Wimbledon	270	(33)
1994	Swindon Town	8	(0)
1994–1995	Sligo Rovers
National team
1989	Northern Ireland	3	(0)
Teams managed
1994–1995	Sligo Rovers
1999–2003	Wycombe Wanderers
2004–2007	Northern Ireland
2007	Fulham
2011–	Barnet
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Lawrence Philip "Lawrie" Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is a Northern Irish football manager, and a former player. He is currently the manager of League Two side Barnet. The defining moment of his playing career came in the 1988 FA Cup Final, when he scored the winning goal for Wimbledon against Liverpool, producing one of the biggest Cup upsets.

Personal life

Sanchez was born in London, the son of an Ecuadorian father and a Northern Irish mother. He was educated at Presentation College, a grammar school in Reading, Berkshire, and went on to take a BSc degree in management science at Loughborough University while a Reading F.C. player. He was married to Heather, who died of cancer in 1998; the couple had a son, Jack. Lawrie now lives in Swallowfield, Reading with his partner Claire and son Jack. In 2004, Sanchez became patron of a Northern Ireland-based cancer charity.

Playing career

Club career

Sanchez had first played for Reading, between 1977 and 1984, before moving to Wimbledon for £30,000. He scored the goal that got the Dons promoted to the First Division against Huddersfield Town in May 1986.His most famous moment as a player came in 1988, when he scored the goal that won Wimbledon the FA Cup in 1988 against Liverpool, a match widely believed to be one of the biggest cup final upsets in history. It was not an easy game, as Peter Beardsley had found the net 10 minutes before Sanchez scored, only to have his goal disallowed. Liverpool came close to jeopardising Wimbledon's dream again in the second half when they were awarded a penalty, only for John Aldridge's shot to be saved by Dons goalkeeper Dave Beasant.

During the 1993–94 season Sanchez left Wimbledon for newly promoted Swindon Town, who ended the season relegated with a mere five wins from 42 games and conceding 100 goals.

He is believed to be the first player to be sent off for a professional foul, after committing a deliberate handball in a Football League Trophy match against Oxford United in 1982.

International career

Sanchez won three international caps for Northern Ireland, qualifying by virtue of his Northern Irish mother. He had also been invited to try out for the Ecuadorian national team (Ecuadorian father), but declined on the grounds of distance.

Managerial and coaching career

Sligo Rovers

He became player-manager of League of Ireland club Sligo Rovers in 1994, and in his first season led them to the semi-final of the 1995 FAI Cup. He also managed them in the Cup Winners' Cup against Club Brugge.

Wimbledon

In 1995, he returned to Wimbledon and became reserve team manager, winning the Football Combination in his first season in charge. After two years with the reserves he stepped up to first team coach under Joe Kinnear.

Wycombe Wanderers

Sanchez became manager at Wycombe Wanderers in February 1999, and with only 18 games left he rescued the team from imminent relegation. It was on the way to the last game of this season at Lincoln that the club bought The Lucky Wycombe Comanche. In 2001, he guided the club (then in the Second Division) to its greatest moment, playing Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-finals; Wycombe lost 2–1, having held Liverpool to 0–0 for most of the match.

After finishing 12th in 2002 and 11th in 2003, the upward progress came to an end with collapse of the OnDigital TV deal and the subsequent loss of both revenue and subsequently players. After a poor start to the 2003–04 season Sanchez was sacked by the club on 30 September 2003.

Northern Ireland national team

Sanchez was appointed manager of Northern Ireland in January 2004. At that point the side was ranked 124th in the world, had a 1,298 minute-long goal drought, and had not won a game for nearly three years. Northern Ireland improved markedly under Sanchez. By the time he left Northern Ireland were top of their Euro 2008 qualification group and reached an all-time high position of 27th in the world.

Notable results during his tenure included a 1–0 victory against England in a World Cup qualifying match, a 1–1 draw against Portugal, who went on to reach the World Cup 2006 semi-finals, a 2–1 win over Sweden and a 3–2 win against eventual Euro 2008 winners Spain in a Euro 2008 qualifying match, with striker David Healy scoring a hat trick. A book about his achievements with Northern Ireland was published in November 2007.

Fulham

While still manager of Northern Ireland, Sanchez was named as caretaker manager of Fulham following the sacking of Chris Coleman in April 2007. Having achieved his 32 day task of maintaining Fulham's Premier League position he was given the manager's job on a longer contract having first to resign from his position with Northern Ireland.

Sanchez signed four Northern Ireland players, David Healy from Leeds United, Steven Davis and Aaron Hughes both from Aston Villa, and Chris Baird from Southampton.

He left Fulham in December 2007 after a last minute penalty led to a home defeat to Newcastle. This defeat pushed Fulham into the relegation places after a miserable run of form.

Barnet

With four matches of the 2010–11 season remaining, Sanchez joined Barnet as football consultant, to assist caretaker-manager Giuliano Grazioli in their ultimately successful battle against relegation from the Football League. On 13 May 2011, Barnet appointed Sanchez as manager of the club, with Grazioli as his assistant.

Honours

Wimbledon

• F.A. Cup winner – 1988

Reading

• Division 4 Champions 1978–79
• Promoted from 4th Division 1983–84

Managerial stats

As of 25 February 2012

Team	Country	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Wycombe Wanderers		5 February 1999	30 September 2003	255	87	97	71	34.11
Northern Ireland		21 January 2004	11 May 2007	32	11	11	10	34.37
Fulham		11 April 2007	21 December 2007	24	4	12	8	16.67
Barnet		13 May 2011	Present	41	14	19	8	34.15

References

• "Sanchez to stay in N Ireland job" BBC News Online 9 September 2006, retrieved 9 September 2006.
• "Sanchez stays on as N Ireland coach" Teamtalk.com 9 September 2006
• "Statement From Lawrie Sanchez" Irishfa.com 9 September 2006

External links

• Lawrie Sanchez management career stats at Soccerbase
• Lawrie Sanchez Biography on the Irish Football Association website
• Lawrie Sanchez at the Internet Movie Database