| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Robin Michael Lawrence | ||
| Date of birth | (1947-12-12)12 December 1947 (age 77) | ||
| Place of birth | Brighton, England | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Hartlepool United (Assistant manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Croydon | |||
| Carshalton Athletic | |||
| Sutton United | |||
| Managerial career | |||
| 1978 | Plymouth Argyle (caretaker) | ||
| 1982–1991 | Charlton Athletic | ||
| 1991–1994 | Middlesbrough | ||
| 1994–1995 | Bradford City | ||
| 1995–2000 | Luton Town | ||
| 2000–2001 | Grimsby Town | ||
| 2002–2005 | Cardiff City | ||
| 2012 | Crystal Palace (caretaker) | ||
| 2024 | Hartlepool United (caretaker) | ||
| 2024–2025 | Hartlepool United | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Robin Michael Lawrence, commonly known asLennie Lawrence, (born 12 December 1947) is an Englishfootball manager. He is assistant manager and non-executive director atNational League sideHartlepool United.
Lawrence was a semi-professional atCroydon,Carshalton Athletic andSutton United before becoming caretaker manager ofPlymouth Argyle in 1978. He went on to manageCharlton Athletic,Middlesbrough (during their debut season in thePremier League),Bradford City,Luton Town andGrimsby Town andCardiff City.[1] He is one of a select few managers to have managed over 1,000 games.[2]
Since 2005 Lawrence has worked at a number of clubs as either part of the coaching staff or in aDirector of Football role. He joinedStevenage in June 2020 as a managerial advisor, to begin at either the restart of the 2019–20 season or the start of the 2020–21 season,[3] following three years as the management consultant toNewport County, Lawrence left this role in early November 2020.
Lawrence turned out at non-league level forCroydon,Carshalton Athletic andSutton United during his semi-professional career.
He came to Plymouth as Assistant Manager to Mike Kelly and when Kelly was sacked he got his first managerial appointment atPlymouth Argyle as caretaker and then worked alongside Malcolm Allison as Assistant. He later worked as a coach atLincoln City, helping them win promotion fromDivision Four in the1980–81 season.[2]
Lawrence moved toCharlton Athletic as reserve-team manager, and was later promoted to full-time manager in 1982. appointing Leicester City first team coach Eddie May, as his assistant.[2] During his first few years in charge, the club was in a poor financial situation and came close to going out of business in 1984, and even left its home ground,The Valley, in 1985. Despite this, Lawrence and May, not only kept Charlton in theSecond Division but gained promotion to theFirst Division in 1986, ending Charlton's 29-year absence from the top-flight. With limited resources, he kept Charlton at this level for four years, before being relegated in 1990. He remained in charge for a further season.[2]
Before the start of the1991–92 season, Lawrence moved on to manageMiddlesbrough. Under his stewardship, Middlesbrough finished Second Division runners-up in his first season as manager and gained promotion to the newPremier League but they struggled in1992–93 and were relegated at the end of the season.[2] Lawrence remained in charge until the end of the following season, his departure being confirmed on 2 May 1994.[4] Upon leaving he helped young chairmanSteve Gibson contact his replacementBryan Robson.[5]
Lawrence joinedBradford City at the beginning of the1994–95 season. After a mid-table finish in his first season, Bradford were challenging for promotion in his second season in charge before he left to manage strugglingLuton Town in the division above. Lawrence was unable to save Luton from relegation to Division Two at the end of the1995–96 season, which saw them replaced by former club Bradford. He remained in charge atKenilworth Road until 2000 when he was sacked by the new incoming Luton chairman, Mike Watson Challis,[6] and replaced with former Luton fans favourite, Ricky Hill.
He made a quick return to management shortly after the beginning of the2000–01 season with Division One sideGrimsby Town.[2] They avoided relegation and made a reasonable start to the2001–02 season, and caused an upset in theLeague Cup third round by knocking out holdersLiverpool 2–1 after extra time atAnfield, scoring with aPhil Jevons wonder-goal in the last minute.[7] However, he was sacked later in the season after Grimsby dropped to the bottom of the table.[8]
During the opening weeks of the 2001–02 season, his Grimsby side had briefly led Division One, sparking hopes that he could repeat the promotion success he achieved at Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough with a much smaller club. However, these hopes were quickly extinguished as Grimsby's form plunged.[9]
After a short while out of the game he joined Division Two sideCardiff City as a consultant. OwnerSam Hammam had made it clear to managerAlan Cork that he expected back-to-back promotions, which it did not look like Cork was going to deliver. Eventually Cork was sacked, and Lawrence took over the manager's chair.[2] In his first full season in charge, Lawrence took Cardiff to promotion after beatingQueens Park Rangers in the 2003Football League Second Division play-off final.[10] He remained atNinian Park for a further two years before being replaced in May 2005.[11]
Following the sacking ofDarren Sarll in October 2024, Lawrence was appointed caretaker manager ofHartlepool United. He was also previously caretaker manager the previous season.[12] On 8 November 2024, he was permanently appointed manager of Hartlepool until the end of the season.[13] On 3 February 2025, Lawrence announced that he had stepped back from his role to allow head coachAnthony Limbrick to take over as manager.[14]
After acting as a consultant at Cardiff for a while, he was appointedDirector of Football at Bristol Rovers, working alongside coachPaul Trollope in a two-tier managerial structure.[15] In the pair's first full season in charge, Bristol Rovers won promotion intoLeague One after winning theLeague Two play-offs.[16] He remained in this position until leaving the club on 12 May 2010, with their League One status still intact.[17]
In August 2010 Lawrence joined non-leagueCarshalton Athletic in a football consultancy role, assisting manager Mark Butler. Four months later he was appointed technical director atHereford United in League Two, to assist new managerJamie Pitman.[18]
On 20 January 2011, he was appointed assistant manager atCrystal Palace, to support new rookie manager,Dougie Freedman.[19] In October 2012 Freedman became manager atBolton Wanderers, and Lawrence was named as a joint-caretaker manager at Crystal Palace withCurtis Fleming, but within a week Lawrence rejoined Freedman at Bolton.[20]
Lawrence's first game at Bolton was a victory over former club Cardiff at theReebok Stadium, in which aMartin Petrov penalty and a further goal fromDavid Ngog gave Wanderers a 2–1 victory.[21] At the end of the season, Bolton missed out on a Play Off place toLeicester City
On 3 October 2014, he left Bolton along with fellow coachCurtis Fleming following the sacking ofDougie Freedman as manager. He later joined Freedman as assistant manager atNottingham Forest in early 2015.
During the Summer of 2016 Lawrence became assistant manager to Paul Trollope at Cardiff City. However, a poor start to the 2016/2017 season saw Paul Trollope sacked in the October at which time Lawrence also departed from the club.
On 21 March 2017, Lawrence joinedNewport County as First Team Management Consultant to new managerMike Flynn with Newport 11 points adrift at the bottom of League Two.[22] A remarkable turnaround in the remaining 12 league games saw Newport complete the Great Escape and avoid relegation with a win against Notts County with a 89th-minute winner on the final day of the 2016–17 season.[23] Lawrence departed County in June 2020 at the end of the2019–20 EFL League Two season.[3]Lawrence announced his move to Stevenage in June 2020 and is set to start employment there "either the recommencement of the 2019–20 season or the start of the 2020–21 season", with the club in the relegation spot at the end of the 2019–20 EFL League Two season. He serves as the Managerial Advisor toAlex Revell. In December 2020, Lawrence left the club.[3]
Lawrence announced his move to Stevenage in June 2020, set to start employment there "either the recommencement of the 2019–20 season or the start of the 2020–21 season", with the club in the relegation spot at the end of the 2019–20 EFL League Two season. He served as the Managerial Advisor toAlex Revell. In December 2020, Lawrence left the club.[3]
On 10 November 2022, Lawrence was appointed as a non-executive director atHartlepool United.[24] Following the sacking ofJohn Askey, Lawrence was appointed caretaker manager in January 2024.[25] AfterKevin Phillips was appointed as Askey's successor, it was confirmed that Lawrence would be one of his assistant managers.[26]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Plymouth Argyle |  | 14 February 1978 | 16 March 1978 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 000.00 |
| Charlton Athletic | | 22 November 1982 | 10 July 1991 | 393 | 120 | 109 | 164 | 030.53 |
| Middlesbrough | | 10 July 1991 | 2 May 1994 | 187 | 75 | 52 | 60 | 040.11 |
| Bradford City | | 25 May 1994 | 27 November 1995 | 77 | 29 | 20 | 28 | 037.66 |
| Luton Town | | 21 December 1995 | 4 July 2000 | 248 | 89 | 66 | 93 | 035.89 |
| Grimsby Town | | 29 August 2000 | 28 December 2001 | 77 | 22 | 19 | 36 | 028.57 |
| Cardiff City |  | 18 February 2002 | 25 May 2005 | 174 | 72 | 50 | 52 | 041.38 |
| Crystal Palace | | 23 October 2012 | 1 November 2012 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 050.00 |
| Hartlepool United (caretaker) | | 3 January 2024 | 23 January 2024 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 040.00 |
| Hartlepool United | | 16 October 2024 | 3 February 2025 | 16 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 031.25 |
| Total | 1,184 | 415 | 328 | 441 | 035.05 | |||
§: Joint caretaker manager withCurtis Fleming
Charlton Athletic
Middlesbrough
Cardiff City
Individual
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
