Lawrence back in the dugout

From a Hartlepool paper:

'Lawrence, who turns 77 in December, is one of a select few managers to have been in the dugout for more than 1,000 games during his long and distinguished career.

He became a legend at Charlton, spending almost a decade at the helm and leading the Addicks back to the First Division after a 29 year absence, helped Middlesbrough win promotion to the inaugural Premier League, was in the dugout when Grimsby beat Liverpool in the League Cup and steered Cardiff to promotion to Division One.

Following a brief spell as caretaker manager at Crystal Palace in 2012, he worked in a variety of consultancy roles before returning to the dugout with Pools in January following the sacking of John Askey.

Of his eight games in charge across two interim spells, Lawrence has led Pools to a creditable three wins and three draws.

And up until Saturday, when Pools produced their best performance of the season to secure a dominant victory over Aldershot Town, the expectation was that Lawrence would likely return to his advisory role, with the club tipped to make the most of almost two weeks without a game to secure Sarll's successor.

All of a sudden, it's starting to look possible, even probable, that the veteran, who also holds a position on the board, might have a hand in appointing himself as the new manager.

Right now, few would begrudge him a belated return to permanent management. After all, he has a remarkable record, an almost endless list of contacts, an encyclopedic knowledge of the beautiful game and has managed to transform Pools from a side who rarely even looked like winning into a team who are all of a sudden being talked up as play-off contenders again.

Lawrence, who is one of the country's most experienced manager's and who clearly commands the respect of both the players and fans, might just be their man, for now at least.#