Lennie Lawrence recalls his time at Charlton

Lennie Lawrence has stepped back as Hartlepool United coach and taken the No.2 role: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ce3lgy17q0ko

However, before this became known Four Four Two published a two page tribute to the Charlton legend in their March issue.   The survival of the club owes much to him.

Lawrence notes that Hartepool asked him to do the job for a month, just like Charlton did 40 years ago. 

The 77-year old says that  'Man management remains the most important thing and there are aspects of it that are the same as they were 30 years ago.   Others are different (he cites social media)and you need to embrace that.'

Lawrence says that he was not particularly abrasive or confrontational back in the day and 'these approaches now wouldn't hold you in good stead.   To use a modern buzzword, you have to show empathy towards players as well as being demanding and having standards - you've got to understand them and help them.'

'Sometimes it's not what you say but how you say it - that's the key, there has to be mutual respect.  The first thing I said to the players when I took Charlton over 40 years ago was "I promise I'll be honest with you and I'll try to be fair - I can't always be fair, but I'll try to be honest -that's the starting point.'

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.#

'That about sums up our season'

That was the comment from Steve from Petts Wood after Charlton had a second half goal against Derby County by Jorge Teixeira disallowed for a foul on Carson and Derby went up the other end and scored, inevitably from a corner. That goal settled the match which ended 0-1. According to the programme, we have played 21 times on April 16th and never won, an odd statistic. It was also my father's birthday.

When I got to Coventry Station it was swarming with police and I realised why when Millwall fans got off the train for a fixture at the Ricoh. One Spanner spotted me and said, 'You are going down and we are going up.' Well, we are certainly going down, whether they are going up remains to be seen. They lost 2-1 at Coventry.

When I got to The Valley three camels with accompanied by customers dressed in Arab costume celebrated Katrien's holiday in Dubai. This particular stunt has attracted some criticism from fans.

We played some decent football against Derby, linking up well. However, we lacked a punch up front with Vetokele very subdued. Pope made a brilliant double save in the first half which earned him a standing ovation.

The Rams got a bit frustrated after the break with the score at 0-0 and starting fouling and eventually the referee gave out a couple of yellow cards. Igor Vetokele hit a post.

Jordan Cousins fired wide for the hosts as the Addicks pushed for an equaliser. Makienok had a late chance to connect with his head to a pinpoint long distance pass from Motta, but was unable to do so.

As the Covered End choir sang, 'We're going to Shrews-bury.' And Fleetwood. And Port Fail.

Voice of the Valley reported that Paul Elliott is fronting a new bid for the club. Roland is not totally resistant to selling, but wants £38m, twice what he paid for the club and that doesn't take into account the £7m owed in loans to former directors which they could ask to be repaid if there was a change of control. By way of comparison, Wolves have been on the market all season at £25m without finding a buyer.

I was also told today that Lennie Lawrence may be recruited as general manager of the club which could encompass a director of football role. If José Riga decides not to stay, Roland is prepared to hire an English coach. More about the Lennie Lawrence story here: Lennie Lawrence

Player ratings

Pope couldn't have saved the goal and otherwise was well in command. Interesting that Henderson wasn't even on the bench. (Riga has now said that he had a calf injury). In any event Pope should be able to cope with League One. Teixeira had the pain of seeing his goal disallowed and was generally solid. Fanni made at least one important tackle. He also made a remarkable solo run down the right, ending with a cross met by Vetokele, Carson scrambling the ball away for a corner.

Solly was energetic and competent, but perhaps not at his very best. He was substituted, possibly because he had a knock. Fox managed to pick up a yellow card.

Diarra still shows the quality of a former French captain and was a menace up front. Gudmundsson made some good moves, but sometimes looks uninterested and deflated, understandably enough. Cousins was well ahead in player of the year voting. The Bloke Beside Me who collected votes said that 'it was not an entirely positive experience.' Harriott was a live wire as always, even if his judgment isn't perfect.

Lookman showed some touches of sublime skill. Vetokele looked less than fully fit.

Motta showed some skill and energy when he came on. Makienok drew ironic cheers from the Covered End as he connected with the ball, but he did have some impact. Bergdich had a cameo in time added on, replacing Lookman.

Curbs out after all

Alan Curbishley's return to football after a six year absence has been a brief one. Earlier reports that he had retained his role as technical director at Fulham were premature and it appears that he is to be sacked after all: Curbs

There has been some discussion on the boards of whether we would want Curbs back at Charlton. I think that he stands alongside Jimmy Seed and Lennie Lawrence as managers who have made a real positive difference to the club. However, that doesn't mean I want him back, even as director of football or in the rather nebulous technical director role he had at Fulham. Supposedly he was responsible for the defence, which doesn't bode well.

According to The Times this morning Curbs was miffed because he thought that his role was independent of the coaching staff which again raises the question of what he was actually doing. Was he responsible for the floodlights?

The difficulty is that Chris Powell's faults are very much those of Curbs such as leaving substitutions too late. Not surprising, really.

Lennie Lawrence leaves Palace

Lennie Lawrence has left Crystal Palace to join Dougie Freedman at Bolton: Lawrence .

The search for a new Glaziers manager continue. The Chicago Addick reports a whiff of interest in Chris Powell, but also points out that they don't pay well at Selhurst, even when you add in the Nectar points.

Lennie Lawrence in charge at Palace

Lennie Lawrence is in temporary charge of Crystal Palace after Dougie Freedman left for Bolton Wanderers. Freedman is desperate for Premier League football and, reasonably enough, thinks there is a better chance of securing that with Bolton. However, the failure to renew his contract suggests that the Palace owners did not think he was the long-term solution anyway: Freedman

The search for a replacement is already under way. How long before some journo mentions Alan Curbishley?

Rob Lee recalls 1985-6

In 1985-6 Charlton, playing in exile at Selhurst Park, were promoted to the top flight. Speaking to The League Paper Rob Lee recalled, 'They were tough times at Charlton, so without a doubt I rate it as one of the highlights of my career.'

Rob recalled, 'I knew that the club needed to get back to the Valley and we were getting low crowds for a team pushing for the top league. Pre-season we didn't think promotion was a possibility. I wouldn't have expected us to go up, I don't think any of us did, but results seemed to go our way, we played very well and had some good players.'

'We bought about five or six players that summer but no big names, just players [Sir] Lennnie [Lawrence] thought could do a good job for us. We had a few youngsters coming through and it gelled a lot quicker than we thought it would.'

'There were problems off the field but Lennie got together a good side. He was very meticulous in what he did and always organised the team very well. Even with that range of money he bought very well and often sold players on for more than he paid for them.'

'It was a well balanced team without any outstanding players. John Humphreys was one of the best right full backs I've seen. He used to bomb forward like full backs do now.'

'Peter Shirtliff was an outstanding defender and Mark Reid was also a good left back. We had a decent back four which is really the foundation of a good team. You get a defence that is organised and work together and work forward from them. That was our main strength.'

'We had John Perason as well who was a natural goalscorer. He did well for us but he also did well for me as I was playing up front at the time.'

'Promotion was sealed away at Carlisle. Would you believe, we won 3-2 after being 2-0 down. We celebrated by having a few cans of lager in the coach but nothing like they do nowadays.'

'Getting promoted was a massive boost for the club achieved against all the odds. Selhust Park is only seven miles from The Valley but it's a dog of a journey for Charlton fans'.

'The crowds were small but we had a great team spirit. We got Charlton into the top league and we stayed there.'

Palace to leave Selhurst

Pravda has revealed that Crystal Palace are to announce a plan to leave Selhust Park and to move to their historic home at the Crystal Palace National Sports Stadium: Palace

The new owners have apparently decided that refurbishing Selhurst Park is a lost cause. The move would also restore the link between the name and the site of their stadium.

Unconfirmed reports state that Sir Lennie Lawrence is to leave Hereford and join Palace as assistant manager.

Charlton Athletic have refused to comment on reports of a possible return to Catford Southend.

Sir Lennie back in harness

I think that most of the Addickted would agree that Sir Lennie Lawrence was one of the all-time great Charlton managers. Without him the club might not have survived at all in very difficult times.

His four-year stint as director of football at Bristol Rovers saw the Gasheads promoted to League 1. Since then he has had a cameo at Carshalton Athletic.

Now the 63-year old has been given a tough assignment as director of football at Hereford United who are bottom of League Two. The Bulls are currently being managed by 34-year old former midfielder Jamie Pitman. The rookie manager asked the board for someone experienced to come in and help him and described Sir Lennie 'as perfect for the role'.

Lennie admits that it's a tough challenge. I can't imagine he's getting paid a lot (perhaps he gets cuts of meat) but it's great to see him back in league football.

Interview with Sir Lennie

Sir Lennie (Robin Michael) Lawrence is interviewed in the latest edition of 4-4-2

Paul Williams from Bexleyheath asks: 'Promotion to the top flight in 1986 while playing at Selhurst Park - did you get the credit you deserved at Charlton?

Possibly not. Nobody has ever got to the top level sharing someone else's ground. We were successful because we had become a cause rather than just a club ... We went on to stay in the top flight for four years, taking on players who had been rejected from other clubs and who had that bit between their teeth. I'd also like to think we did well because of management. I didn't take in at the time but the fans had car stickers with 'Lennie is Our Leader'. That is the biggest compliment of all.

Gina Porter asks what is the highlight of your time at Charlton?

Winning the 1987 play off against Leeds to retain our top flight status.

Gina Porter asks a second question: Does it hurt to see Charlton in their current predicament?

I bet those fans who rang the phone-ins moaning at Alan Curbishley for playing one striker when they should be pushing for Europe are regretting those comments. But they are different fans to the ones when I was at the club. They were loyal, whereas the fans that I heard having a go at Alan have probably only been supporting the club since they got into the Premier League.

Alan Port from Deptford asks what was the best player you ever developed?

[Sir Lennie names Robert Lee, along with Matty Taylor from Luton]. We gave Rob his debut at Charlton as a kid and he was a strong lad, with good ball control and could run at defenders. He didn't score enough goals so we moved him to the wing and the rest is history.