Liam Lawrence

Personal information
Full name	Liam Lawrence
Date of birth	13 December 1981 (1981-12-13) (age 27)
Place of birth	Retford, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Stoke City
Number	7
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999-2004	Mansfield Town	136	(35)
2004-2007	Sunderland	73	(10)
2006-2007	→ Stoke City (loan)	8	(2)
2007-	Stoke City	90	(20)
National team‡
2009-	Republic of Ireland	4	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:41, 30 November 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 09:33, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Liam Lawrence (13 December 1981 in Retford, Nottinghamshire) is an English-born Irish^[1] football right winger, who currently plays for Stoke City.

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Mansfield Town 1.2 Sunderland 1.3 Stoke City 1.4 International 1.5 International goals 2 Career statistics 3 Honours 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Mansfield Town

He was renowned at Mansfield Town for the major role he played in helping reach the 03-04 play-off final. He won player of the season for the Stags with some eye-catching performances, despite missing a penalty for Mansfield in the Division 3 play-off final.

[edit] Sunderland

It was clear that Lawrence was a great prospect and was spotted by Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy and his scouting staff, who snapped him up from Mansfield, and as he was under 24 at the time, had to pay a fee for him to the lower league club. Unfortunately for Mansfield, the paltry sum of £175,000 was agreed at a tribunal.

Lawrence had a promising first season at Sunderland, scoring 6 goals in 32 appearances, including two superb strikes against Wolves at the Stadium of Light. He also helped create one of the most important goals in Sunderland's season, scored by Marcus Stewart, against Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium.

Following Sunderland's promotion to the Premiership in 2005, Lawrence found himself in and out of the first team squad for the first few months of the 05/06 season. Despite this, Lawrence still made 23 starts and 10 substitute appearances for the club, scoring stunning goals against Fulham, Chelsea, and Sunderland's bitter rivals Newcastle United at St James' Park. Although the season ended in disaster for Sunderland, who were relegated with a then record low of 15 points, Lawrence ended the season as runner up to team-mate Dean Whitehead for the annual Player of the Year award, and was seen as one of Sunderland's better performers.

On 16 February 2006, Lawrence received his first international call-up, for the Republic of Ireland in their friendly game against Sweden on 3 March. He was one of four young Premiership players to receive their first international call-ups in Steve Staunton's first squad as Republic of Ireland manager, however, was only named as an unused substitute.

[edit] Stoke City

Lawrence was initially loaned to Stoke City before the move was made permanent with a £500,000 transfer fee.^[2] Lawrence has become a popular player at Stoke after he gelled quickly with other on loan players and has also weighed in with some important goals. Lawrence scored a hat-trick including two penalties against Barnsley in a 3-3 draw. He also won Stoke City Player Of The Year for the 2007-08 season.

[edit] International

Lawrence was born to Irish parents, thus qualifying for both England and the Republic of Ireland. On 18 May 2009, he was named in the Republic of Ireland squad for the friendly against Nigeria and subsequently made his debut at Craven Cottage on 29 May 2009.^[3][4] Following this Lawrence was named in the starting line-up for Republic of Ireland's friendly against South Africa on Tuesday 8 September 2009, scoring his first International goal in the 37th minute directly from a freekick. Lawrence made his competitive international debut in Irelands' penultimate World Cup qualifier against Italy in Croke Park on Saturday 10 October 2009. Rep of Ireland 2-Italy 2. He also made a start against France in the first leg of Ireland's crucial World Cup play-off on Saturday 14 November 2009.

[edit] International goals

As of 9 September 2009

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	8 September 2009	Thomond Park, Limerick, Republic of Ireland	South Africa	1 – 0	1–0	Friendly

[edit] Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Mansfield Town	1999-00	2	0	-		-		-		-		2	0
	2000-01	18	4	-		-		-		-		18	4
	2001-02	32	2	3	0	1	0	-		-		36	2
	2002-03	43	10	1	2	1	0	-		-		45	12
	2003-04	44	19	4	3	1	0	-		-		49	21
Sunderland	2004–05	32	6	-		2	0	-		-		34	6
	2005–06	29	3	2	0	2	0	-		-		33	3
	2006–07	12	0	-		1	0	-		-		13	0
Stoke City (Loan)	2006–07	8	2	-		-		-		-		8	2
Stoke City	2006–07	19	3	1	0	-		-		-		20	3
	2007–08	41	14	2	1	1	0	-		-		44	15
	2008–09	20	3	1	0	1	0	-		-		22	3
	2009–10	10	0	0	0	2	0	-		-		11	0
Career total		310	66	14	6	12	0	0	0	0	0	336	71

[edit] Honours

• Football League Championship (II): 2005, 2007

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Liam Lawrence player profile at stokecityfc.com
• Liam Lawrence player profile at mansfieldtown.net
• Liam Lawrence career stats at Soccerbase

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