Lawrence Philip Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is a football manager and a former player. The defining moment of his playing career came in the 1988 FA Cup Final, where he scored the winning goal for Wimbledon, producing one of the biggest Cup upsets against Liverpool.

[edit] Personal life

Sanchez was born in London, the son of an Ecuadorian father and a Northern Irish mother.^[1] He was educated at Presentation College, an independent school in Reading, Berkshire, and went on to take a BSc degree in management science at Loughborough University while a Reading F.C. player.^[2] He was married to Heather, who died of cancer in 1998;^[3] the couple had a son, Jack.^[2] In 2004, Sanchez became patron of a Northern Ireland-based cancer charity.^[4]

[edit] Playing career

[edit] 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 in 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. In April 1994 Sanchez left Wimbledon for newly promoted Swindon Town

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.^[5]

[edit] 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.

[edit] Managerial and coaching career

[edit] Sligo Rovers

He became player-manager of League of Ireland club Sligo Rovers in 1994 [1] 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

[edit] 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 then stepped up to 1st coach under Joe Kinnear.

[edit] Wycombe Wanderers

Sanchez became manager at Wycombe Wanderers in Feb 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^[6].

[edit] Northern Ireland national team

Sanchez was appointed manager of Northern Ireland in January 2004. At that point the side was ranked 124^th 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.^[7]

[edit] Fulham

While still manager of Northern Ireland, Sanchez was named as caretaker manager of Fulham following the sacking of Chris Coleman in April 2007.^[8] 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.^[9] His tenure at Craven Cottage came to a close in December 2007, after winning just 2 of 17 Premier League games in the 2007-2008 season, a win ratio of 11.7%. He has been out of management ever since.

[edit] Honours

Wimbledon

• F.A. Cup winner – 1988

[edit] Managerial stats

Team	Nat	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

[edit] 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
• "Statement From Lawrie Sanchez" Irishfa.com September 9, 2006

[edit] Notes

[edit] 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