Laurence William Batty (born 15 February 1964), sometimes known as George Batty, is an English retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a goalkeeper, best remembered for his nine years in the higher echelons of

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

with

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

, for whom he made over 500 appearances. He was capped by England at Semi-Pro level. Later in his career, Batty player-managed Walton & Hersham and became a goalkeeping coach.

Club career

Early years

A goalkeeper, Batty began his career in Portugal in the youth system at

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Faro in the district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club will play the 2021–22 season in the Liga Portugal ...

. He progressed to the first team squad for the 1982–83 Segunda Divisão season, but he failed to make an appearance and returned to England to sign for

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

First Division club

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously ...

in 1983. He left the club at the end of the 1982–83 season.

Fulham

Batty moved up to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

to sign for Second Division club

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in August 1984. He made just 12 appearances in a seven-year spell and spent time away on loan at Crystal Palace, before departing

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

in April 1991.

Brentford

Batty dropped down to the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

to sign for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on loan in February 1991, with Tony Parks moving the other way on loan. Two months later, he signed a contract until the end of the season. He failed to receive a call into the first team squad and instead played for the reserves, making five appearances before departing at the end of the 1990–91 season.

Woking

Batty returned to

Non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

to sign for Isthmian League First Division club

during the 1991 off-season. He was an ever-present in the league in his first season and collected the first

silverware Silverware may refer to: * Household silver including **Tableware **Cutlery **Candlesticks *The work of a silversmith * Silverware is also a slang term for a collection of trophies A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achieveme ...

of his career with the First Division title, which the Cards won at a canter. Rarely for a goalkeeper, Batty also scored four goals during the season, three

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

and one from open play in a match versus

Wivenhoe Town Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English football club based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at Broad Lane. History The club was established as Wivenhoe Rangers by Frank Slaughter and students from Colchester Gram ...

. His performances also won him the club's Player of the Year award. Playing in the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

for the

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

season, Batty made 39 appearances as the Cards consolidated their position with an eighth-place finish. He continued to be a first team regular over the following three seasons, in which Woking challenged for promotion to the Football League with a third-place and two runners-up finishes in the Conference. Despite frustration in the league, Batty won four cups during those three seasons, collecting two FA Trophies and two

Surrey Senior Cup The Surrey Senior Cup is the senior Saturday cup competition of the Surrey FA. It is currently competed for by teams playing in the top nine levels of the English football league system who are affiliated to the Surrey FA. The competition was i ...

s. Batty made 32 appearances during the 1996–97 season, an eventful campaign in which he missed six weeks with a fractured hand, won his third FA Trophy and helped the Cards take Premiership club Coventry City to a replay in the third round of the FA Cup. After his third FA Trophy win, he said "the first one is the most special but I was delighted to keep a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

for the first time at Wembley". As a recognition of Batty's continued service, he was awarded a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, where ...

versus former club Fulham in August 1999. Batty continued to play on until the end of the 1999–00 season, having seen his appearance-count diminish over the previous two seasons with the emergence of young understudy Darryl Flahavan. In the summer of 2000, Batty stalled over signing a new one-year contract and was then released by manager Colin Lippiatt in a summer clearout. Batty made over 500 appearances and scored five goals during his 9 years with Woking.

Later years

Batty finished his career with spells at Isthmian League clubs

Chesham United Chesham United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England. Nicknamed "the Generals", they are currently members of the and play at the Meadow. History The club was established in 1917 by a merger o ...

, St Albans City, Molesey, Walton & Hersham and a second spell with Maidenhead United.

International career

Batty's good form while with Woking saw him capped by England Semi-Pro at international level.

Managerial career

Molesey

While with Molesey, Batty combined his playing duties with that of the assistant manager's role.

Walton and Hersham

After the sacking of Matt Alexander in December 2002, Batty was named as caretaker manager. He accepted the manager's job on a full-time basis in January 2003, before being sacked in December that year.

Coaching career

Batty has held goalkeeper coaching roles at Woking, Fulham (first team, academy and ladies), Chelsea ( youth team and academy) and Brentford. He has a link with manager Paul Lambert, having served as first team goalkeeping coach under Lambert at Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City and most recently Blackburn Rovers. He holds FA Level 3 and UEFA B coaching badges. He co-founded BedHead FC and the Guy Mascolo Football Charity.

Personal life

Batty is the son of songwriter Steve Wolfe. He moved with his parents to Portugal as a teenager. Batty had a role in the 1992 BBC '' Screen One'' episode ''Born Kicking'' and played the part of the goalkeeper.Laurence Batty – IMDb
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Career statistics

Honours

Woking *

First Division: 1991–92 *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1996–97 *

: 1993–94, 1995–96, 1999–00 Individual *

Player of the Year: 1991–92

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Batty, Laurence 1964 births Footballers from the City of Westminster People from Westminster English men's footballers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players S.C. Farense players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Men's association football goalkeepers Maidenhead United F.C. players Isthmian League players Fulham F.C. players Woking F.C. players National League (English football) players Chesham United F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Molesey F.C. players Walton & Hersham F.C. players Walton & Hersham F.C. managers Isthmian League managers Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Wycombe Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff England men's semi-pro international footballers Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Living people English football managers