 Laws in 2006 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Brian Laws[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1961-10-14)14 October 1961 (age 64)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Wallsend, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1979–1983 | Burnley | 125 | (12) |
| 1983–1985 | Huddersfield Town | 56 | (1) |
| 1985–1988 | Middlesbrough | 108 | (12) |
| 1988–1994 | Nottingham Forest | 147 | (4) |
| 1994–1996 | Grimsby Town | 46 | (2) |
| 1996–1997 | Darlington | 10 | (0) |
| 1997–1998 | Scunthorpe United | 18 | (0) |
| Total | 510 | (31) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1994–1996 | Grimsby Town | ||
| 1997–2006 | Scunthorpe United | ||
| 2006–2009 | Sheffield Wednesday | ||
| 2010 | Burnley | ||
| 2012 | Shamrock Rovers | ||
| 2012–2013 | Scunthorpe United | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Brian Laws (born 14 October 1961) is an English former professionalfootballer andmanager.
Playing as adefender, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley,Middlesbrough, andNottingham Forest. In 1994, Laws becameplayer-manager ofGrimsby Town before taking a similar position withScunthorpe United in 1997. For the next nine years, Laws served as manager ofScunthorpe United, guiding them to promotion twice. In 2006, he accepted the managerial role atSheffield Wednesday, lasting three years in the job during which timeBurnley approached him for their managers job whenSteve Cotterill left, but were put off by the compensation demanded by Wednesday. Wednesday later struggled with financial problems and he was dismissed in December 2009 after a poor run of results.
After only a brief spell out of the game, Burnley appointed Laws as their manager, giving him his first chance to manage in thePremier League afterOwen Coyle left the club forBolton Wanderers in January 2010 and took the entire management team with him. He was dismissed by the club in December that year. Laws returned to manageScunthorpe United in 2012 only to be dismissed in November 2013.
Born inWallsend,Northumberland,[1] Laws began playing football at the famousWallsend Boys Club.[3] Aged 17 he signed his first professional contract withBurnley, joining the club as an apprentice. Over the following four seasons he made 181 appearances for the club and, despite his defensive role, scored fifteen goals. However, during this period the club's fortunes were in decline and, following relegation back to the old Third Division, Burnley sold Laws across thePennines toHuddersfield Town for only £10,000 in 1983.[4] Two years later Laws was sold again, moving toMiddlesbrough for £30,000. After a short period Laws became first choice in Middlesbrough's starting eleven, in his three seasons at the club he twice helped the team to promotion, firstly to the Second Division and then, just a year later, up to the old First Division.
On 14 July 1986, he famously applied to theFootball League to have his contract cancelled and enable himself to leave Middlesbrough on a free transfer, as they were in liquidation and on the verge of losing theirFootball League status and going out of business at this stage. However, they were saved from closure the following month and Laws remained part of the team who won promotion in the next two seasons to take them from the Third Division to the First.[5] However, the club's finances were not strong, and whenNottingham Forest offered £120,000 for his contract in 1988 Middlesbrough sold him to the Trentside club.[6]
Laws was part ofBrian Clough's successful Nottingham Forest team for six seasons, playing mainly as right full-back. He is sometimes credited as Forest's second-best right-back of all time[7] behind regular England internationalViv Anderson. During this time he won theLeague Cup twice and was runner up in theLeague Cup andFA Cup. Clough's first words to his new signing were "I've never seen you play, son, I'm going on the recommendation ofRon Fenton. So if you're crap, Ronnie signed you. If you're good, I signed you."[8]
Laws was at Forest at the time of theHillsborough disaster in the1988–89 FA Cup semi final. The originally scheduled fixture had to be abandoned early in the game due to fans being fatally crushed in the Leppings Lane terracing. In the rescheduled fixture, Laws scored an own goal; the game ended 3–1 to Liverpool. He played in the1991 FA Cup final; a 2–1 defeat to Spurs.
Forest were relegated from thePremier League at the end of the1992–93 season and Clough retired, a year and a half later and with reduced first team opportunities, Laws left on afree transfer to becomeplayer-manager atGrimsby Town.
Laws started his management career atGrimsby Town in 1994, replacingAlan Buckley who had moved toWest Bromwich Albion.[9] Laws' management of Town was initially successful, but deteriorated after he clashed withGrimsby Town playerIvano Bonetti. Laws reportedly threw a plate of chicken wings at the Italian following a 3–2 defeat atLuton Town in February 1996.[10] Laws was dismissed byGrimsby Town after a poor start to the 96–97 season. He then had a short spell as a player withDarlington before taking charge ofScunthorpe United.
At Scunthorpe United Laws achieved promotion twice, in 1999 and 2005 respectively. He was dismissed by the club in March 2004 but was reinstated three weeks later, leading them to promotion the following season.
After nearly 10 years at Scunthorpe United Laws left the club in November 2006 to take over the manager's job atSheffield Wednesday. Ex-Wednesday chairman Dave Allen, in an interview made before hiring Laws, admitted that he liked him because of hisBrian Clough management style. He said "I like him, he comes from the Clough camp, I'm a great admirer of the Clough camp".[11]
On 7 February 2009, Laws became the first Sheffield Wednesday manager for 95 years to do the league double over their neighboursSheffield United, therefore making sure his name goes down in Wednesday history. Laws however came under increasing pressure from Wednesday fans to depart at the start of December, after a poor run of results which saw the Owls drop to 20th along with four straight home defeats.[12] Laws left Sheffield Wednesday on 13 December 2009 by mutual consent after a run of bad results.[13] Sheffield Wednesday were relegated in 2010 after failing to win in their last game againstCrystal Palace.[14]
In January 2010, Laws was linked with a surprise return to his first clubBurnley as manager, this following the departure ofOwen Coyle toBolton Wanderers.[15] On 13 January, Laws was appointed as the new manager of Burnley.[16] They lost 15 of their remaining 18 Premier League games, plummeting from mid table in January to the relegation zone; their relegation being confirmed with two matches remaining. Despite this setback, the Burnley board of directors agreed that Laws would be in charge of the team for the quest to regain top flight status in2010–11.[17]
In summer 2010 he let a number of older players go and soldSteven Fletcher toWolverhampton Wanderers. In pre-season he has had a successful start winning all games, bar one draw. Laws made a number of signings during the summer transfer window, includingChris Iwelumo from Wolverhampton Wanderers andRoss Wallace from local rivalsPreston North End. Laws managed his 700th league game in a 4–0 win over Hull City. However, after a poor run of results that left Burnley 9th in the Championship, after the 2–0 loss to Scunthorpe United which saw Burnley fans calling for his dismissal, on 29 December 2010 it was announced that Laws had been dismissed from the club.[18]
On 17 September 2012, Laws was appointed Director of Football atShamrock Rovers until the end of the2012 League of Ireland season.[19][20][21]
On 29 October 2012, Laws returned as manager of League One Scunthorpe United, following the dismissal ofAlan Knill.[22] In November 2013 he was dismissed by Scunthorpe following the side'sFA Cup defeat by local rivalsGrimsby Town.[23]
He currently provides analysis and co-commentary onNottingham Forest matches forBBC Radio Nottingham and Sheffield Wednesday matches onBBC Radio Sheffield.
Laws has two children from his late first wife and a son called Thomas with his second wife, Jane.[24]
in November 2016, Laws revealed to Sheffield Live TV that he underwent double heart bypass surgery.[25]
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Grimsby Town | 29 November 1994 | 1 November 1996 | 99 | 30 | 28 | 41 | 030.3 |
| Scunthorpe United | 24 February 1997 | 6 November 2006 | 520 | 202 | 138 | 180 | 038.8 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 6 November 2006 | 13 December 2009 | 154 | 52 | 42 | 60 | 033.8 |
| Burnley | 13 January 2010 | 29 December 2010 | 44 | 13 | 9 | 22 | 029.5 |
| Shamrock Rovers | 17 September 2012 | 26 October 2012 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 066.7 |
| Scunthorpe United | 29 October 2012 | 20 November 2013 | 52 | 17 | 14 | 21 | 032.7 |
| Total | 875 | 318 | 231 | 326 | 036.3 | ||
Burnley
Nottingham Forest
Individual
Scunthorpe United
Individual
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |