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Matt Lawrence (footballer)

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Matt Lawrence
Personal information
Full name Matthew James Lawrence[1]
Date of birth (1974-06-19) 19 June 1974 (age 50)
Place of birth Northampton, England
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Right back, Centre back
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1995 Hartwick Hawks
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1996 Grays Athletic
1996–1997 Wycombe Wanderers 16 (1)
1997–1998 Fulham 59 (0)
1998–2000 Wycombe Wanderers 63 (4)
2000–2006 Millwall 226 (0)
2006–2010 Crystal Palace 121 (1)
2010–2012 Gillingham 69 (0)
2012–2014 Whitehawk 35 (1)
2014–2015 Burgess Hill Town 0 (0)
Total 589 (7)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Matthew James Lawrence (born 19 June 1974) is an English former footballer who played as a centre back.

Playing career

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Lawrence began his career as a midfielder, starting out late at Grays Athletic in August 1995, age 21, having taken an American literature degree whilst playing college soccer in the United States for Hartwick College. In February 2009, Hartwick inducted Lawrence into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.[2][3]

Five months later, Lawrence became a Football League player, when he joined Wycombe Wanderers for £20,000. He made 21 appearances for Wycombe before moving on to Fulham, for an undisclosed fee. He spent 20 months at the west London side, making over 60 appearances, before going back to Wycombe on a free transfer following Fulham's failure to gain promotion to Division One.

He had a more successful spell at The Chairboys this time, before going to Millwall in March 2000 for £200,000. At Millwall, he began a new role as a right-back, and starred, only missing one game and being voted the fans' Player of The Year, as Millwall were promoted to Division One as champions in 2000–01 season. He started the 2001–02 season well, but sustained a concussion, the results of which kept him out of the side for some time. On his return, he found his best form to date for the club, as they reached the Division One play-offs.

At the start of the 2003–04 campaign, Lawrence fell out with Lions boss Mark McGhee, and looked to be on his way out of The New Den. However, McGhee was replaced by Dennis Wise, and Lawrence got his place back. It was then that he switched to central defence, playing alongside Darren Ward, and the duo stood out, with the Lions reaching the 2004 FA Cup final, for which Lawrence was captain, and thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

Wise left the club at the end of the 2004–05 season, and defensive partner Ward left for Crystal Palace, and Lawrence found himself playing in a number of positions under a variety of different managers during the disastrous 2005–06 campaign, as the Lions were relegated back to League One.

Nigel Spackman was appointed manager at the New Den, but Lawrence did not play competitively under him, as he moved to rivals Crystal Palace to rekindle his partnership with Darren Ward. After an average first season, Lawrence began to excel under the leadership of Neil Warnock at Selhurst Park. He scored his first goal for Palace against Sheffield Wednesday on 22 March 2008.[4] His contract at Selhurst Park expired at the end of the 2009–10 season, and in August 2010 he joined Gillingham of League Two on a one-year deal,[5] and made his debut for them in goalless draw away to Hereford United on 14 August.

In July 2012 he joined non-League side Whitehawk.[6]

In 2014, he joined Burgess Hill Town; however, he did not make an appearance in either the league or any cup competitions for the club.[7]

Career statistics

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Sources:[8][9][10]

Club Season Division League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Wycombe Wanderers 1995–96 Division Two 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Wycombe Wanderers 1996–97 Division Two 13 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 17 1
Total 16 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 20 1
Fulham 1996–97 Division Three 13 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 13 0
Fulham 1997–98 Division Two 45 0 2 0 4 0 3[a] 0 54 0
Fulham 1998–99 Division Two 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0
Total 59 0 2 0 5 0 3 0 69 0
Wycombe Wanderers 1998–99 Division Two 34 2 3 0 0 0 2[a] 0 39 2
Wycombe Wanderers 1999–2000 Division Two 29 2 4 0 4 0 1[a] 0 38 2
Total 63 4 7 0 4 0 3 0 77 4
Millwall 1999–2000 Division Two 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 0
Millwall 2000–01 Division Two 45 0 3 0 4 0 2[a] 0 54 0
Millwall 2001–02 Division One 26 0 2 0 2 0 2[b] 0 32 0
Millwall 2002–03 Division One 33 0 4 0 1 0 0 0 38 0
Millwall 2003–04 Division One 36 0 7 0 1 0 0 0 44 0
Millwall 2004–05 Championship 44 0 1 0 1 0 2[c] 0 48 0
Millwall 2005–06 Championship 31 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 34 0
Total 226 0 19 0 10 0 6 0 261 0
Crystal Palace 2006-07 Championship 34 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 37 0
Crystal Palace 2007-08 Championship 37 1 1 0 1 0 2[b] 0 41 1
Crystal Palace 2008-09 Championship 32 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 36 0
Crystal Palace 2009-10 Championship 18 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 21 0
Total 121 1 9 0 3 0 2 0 135 1
Gillingham 2010-11 League Two 43 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 44 0
Gillingham 2011-12 League Two 26 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 29 0
Total 69 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 73 0
Whitehawk 2012-13 Isthmian League Premier 9 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 1
Whitehawk 2013-14 Conference South 26 0 0 0 0 0 3[d] 0 29 0
Total 35 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 38 1
Burgess Hill Town 2014-15 Isthmian League Division One South 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Career total 589 7 40 0 27 0 17 0 673 7


Life outside football

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In preparation for the 2007–08 season, Lawrence wrote a weekly "pre-season diary" for The London Paper. This appeared every Monday for five weeks, a popular piece which led to him being given a regular column in the matchday programme over the season. He was signed up to write a weekly column for The Mirror.

Lawrence joined the Sporting Kansas City broadcast team as a color commentator ahead of the 2017 Major League Soccer season.[11]

Honours

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Fulham

Millwall

Individual

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
  2. ^ a b Appearance(s) in Division One play-offs
  3. ^ Appearance(s) in UEFA Cup
  4. ^ Appearance(s) in FA Trophy

References

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  1. ^ "Matt Lawrence". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  2. ^ "Hartwick College to Induct Eight into Athletic Hall of Fame". Hartwick College. 17 February 2009. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  3. ^ "Hartwick Athletics Hall of Fame". Hartwick College. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Sheff Wed 2–2 Crystal Palace". BBC. 22 March 2008. Retrieved 14 February 2010.
  5. ^ "Gills snap up Palace defender". Gillingham F.C. 7 October 2010. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Lawrence coup for Hawks". NonLeagueDaily.com. 10 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 January 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ^ "Burgess Hill Town | Appearances | 2014-2015 | Football Web Pages". www.footballwebpages.co.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  8. ^ "Matt Lawrence | Football Stats | No Club | Age 49 | 1995-2012 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  9. ^ "England - M. Lawrence - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". uk.soccerway.com. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  10. ^ "Burgess Hill Town | Appearances | 2014-2015 | Football Web Pages". www.footballwebpages.co.uk. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  11. ^ Bergabo, Patrik. "Sporting Kansas City announces 2017 broadcast team". SportingKC.com. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  12. ^ "Good, Bad & Ugly: Former Millwall defender Matt Lawrence". The League Paper. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  13. ^ "Millwall Club History – Millwall FC". millwallfc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
  14. ^ "Glory Glory Man United". The FA. 22 May 2004. Archived from the original on 30 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Teams of the year". 29 April 2001. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
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