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Lawrie McMenemy

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Lawrie McMenemy
MBE
Personal information
Full name Lawrence McMenemy
Date of birth (1936-07-26) 26 July 1936 (age 88)
Place of birth Gateshead, England
Youth career
Newcastle United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1959–1961 Gateshead
Managerial career
1964–1967 Bishop Auckland
1968–1971 Doncaster Rovers
1971–1973 Grimsby Town
1973–1985 Southampton
1985–1987 Sunderland
1990–1993 England U21
1998–1999 Northern Ireland
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lawrence McMenemy[1] MBE (born 26 July 1936) is an English retired football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton. He is rated in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war English football.[2]

Playing career

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McMenemy was born in Gateshead. After serving in the Coldstream Guards[1] he began his footballing career with Newcastle United although he never appeared in their first team. He moved to Gateshead in the late 1950s, joining the club after they had left the Football League.[3] An injury ended his career in 1961, but he moved into coaching instead, spending three years in that role at Gateshead.

Managerial career

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Bishop Auckland

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In 1964, McMenemy was appointed manager of non-league Bishop Auckland and transformed them from a struggling side into Northern League champions and also took them to the second round of the FA Cup.[4]

Sheffield Wednesday and Doncaster Rovers

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McMenemy then moved to Sheffield Wednesday where he spent two years as a coach before he got his big break as manager of Doncaster Rovers where he remained until May 1971, winning the Fourth Division Championship in 1968–69.[5]

Grimsby Town

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He then became manager of Grimsby Town, where he won a Fourth Division championship.[6] In July 1973 he left Blundell Park to become assistant manager at Southampton.[7]

Southampton

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In November 1973, four months after joining the Saints as assistant manager, he was promoted to the role of manager, replacing Ted Bates.[2] He was unable to keep them in the First Division that season, but the board kept faith in him to lift the club back out of the Second Division.[8]

In 1976, McMenemy guided Southampton, then in the Second Division, to an FA Cup Final victory over Manchester United.[9] It was widely predicted before the game that United would easily win (one pundit said the score would go into double figures).[9] However Southampton, who were in the Second Division at the time (the current Championship) and had a much older team, put up a stern challenge against United.[9] The only goal of the game was scored by Bobby Stokes with just seven minutes to go, and captain Peter Rodrigues received the FA Cup from the Queen.[10][11] They were the second club in four seasons to win the FA Cup from outside the First Division of English football after Sunderland in 1973 and only one more side from outside the top flight (West Ham United in 1980) has won the trophy. These are the only instances in the post-Second World War era when the trophy has been won by a team outside the top division.[12]

In 1978, the Saints won promotion to the First Division and in 1979 reached the League Cup Final where they lost 3–2 to Nottingham Forest.[13]

McMenemy was linked with the vacant Manchester United manager's job at the end of the 1980–81 season, but he ruled himself out of the running and the job went to Ron Atkinson instead.[14]

McMenemy had signed veteran World Cup winner Alan Ball to aid his side, later adding serving England captain Kevin Keegan when he returned from Germany in 1980.[15] Southampton emerged as title challengers in the 1981–82 season, regularly topping the table, before they finished seventh and the title went to Liverpool. Keegan was sold to Newcastle United that summer, but McMenemy made another big name signing when he captured England goalkeeper Peter Shilton.[16] In 1984, he guided the club to second place in the First Division – their highest ever finish.[17]

Sunderland

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He left Southampton on 1 June 1985, but returned to football five days later when he was named manager of Sunderland, who had just been relegated to the Second Division.[18] At the time he was the highest-paid manager in English football, but his time on Wearside was not a success and he quit in March 1987 – just weeks before Sunderland fell into the Third Division for the first time in their history.[19][20] A year earlier, they had narrowly avoided a second successive relegation when they had been among the pre-season favourites for promotion, and the best supported side in the Second Division with an average attendance of more than 16,000 – higher than most of the First Division clubs that season.

England

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In July 1990, he ended a three-year break from football when he was appointed assistant to England manager Graham Taylor, managing the Under-21 side, and picking out future talents like Darren Anderton and Steve McManaman.[21][22] In November 1993, after England failed to qualify for USA 94, Taylor and McMenemy both resigned. They had reached the 1992 European Championships in Sweden, but failed to progress beyond the group stages.[23]

Return to Southampton

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McMenemy soon bounced back and was offered the new position of Director of Football by Southampton within weeks of leaving his role with the England team. Fans and the local media were delighted when he accepted the role, which made him the first man to be employed as a Director of Football in the English game.[citation needed] In McMenemy's first season back at Southampton, the Saints finished 10th in the Premiership. However, it did not last long and in 1997, when Rupert Lowe arrived as the new chairman, neither McMenemy nor then-manager Graeme Souness got on with him and promptly resigned, publicly denouncing the new board in the process.[24]

Northern Ireland

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A year later, in 1998 McMenemy was appointed Northern Ireland manager, but he was not successful and he resigned two years later after they failed to qualify for the 2000 European Championships.[25][26]

Since 2000, McMenemy has concentrated on his role as FA special ambassador, travelling to Afghanistan in 2002 to help set up a national league and liaising with the English team in the Special Olympics.[27]

In July 2006, he was appointed a non-executive director of Southampton F.C.[27]

Media work

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McMenemy has made frequent appearances on TV football panels since 1972 as well as BBC TV's "Superkids" and TVS's "Children's Challenge". He also regularly appeared on TV-am prior to 1990 as their football analyst. He presented BBC Radio's "Down Your Way" in 1989 and was a summariser for Sky TV News & Eurosport satellite TV until 1990.[28] He currently is in demand as an after-dinner speaker.[28] He has written several books on management motivation.[29] He wrote a regular column in the Southern Daily Echo.[2][30] He has appeared on the documentary Dream Fans the Spirit of Southampton in 2005. He is also the author of a testimonial in The Future of the NHS.[31] His media work also saw him as a panel member of 5 World Cups as well as TV appearances on This Is Your Life and Parkinson.[32] McMenemy is also the Chairman of the Special Olympics UK.[33] He hosts the Special Olympics Gateshead Tyne & Wear annual awards night.

Personal life

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He is married to Anne and they have three children: eldest son Chris McMenemy (former Newcastle United coach), son Sean McMenemy and daughter Alison.[citation needed]

He is related to Harry McMenemy.[34]

Managerial statistics

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As of 31 October 1999
Team From To Record
G W D L Win %
Doncaster Rovers May 1968 May 1971 146 55 43 48 037.67
Grimsby Town May 1971 July 1973 117 58 26 33 049.57
Southampton November 1973 June 1985 604 255 160 189 042.22
Sunderland June 1985 March 1987 93 28 24 41 030.11
England U21 July 1990 November 1993 12 7 2 3 058.33
Northern Ireland October 1998 October 1999 14 4 3 7 028.57
Total 986 407 258 321 041.28

Honours

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As a manager

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Bishop Auckland

  • Northern League Champions & County Cup: 1964–65[27]

Doncaster Rovers

Grimsby Town

Southampton

Individual

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  • Awarded the MBE in 2006[27]
  • Received an honorary MBA from Southampton Solent University[27]
  • Freedom of the City of Southampton[2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Managers - Lawrie McMenemy".
  2. ^ a b c d Smith, Matt (16 September 2007). "Saints legend Lawrie to be honoured with Freedom of Southampton". Southern Daily Echo. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  3. ^ "GATESHEAD : 1946/47 – 1959/60". Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database.
  4. ^ "Accent's on North-East for return of the Mac". The Northern Echo. 16 March 2004. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  5. ^ Coyle, John (12 November 2020). "Sporting Memories: McMenemy's Men - the story of Doncaster Rovers' 1968/69 season". Doncaster Free Press. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  6. ^ "A sea of 23,000 fans roared on McMenemy's champions of 71". Grimsby Telegraph. 15 May 2010. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  7. ^ Fisher, Nigel (15 April 2020). "Lawrie McMenemy's exciting spell in charge at Grimsby Town". Grimsby Telegraph. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  8. ^ Brisland, Martin (30 March 2023). "Southampton FC - The highs and lows of 138 years". Southern Daily Echo. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  9. ^ a b c Hytner, David (25 February 2017). "Lawrie McMenemy: 'Southampton didn't have a cat in hell's chance'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  10. ^ Culley, Jon (23 February 2017). "The sad story of Bobby Stokes, Southampton's forgotten Cup final hero". The Independent. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  11. ^ House, Alfie (11 September 2022). "Peter Rodrigues recalls 'special occasion' of Queen's FA Cup presentation". Southern Daily Echo. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  12. ^ "Has a non-Premier League team ever won the FA Cup?". Goal. 8 October 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Early Days". Southampton FC. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  14. ^ "Evening Times - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  15. ^ Osman, Luke (29 April 2020). "When Southampton signed the two-time Ballon d'or winner Kevin Keegan – and no-one knew about it". These Football Times. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  16. ^ Sparks, Gordon (14 March 2018). "The story of Peter Shilton's incredible road to 1,000 Football League appearances". Plymouth Herald. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  17. ^ Struthers, Greg (19 February 2006). "Caught in Time: Southampton finish runners up in the First Division, 1984". The Times. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  18. ^ Anderson, Graeme (15 November 2018). "The famous night ex-Sunderland boss Lawrie McMenemy did a 'midnight flit' from Roker Park". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  19. ^ "Lawrie McMenemy: I didn't do anything right as Sunderland manager". Sunderland Echo. 1 July 2016. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  20. ^ Pye, Steven (24 October 2016). "David Moyes is struggling at Sunderland but Lawrie McMenemy was even worse". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  21. ^ "League Managers Association - LAWRIE MCMENEMY MBE". www.leaguemanagers.com.
  22. ^ "Lawrie McMenemy recalls the golden days". Chronicle Live. 6 August 2002. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  23. ^ Aarons, Ed (6 July 2018). "'Brolin-Dahlin-Brolin!' – when Sweden knocked England out of Euro 92". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  24. ^ Symes, Pat (5 September 2004). "Southampton's ambitious chairman is a man you cross at your peril". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  25. ^ "McMenemy named new Northern Ireland boss". BBC News. 9 February 1998. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  26. ^ "O'Neill withdraws from NI job race". BBC Sport. 3 January 2000. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  27. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Lawrie McMenemy". leaguemanagers.com. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  28. ^ a b "Lawrie McMenemy". MN2S. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  29. ^ "Lawrie McMenemy books and biography". Waterstones. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  30. ^ "Lawrie McMenemy's message to Southampton in final Daily Echo column". Southern Daily Echo. 11 November 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2023.
  31. ^ Tempest, Michelle (2006). The Future of the NHS. ISBN 1-85811-369-5. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  32. ^ McMenemy, Lawrie (15 December 2018). "Southampton legend Lawrie McMenemy's exclusive column". Southern Daily Echo. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  33. ^ "Board of Trustees". Special Olympics Great Britain. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
  34. ^ "Harry McMenemy". toon1892.com. Retrieved 7 June 2023.

Bibliography

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  • McMenemy, Lawrie (2017). A Lifetime's Obsession. Sport Media. ISBN 9-781910335673.
  • Wilson, Jeremy (2006). Southampton's Cult Heroes. Know The Score Books. ISBN 1-905449-01-1.
  • Javier Igeño Cano (2005). Dream Fans "The Spirit of Southampton DVD. Spanish Saints.
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