Lawrie McKinna

Lawrie McKinna
Personal information
Full name Lawrie McKinna
Date of birth 8 July 1961 (1961-07-08) (age 50)
Place of birth Kilmarnock, Scotland
Playing position Striker (retired)
Club information
Current club Chongqing Lifan
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1979–1982 Darvel
1982–1986 Kilmarnock 87 (17)
1986 Box Hill
1987 Heidelberg United 24 (6)
1988 APIA Leichhardt 25 (2)
1989–1990 Blacktown City 31 (4)
1990–1991 Wollongong City 5 (0)
1991–1993 Blacktown City 39 (25)
1993–1994 Newcastle Breakers 7 (0)
1994 Blacktown City 23 (7)
1995–1997 Hills United
Teams managed
1992 Blacktown City (Asst.)
1995–1996 Hills United
1997–1999 Sydney United (Asst.)
1999–2002 Parramatta Power (Asst.)
2002–2004 Northern Spirit
2005–2010 Central Coast Mariners
2011 Chengdu Blades
2011– Chongqing Lifan
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Lawrie McKinna (born 8 July 1961) is a Scottish-Australian former football (soccer) player and the current manager of Chongqing Lifan in China League One.

Contents

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Club career

Born in Kilmarnock in southwest Scotland, McKinna began his career as a striker with local junior side Darvel and made his debut for Scottish Premier League side Kilmarnock in 1982. He made 87 league appearances for Kilmarnock, scoring 17 times before moving to Australia in 1986 where he went on to play for several more clubs in the NSL and various state leagues.

Managerial career

McKinna’s coaching career began in 1992 with New South Wales side Blacktown City as assistant manager. In 1995 Hills United hired him as a player/manager (http://www.hillsbrumbies.com.au/). In 1997 he became assistant to David Mitchell with National Soccer League clubs Sydney Olympic, then following Mitchell to Sydney United in 1998 and Parramatta Power in 1999.

He left Parramatta Power in 2002 to take over as manager of Northern Spirit. His first season as a NSL coach was extremely promising and successful as he beat many accomplished coaches, and was awarded with the NSL coach of the year award after taking the Northern Spirit to their first finals campaign for three years.

Central Coast Mariners

In 2005 he was named as manager of the new A-League club the Central Coast Mariners, earning the inaugural A-League coach of the year award after leading the Mariners to the grand final and winning the preseason cup. In May 2006 he signed a new five-year contract with the Mariners [1]

In the 2006/2007 season, McKinna gave an interview during which his team were struggling for on field success. Notably saying how it was frustrating for him when the press report losses in matches but don't mention the long-term injury's to the sides key players like Nik Mrdja, Andre Gumprecht and Noel Spencer. In the interview he also talked about his footballing coaching licenses and mentions that he would be preparing to take his '“Asian 'B' license” course soon.[2]

On 9 February 2010, it was announced that McKinna will take over as the Football and Commercial Operations Manager for the Mariners from the 2010/2011 season, with Graham Arnold replacing him as head coach.[3]

Chengdu Blades

Chinese Super League club Chengdu Blades have shown interest in McKinna taking over the reins as manager of the first team on 18 March 2011.[4] A day later, he was appointed as the headcoach of Chengdu Blades [5] a club known to have the lowest operating budget in the CSL.

On 15 August, it was confirmed by McKinna via his Twitter account, that he had resigned from his position as manager at the Blades. He cited off-field, backroom issues as a major reason for his decision, which contributed to the Blades poor 2011 CSL season, in which at the time of McKinnas departure had seen them only win only twice, conceding 30+ goals, whilst only scoring 13, and the club at the bottom of the ladder after just 20 matches.[6]

Chongqing Lifan

On 2 December 2011 it was announced he had sign a one year contract with China League One side Chongqing Lifan.[7]

Honours

Player

With APIA Leichhardt:

Manager

With Central Coast Mariners:

Personal Honours:

References

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Ian Crook
NSL Coach of the Year
2002/03
Succeeded by
Mich d'Avray
Preceded by
Inaugural Winner
Hyundai A-League Coach of the Year
2005-06
Succeeded by
Ernie Merrick