Robin Michael Lawrence (born 12 December 1947) is an English former football manager, player and football consultant who is non-executive director at

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

. Lawrence was a semi-professional at

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, Carshalton Athletic and

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles so ...

before becoming caretaker manager of

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in 1978. He went on to manage

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

(during their debut season in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

. Lawrence ended his managerial career with a three-year stint as boss of Cardiff City. He is one of a select few managers to have managed over 1,000 games. Since 2005 Lawrence has worked at a number of clubs as either part of the coaching staff or in a

Director of Football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

role. He joined

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

in June 2020 as a managerial advisor, to begin at either the restart of the 2019–20 season or the start of the 2020–21 season, following three years as the management consultant to Newport County, Lawrence left this role in early November 2020.

Playing career

Lawrence turned out at non-league level for

, Carshalton Athletic and

during his semi-professional career.

Managerial career

Plymouth Argyle and Lincoln City

He came to Plymouth as Assistant Manager to Mike Kelly and when Kelly was sacked he got his first managerial appointment at

as caretaker and then worked alongside Malcolm Allison as Assistant. He later worked as a coach at Lincoln City, helping them win promotion from

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

in the 1980–81 season.

Charlton Athletic

Lawrence moved to

as reserve-team manager, and was later promoted to full-time manager in 1982. appointing Leicester City first team coach Eddie May, as his assistant. During his first few years in charge, the club was in a poor financial situation and came close to going out of business in 1984, and even left its home ground, The Valley, in 1985. Despite this, Lawrence and May, not only kept Charlton in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

but gained promotion to the First Division in 1986, ending Charlton's 29-year absence from the top-flight. With limited resources, he kept Charlton at this level for four years, before being relegated in 1990. He remained in charge for a further season.

Middlesbrough

Before the start of the 1991–92 season, Lawrence moved on to manage

. Under his stewardship, Middlesbrough finished Second Division runners-up in his first season as manager and gained promotion to the new

but they struggled in 1992–93 and were relegated at the end of the season. Lawrence remained in charge until the end of the following season, his departure being confirmed on 2 May 1994. Upon leaving he helped young chairman Steve Gibson contact his replacement

Bryan Robson Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...

Bradford City and move to Luton Town

Lawrence joined

at the beginning of the 1994–95 season. After a mid-table finish in his first season, Bradford were challenging for promotion in his second season in charge before he left to manage struggling

in the division above. Lawrence was unable to save Luton from relegation to Division Two at the end of the 1995–96 season, which saw them replaced by former club Bradford. He remained in charge at

Kenilworth Road Kenilworth Road is an association football stadium in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town F.C., Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international matches, includ ...

until 2000 when he was sacked by the new incoming Luton chairman, Mike Watson Challis, and replaced with former Luton fans favourite, Ricky Hill. His time at Luton is not fondly remembered by Luton fans, who didn't agree with Lawrence's assertion that the club should be happy to be playing Division Two (now League One) level football. Luton are currently playing at a higher level than this.

Grimsby Town

He made a quick return to management shortly after the beginning of the 2000–01 season with Division One side

. They avoided relegation and made a reasonable start to the 2001–02 season, and caused an upset in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

third round by knocking out holders

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

2–1 after extra time at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

, scoring with a

Phil Jevons Phillip Jevons (born 1 August 1979) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a forward who played between 1996 and 2014 for Everton, Grimsby Town, Hull City, Yeovil Town, Bristol City, Huddersfield ...

wonder-goal in the last minute. However, he was sacked later in the season after Grimsby dropped to the bottom of the table. During the opening weeks of the 2001–02 season, his Grimsby side had briefly led Division One, sparking hopes that he could repeat the promotion success he achieved at Charlton Athletic and Middlesbrough with a much smaller club. However, these hopes were quickly extinguished as Grimsby's form plunged.

Cardiff City

After a short while out of the game he joined Division Two side Cardiff City as a consultant. Owner

Sam Hammam Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictio ...

had made it clear to manager

Alan Cork Alan Graham Cork (born 4 March 1959) is an English former professional footballer. He played as a striker for several clubs, most notably Wimbledon (where he spent 14 years, played in all four divisions of the Football League and gained an FA C ...

that he expected back-to-back promotions, which it did not look like Cork was going to deliver. Eventually Cork was sacked, and Lawrence took over the manager's chair. In his first full season in charge, Lawrence took Cardiff to promotion after beating

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in the 2003

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

play-off final. He remained at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixtu ...

for a further two years before being replaced in May 2005.

Coaching career

After acting as a consultant at Cardiff for a while, he was appointed

at Bristol Rovers, working alongside coach

Paul Trollope Paul Jonathan Trollope (born 3 June 1972) is a football coach and former professional footballer, who played as a midfielder. He is currently joint-assistant manager of Luton Town Born in England, he represents Wales internationally. As a playe ...

in a two-tier managerial structure. In the pair's first full season in charge, Bristol Rovers won promotion into

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

after winning the

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

play-offs. He remained in this position until leaving the club on 12 May 2010, with their League One status still intact. In August 2010 Lawrence joined non-league Carshalton Athletic in a football consultancy role, assisting manager Mark Butler. Four months later he was appointed technical director at

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

in League Two, to assist new manager

Jamie Pitman Jamie Pitman (born 6 January 1976) is an English footballer turned football manager, who was the manager of Hereford United until 5 March 2012. Playing career He progressed through the youth system at Swindon Town, eventually making three le ...

. On 20 January 2011, he was appointed assistant manager at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

, to support new rookie manager,

Dougie Freedman Douglas Alan Freedman (born 25 May 1974) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is the current sporting director of Crystal Palace. Freedman played as a striker, primarily for Crystal Palace and also had spells as ...

. In October 2012 Freedman became manager at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, and Lawrence was named as a joint-caretaker manager at Crystal Palace with

Curtis Fleming Curtis Fleming (born 8 October 1968 in Manchester) is an Irish professional football manager and former player, who is currently the assistant manager of Championship club Bristol City. Fleming played right back and won international honour ...

, but within a week Lawrence rejoined Freedman at Bolton. Lawrence's first game at Bolton was a victory over former club Cardiff at the

Reebok Stadium The University of Bolton Stadium is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C. in Horwich, Greater Manchester, England. Opening in 1997, it was named the Reebok Stadium, after club sponsors Reebok. In 2014, Bolton Wanderers signed a naming righ ...

, in which a

Martin Petrov Martin Petyov Petrov ( bg, Мартин Петьов Петров; born 15 January 1979) is a Bulgarian former footballer who played as a winger. Club career Petrov began his career for Botev Vratsa. After a few good seasons, he signed with CS ...

penalty and a further goal from

David N'Gog David Philippe Henri Ngog (born 1 April 1989), known as David N'Gog, is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Greek Gamma Ethniki club Panionios. N'Gog started his career with French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. He ...

gave Wanderers a 2–1 victory. At the end of the season, Bolton missed out on a Play Off place to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

On 3 October 2014, he left Bolton along with fellow coach

following the sacking of

as manager. He later joined Freedman as assistant manager at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in early 2015. During the Summer of 2016 Lawrence became assistant manager to Paul Trollope at Cardiff City. However, a poor start to the 2016/2017 season saw Paul Trollope sacked in the October at which time Lawrence also departed from the club.

Consultancy roles

On 21 March 2017, Lawrence joined Newport County as First Team Management Consultant to new manager Mike Flynn with Newport 11 points adrift at the bottom of League Two. A remarkable turnaround in the remaining 12 league games saw Newport complete the Great Escape and avoid relegation with a win against Notts County with a 89th-minute winner on the final day of the 2016–17 season. Lawrence departed County in June 2020 at the end of the 2019–20 EFL League Two season. Lawrence announced his move to Stevenage in June 2020 and is set to start employment there "either the recommencement of the 2019–20 season or the start of the 2020–21 season", with the club in the relegation spot at the end of the 2019–20 EFL League Two season. He serves as the Managerial Advisor to

Alex Revell Alexander David Revell (born 7 July 1983) is an English manager and former footballer. He is currently serving as a first team coach for Stevenage in League Two. He was the manager at Stevenage from February 16, 2020 till November 14, 2021. Dur ...

. In December 2020, Lawrence left the club. On 10 November 2022, Lawrence was appointed as a Non Executive Director at

Managerial statistics

§: Joint caretaker manager with

Honours

Individual *Nationwide

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

Manager of the Month: August 2001 * Football League Championship Manager of the Month: January 2005

References

External links