LAWRIE SANCHEZ

'Lawrence Philip Sanchez ' (born October 22, 1959 in London, England) is a former Northern Irish football player who is the current manager of Fulham.
The son of an Ecuadorian father and a Northern Irish mother, Sanchez went to Presentation College, a private boys' school in Reading.

Contents

Playing career

Club career

International career

Managerial career

Club career

International career

Honours

Managerial stats

References

Notes

External links

Playing career

Club career

As a player, Sanchez is most famous for scoring 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.
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 in 1986.
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 [1].
In 1993 Sanchez left Wimbledon for newly-promoted Swindon Town, but lasted only a year.

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, but declined on the grounds of distance.

Managerial career

Club career

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.
In 1995, he returned to Wimbledon and became reserve team manager, winning the Football Combination in his first season in charge. He managed the reserves for under four years, before becoming manager at Wycombe Wanderers in 1998.
Sanchez rescued the team from the threat of relegation that season, and in 2001 guided the club (then in the Second Division) to one of its greatest moments, playing Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-finals; Wycombe lost 2-1, having held Liverpool to 0-0 for most of the match.
However, Sanchez's side failed to meet the ensuing expectations generated by the cup run, finishing only 11th in 2001-02 and 18th in 2002-03. After a poor start to the 2003-04 season, citing family problems as his reason, Sanchez resigned on September 30, 2003.
While still manager of Northern Ireland, Sanchez was named as caretaker manager of Fulham following the sacking of Chris Coleman on 10 April 2007^[1], and after helping the side avoid relegation, Sanchez was given the manager's job on a longer contract.^[2]

International career

After Sammy McIlroy resigned as Northern Ireland manager following a disastrous string of results which saw them finish bottom of their Euro 2004 qualification group, Sanchez was appointed as Northern Ireland's new manager in January 2004.
The side improved markedly during Sanchez' time in charge, winning their first game in nearly three years, breaking the team's 1,298 minute-long goal drought, and rising from an all-time low of 124 in the FIFA world rankings when he took over, to the joint highest position the nation had ever achieved (33rd) at the time when he left the post[2].
Particularly 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, and a 3-2 win, with David Healy scoring a hat trick against Spain in a Euro 2008 qualifying match. At the time of his resignation, Northern Ireland topped of their Euro 2008 qualification group.
In December 2006 Sanchez, who was under contract until November 2007, stated that he did not expect to extend his role as Northern Ireland manager beyond the end of their current European Qualification campaign. [3] In the event, Sanchez resigned as coach of Northern Ireland on May 11, 2007 upon being confirmed as the manager of Fulham, thereby fulfilling his long-stated ambition to return to club management, with a top-level team.
He retains a small link with Northern Ireland football in his capacity as Honorary President of the London Northern Ireland Supporters' Club (London NISC), a role that he accepted when the London NISC was formed in 2004
.

Honours

'Wimbledon

★ F.A. Cup winner - 1988

Managerial stats

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Wycombe Wanderers		February 5 1999	September 30 2003	255	87	97	71	34.11
Northern Ireland		January 21 2004	May 11 2007	32	11	11	10	34.37
Fulham		April 11 2007	''Present''	7	2	4	1	28.57

References

★ "Sanchez to stay in N Ireland job" BBC News Online September 9, 2006, retrieved September 9, 2006.

★ "Sanchez stays on as N Ireland coach" Teamtalk.com September 9, 2006

★ From Lawrie Sanchez" Irishfa.com September 9, 2006

Notes

1. Coleman out as Sanchez takes over
2. Sanchez quits NI for Fulham job

External links

★

★ Lawrie Sanchez Biography on the Irish Football Association website

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