Matthew Lawrence (footballer)

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Matt Lawrence
Personal information
Full name	Matthew Lawrence
Date of birth	16/09/1974
Place of birth	Northampton, England
Position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Crystal Palace
Number	2
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1995-1996 1996-1997 1997-1998 1998-2000 2000-2006 2006-	Grays Athletic Wycombe Wanderers Fulham Wycombe Wanderers Millwall Crystal Palace	0 (0) 16 (1) 60 (0) 63 (4) 224 (0) 12 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 02/12/2006.

Matthew Lawrence (born June 19, 1974, in Northampton, England) is an English footballer who plays for Crystal Palace in The Championship. He wears the number 2 shirt and is a defender.

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 football in the States.

Five months later, he 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 a strong 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 The Lions, 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 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 Lions, 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 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 dynamic duo stood out, with the Lions reaching the FA Cup final, and thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

Boss 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.

Crystal Palace F.C. - Current Squad
1 Flinders | 2 Lawrence | 3 Granville | 4 Ward | 5 Hudson | 6 Cort | 7 McAnuff | 8 Scowcroft | 9 Freedman | 11 Morrison | 12 Speroni | 14 Watson | 15 Kennedy | 17 Hughes | 18 Borrowdale | 19 Soares | 20 Butterfield | 22 Reich | 23 Fletcher | 25 Green | 28 Király | 29 Turner | 31 Fray | 32 Kuqi | 33 Grabban | 34 Starkey | 35 Wiggins | 36 Spence | 37 Sheringham | 38 Wilkinson | Manager: Taylor