Matthew Lawrence (footballer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Matt Lawrence | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Matthew Lawrence | |
| Date of birth | June 19, 1974 | |
| Place of birth | Northampton, England | |
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | |
| Playing position | Defender/Defensive Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Crystal Palace | |
| Number | 2 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 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) 59 (0) 63 (4) 224 (0) 71 (1) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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For the American Actor Matthew Lawrence
Matthew Lawrence (born June 19, 1974, in Northampton, East Midlands) 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 for Hartwick College.
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. After an average first season, Lawrence began to excel under the leadership of Neil Warnock at Selhurst Park.
[edit] Trivia
In preparation for the 2007-08 season, Matt wrote a weekly "pre-season diary" for The London Paper. This appeared every Monday for 5 weeks, and detailed how Palace and himself were preaparing for the forthcoming season. This was a popular piece, and led to him being given a regular column in the matchday programme over the season, another popular piece.
[edit] External links
- Matthew Lawrence player profile at cpfc.co.uk
- Matthew Lawrence player profile at millwallfc.co.uk
- Matthew Lawrence career stats at Soccerbase
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