| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1959-10-22)22 October 1959 (age 66) | ||
| Place of birth | Lambeth, England | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1974–1976 | Southampton | ||
| 1976-1977 | Thatcham Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1977–1984 | Reading | 262 | (28) |
| 1984–1994 | Wimbledon | 270 | (33) |
| 1994 | Swindon Town | 8 | (0) |
| 1994–1995 | Sligo Rovers | 18 | (1) |
| Total | 558 | (62) | |
| International career | |||
| 1977 | England Schoolboys | 1 | (0) |
| 1986–1989 | Northern Ireland | 3 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1994–1995 | Sligo Rovers | ||
| 1999–2003 | Wycombe Wanderers | ||
| 2004–2007 | Northern Ireland | ||
| 2007 | Fulham | ||
| 2011–2012 | Barnet | ||
| 2013–2014 | Apollon Smyrni | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Lawrence Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is afootball manager and former internationalfootballer for Northern Ireland.
The defining moment of his playing career came in the1988 FA Cup final, when he scored the winning goal forWimbledon againstLiverpool, producing one of the biggest upsets in the competition's long history.
Career highlights as a manager include takingWycombe Wanderers on a memorableFA Cup run that climaxed in a semi-final againstLiverpool and drivingNorthern Ireland from a FIFA ranking of 124th to 27th; a period during which he notched up notable results againstEngland,Spain,Denmark,Sweden andPortugal.
Sanchez was born in London, the son of anEcuadorian father and a Northern Irish mother.[1] He was educated atPresentation College, anindependent school inReading,Berkshire, and went on to take a BSc degree inmanagement science atLoughborough University while aReading F.C. player.[2] He was married to Heather, who died of cancer in 1998;[3] the couple had a son, Jack. In 2004, Sanchez became patron of a Northern Ireland-based cancer charity.[4]
Sanchez began his playing career as a midfielder atReading in 1977 and remained there until 1984 before being bought byWimbledon for £30,000, where he became a regular in a successful side. He scored the goal to secure the victory which got the Dons promoted to theFirst Division againstHuddersfield Town in May 1986.[5]
His most famous moment as a player came in 1988, when he scored with a header the goal that won Wimbledon theFA Cup in1988 againstLiverpool.[6] It was not an easy game, asPeter Beardsley had found the net two 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 forJohn Aldridge's shot to be saved by Dons goalkeeperDave Beasant.[7]
During the1993–94 season Sanchez left Wimbledon for newly promotedSwindon Town, who ended the season relegated with a mere five wins from 42 games and conceding 100 goals. He played just eight league games for theWiltshire club and left them after only a few months to be player/manager at Sligo Rovers in Ireland. He scored his last goal in professional football against then ChampionsShamrock Rovers on the 3rd of December 1994.
Sanchez is believed to be the first player to besent off for aprofessional foul, after committing a deliberate handball in aFootball League Trophy match againstOxford United in 1982.[8]
In 1977, he represented England Schoolboys in a match against Scotland.
Sanchez won three full international caps for Northern Ireland, qualifying by virtue of his Northern Irish mother. Prior to having played for Northern Ireland he was also qualified to play forEcuador due to having an Ecuadorian father, but declined the opportunity on the grounds of distance.
He became player-manager ofLeague of Ireland clubSligo Rovers in 1994,[9] and in his first season led them to the semi-final of the 1995FAI Cup. He also managed them in the Cup Winners' Cup againstClub Brugge.
In 1995, he returned to Wimbledon and became the reserve team manager, winning theFootball Combination in his first season in charge. After two years in charge of the reserves, he stepped up to be first team coach underJoe Kinnear.
He became manager atWycombe Wanderers in February 1999, and with only 18 games left he rescued the team from imminent relegation. In 2001, he guided the club (then in theSecond Division) to its greatest moment, reaching the FA Cup semi-finals, where they played Liverpool; Wycombe lost 2–1, having held Liverpool to 0–0 for most of the match. During this campaign, Sanchez famously signed Roy Essandoh after the striker answered a plea from the club for an available striker due to a number of club players being unavailable. Roy's famous winner for Wycombe Wanderers against Leicester City at Filbert Street has since become a goal of FA Cup folklore.
After finishing 12th in 2002 and 11th in 2003, the upward progress came to an end with the collapse of the OnDigital TV deal and the subsequent loss of both revenue and players. After a poor start to the2003–04 season, Sanchez was sacked by the club on 30 September 2003.[10]
Sanchez was appointed manager ofNorthern Ireland in January 2004.[11] 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 theirEuro 2008 qualification group and reached an all-time high position of 27th in the world.[12]
Notable results during his tenure included a 1–0 victory againstEngland in aWorld Cup qualifying match,[13] a 1–1 draw againstPortugal,[14] who went on to reach the2006 World Cup semi-finals,[15] a 2–1 win overSweden,[16] and a 3–2 win against eventual Euro 2008 winnersSpain in aEuro 2008 qualifying match, with strikerDavid Healy scoring ahat-trick.[17] A book about his achievements with Northern Ireland was published in November 2007.[18]
While still manager of Northern Ireland, Sanchez was named as caretaker manager ofFulham following the sacking ofChris Coleman in April 2007.[19] Having achieved his 32-day task of maintaining Fulham's Premier League position, with a record of one win, one draw and three defeats, he was given the manager's job on a longer contract, having first to resign from his position with Northern Ireland.[20]
Sanchez signed four Northern Ireland players,David Healy fromLeeds United,[21]Steven Davis andAaron Hughes, both fromAston Villa,[22][23] andChris Baird fromSouthampton.[24]
He was sacked in December 2007,[25] after a home defeat to Newcastle.[26] This defeat pushed Fulham into the relegation places. Fulham ultimately survived after a 'Great Escape' under Roy Hodgson. Sanchez' tenure was seen as one where good players were signed, but did not yield results. Many of the players who were signed by Sanchez, such as Baird and Hughes, started for Fulham in a Europa League final against Atletico Madrid a couple of years later.
With four matches of the 2010–11 season remaining, Sanchez joinedBarnet as football consultant, to assist caretaker-managerGiuliano Grazioli,[27] in their ultimately successful battle against relegation from the Football League.[28] On 13 May 2011, Barnet appointed Sanchez as manager of the club, with Grazioli as his assistant.[29] In the 2011–12 season, the club struggled to stay in the League despite reaching the Area Final of the Johnstone Paint Trophy before losing to Swindon Town.[30] Sanchez was sacked by Barnet on 16 April 2012 with 3 games of the season to go and was replaced byMartin Allen.[31]
"You cannot allow this to happen on live tv."
On 17 November 2013, Sanchez was appointed head coach ofSuperleague Greece sideApollon Smyrni.[33] He met the players for the first time on 18 November 2013 whilst also giving the club's official website his first interview as Apollon Smyrni head coach.[34] During his time at Apollon, Sanchez has raised his doubts over the integrity of theSuperleague Greece.[35] On 30 March, he voiced his discontent on live television during the club's 3–2 win away toPanthrakikos.[32]
On 13 April 2014, Sanchez and Apollon were relegated from theSuperleague Greece into theGreek Football League following a 1–0 defeat away to championsOlympiacos. Apollon finished seventeenth with 36 points, two points off safety in fifteenth.[36]
Sanchez declined to sign a new contract for Apollon and left the club. This departure was much to the chagrin of the Apollon fans to whom he, in typical Sanchez fashion, had become a much loved cult figure and leader.[37] Sanchez wrote a parting letter to the Apollon fans explaining his thoughts and made it clear that he was very unhappy with the legitimacy of theSuperleague Greece, his parting words were: "In the Magic Kingdom that is SuperLeague even a Magician can only have so many powers".[38]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Sligo Rovers |  | 2 September 1994 | 14 August 1995 | 46 | 18 | 10 | 18 | 039.13 |
| Wycombe Wanderers |  | 5 February 1999 | 30 September 2003 | 255 | 87 | 71 | 97 | 034.12 |
| Northern Ireland |  | 21 January 2004 | 11 May 2007 | 32 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 034.38 |
| Fulham | | 11 April 2007 | 21 December 2007 | 24 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 016.67 |
| Barnet | | 13 May 2011 | 16 April 2012 | 57 | 17 | 13 | 27 | 029.82 |
| Apollon Smyrni |  | 17 November 2013 | 22 April 2014 | 27 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 029.63 |
| Total | 441 | 145 | 119 | 177 | 032.88 | |||
