Brian Laws
Encyclopedia
Brian Laws is an English former footballer and manager
, most recently of Burnley
.
Playing as a defender
, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley, Middlesbrough
, and Nottingham Forest
. In 1994, Laws became player-manager of Grimsby Town
before taking a similar position with Scunthorpe United
in 1997. For the next nine years, Laws served as manager of Scunthorpe, guiding them to promotion twice. In 2006, he accepted the managerial role at Sheffield Wednesday
, lasting three years in the job during which time Burnley approached him for their managers job when Steve Cotterill left, but were put off by the compensation demanded by Wednesday. Wednesday later struggled with financial problems and he was sacked in December 2009 after a poor run of results.
After only a brief spell out of the game, Burnley appointed Laws as their manager, giving him his first chance to manage in the Premier League after Owen Coyle
left the club for Bolton in January 2010 and took the entire management team with him. He was sacked by the club in December that year.
, Tyne and Wear
, Laws began playing football at the famous Wallsend Boys Club
. Aged 17 he signed his first professional contract with Burnley
, joining the club as an apprentice. Over the following four seasons he made 181 appearances for the club and, despite his defensive role, scored fifteen goals. However, during this period the club's fortunes were in decline and, following relegation back to the old Third Division, Burnley sold Laws across the Pennines
to Huddersfield Town
for only £10,000 in 1983. Two years later Laws was sold again, moving to Middlesbrough
for £30,000. After a short period Laws became first choice in Middlesbrough's starting eleven, in his three seasons at the club he twice helped the team to promotion, firstly to the Second Division and then, just a year later, up to the old First Division. However, the club's finances were not strong, and when Nottingham Forest
offered £120,000 for his contract in 1988 Middlesbrough sold him to the Trentside club.
On 14 July 1986, he famously applied to the Football League to have his contract cancelled and enable himself to leave Middlesbrough on a free transfer, as they were in liquidation and on the verge of losing their Football League status and going out of business at this stage. However, they were saved from closure the following month and Laws remained part of the team who won promotion in the next two seasons to take them from the Third Division to the First.
Laws was part of Brian Clough
's successful Nottingham Forest team for six seasons, playing mainly as right full-back. He is sometimes credited as Forest's second-best right-back of all time behind regular England international Viv Anderson
. During this time he won the League Cup
twice and was runner up in the League Cup
and FA Cup
. Clough's first words to his new signing were "I've never seen you play, son, I'm going on the recommendation of Ronnie Fenton. So if you're crap, Ronnie signed you. If you're good, I signed you."
Laws was at Forest at the time of Hillsborough disaster
in the 1989 FA Cup semi final. The originally scheduled fixture had to be abandoned early in the game due to fans being fatally crushed in the Leppings Lane terracing. In the rescheduled fixture, Laws scored an own goal. Already distraught, Laws controversially and insensitively had his hair ruffled antagonistically by Liverpool striker John Aldridge
celebrating the goal.
Forest were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 1992–93 season and Clough retired, a year and a half later and with reduced first team opportunities, Laws left on a free transfer to become player-manager at Grimsby Town
.
in 1994, replacing Alan Buckley who had moved to West Bromwich Albion. Laws' management of Town was initially successful, but deteriorated after he clashed with Grimsby player Ivano Bonetti
. Laws reportedly threw a plate of chicken wings at the Italian following a 3–2 defeat at Luton Town
in February 1996. Laws was sacked by Grimsby after a poor start to the 96–97 season. He then had a short spell as a player with Darlington
before taking charge of Scunthorpe United
.
At Scunthorpe Laws achieved promotion twice, in 1999 and 2005 respectively. He was sacked by the club in March 2004 but was reinstated three weeks later, leading them to promotion the following season.
After nearly 10 years at Scunthorpe Laws left the club in November 2006 to take over the manager's job at Sheffield Wednesday
. Ex-Wednesday chairman Dave Allen, in an interview made before hiring Laws, admitted that he liked him because of his Brian Clough
management style. He said "I like him, he comes from the Clough camp, I’m a great admirer of the Clough camp".
On 7 February 2009, Laws became the first Sheffield Wednesday Manager for 95 years to do the league double over their neighbours Sheffield United, therefore making sure his name goes down in Wednesday history. Laws however came under increasing pressure from Wednesday fans to depart at the start of December, after a poor run of results which saw the Owls drop to 20th along with four straight home defeats. Laws left Sheffield Wednesday on 13 December 2009 by mutual consent after a run of bad results. Sheffield Wednesday were relegated in 2010 after failing to win in their last game against Crystal Palace
.
In January 2010, Laws was linked with a return to his first club Burnley
as manager, this following the departure of Owen Coyle
to Bolton Wanderers
. On 13 January, Laws was appointed as the new manager of Burnley. Having lost the entire management team to Bolton during January and with little time to assess the squad or buy new players in the transfer window and with several key players injured, they lost 15 of their remaining 18 Premier League games, plummeting from mid table in October to the relegation zone; their relegation being confirmed with two matches remaining. Despite this setback, the Burnley board of directors agreed that Laws would be in charge of the team for the quest to regain top flight status in 2010–11.
In summer 2010 he let a number of older players go and sold Steven Fletcher
to Wolves. In pre-season he has had a successful start winning all games, bar one draw. laws made a number of signings during the summer transfer window, including current Burnley top goal scorer Chris Iwelumo
from Wolves and Ross Wallace
from local rivels Preston North End
. Laws managed his 700th league game in a 4–0 win over Hull City. However, after a poor run of results that left Burnley 9th in the Championship, after the 2–0 loss to Scunthorpe United which saw Burnley fans calling for his dismissal, on 29 December 2010 it was announced that Laws had been sacked from the club.
Runner Up
Runner-up
Manager (association football)
In association football, a manager is responsible for running a football club or a national team. The manager of a professional club is responsible directly to the club president. The position of manager is almost exclusively used in British football...
, most recently of Burnley
Burnley F.C.
Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...
.
Playing as a defender
Defender (association football)
Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....
, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley, Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
, and Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
. In 1994, Laws became player-manager of Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...
before taking a similar position with Scunthorpe United
Scunthorpe United F.C.
Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One....
in 1997. For the next nine years, Laws served as manager of Scunthorpe, guiding them to promotion twice. In 2006, he accepted the managerial role at Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
, lasting three years in the job during which time Burnley approached him for their managers job when Steve Cotterill left, but were put off by the compensation demanded by Wednesday. Wednesday later struggled with financial problems and he was sacked in December 2009 after a poor run of results.
After only a brief spell out of the game, Burnley appointed Laws as their manager, giving him his first chance to manage in the Premier League after Owen Coyle
Owen Coyle
Owen Columba Coyle is a Scottish-born Irish international former professional player and professional association football manager . He is currently the manager of Bolton Wanderers....
left the club for Bolton in January 2010 and took the entire management team with him. He was sacked by the club in December that year.
Playing career
Born in WallsendWallsend
Wallsend is an area in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. Wallsend derives its name as the location of the end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 42,842.-Romans:...
, Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear is a metropolitan county in north east England around the mouths of the Rivers Tyne and Wear. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972...
, Laws began playing football at the famous Wallsend Boys Club
Wallsend Boys Club
Wallsend Boys Club is an English youth football club based in Wallsend, North Tyneside. The club is well-known for producing professional footballers, with 65 players from the club having gone on to play professionally.-History:...
. Aged 17 he signed his first professional contract with Burnley
Burnley F.C.
Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...
, joining the club as an apprentice. Over the following four seasons he made 181 appearances for the club and, despite his defensive role, scored fifteen goals. However, during this period the club's fortunes were in decline and, following relegation back to the old Third Division, Burnley sold Laws across the Pennines
Pennines
The Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
to Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town F.C.
Huddersfield Town Football Club is an English football club formed in 1908 and based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. They currently play in League One...
for only £10,000 in 1983. Two years later Laws was sold again, moving to Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
for £30,000. After a short period Laws became first choice in Middlesbrough's starting eleven, in his three seasons at the club he twice helped the team to promotion, firstly to the Second Division and then, just a year later, up to the old First Division. However, the club's finances were not strong, and when Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
offered £120,000 for his contract in 1988 Middlesbrough sold him to the Trentside club.
On 14 July 1986, he famously applied to the Football League to have his contract cancelled and enable himself to leave Middlesbrough on a free transfer, as they were in liquidation and on the verge of losing their Football League status and going out of business at this stage. However, they were saved from closure the following month and Laws remained part of the team who won promotion in the next two seasons to take them from the Third Division to the First.
Laws was part of Brian Clough
Brian Clough
Brian Howard Clough, OBE was an English footballer and football manager. He is most notable for his success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. His achievement of winning back-to-back European Cups with Nottingham Forest, a traditionally moderate provincial English club, is considered to be...
's successful Nottingham Forest team for six seasons, playing mainly as right full-back. He is sometimes credited as Forest's second-best right-back of all time behind regular England international Viv Anderson
Viv Anderson
Vivian Alexander "Viv" Anderson MBE is an English football player and coach, who played for clubs including Nottingham Forest, Arsenal, Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday in the 1970s and 1980s...
. During this time he won the League Cup
Football League Cup
The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
twice and was runner up in the League Cup
League Cup
In association football, a League Cup or Secondary Cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament to be called "League Cup" was held in Scotland in 1946/47 and was entitled the Scottish...
and FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
. Clough's first words to his new signing were "I've never seen you play, son, I'm going on the recommendation of Ronnie Fenton. So if you're crap, Ronnie signed you. If you're good, I signed you."
Laws was at Forest at the time of Hillsborough disaster
Hillsborough disaster
The Hillsborough disaster was a human crush that occurred on 15 April 1989 at Hillsborough, a football stadium, the home of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in Sheffield, England, resulting in the deaths of 96 people, and 766 being injured, all fans of Liverpool F.C....
in the 1989 FA Cup semi final. The originally scheduled fixture had to be abandoned early in the game due to fans being fatally crushed in the Leppings Lane terracing. In the rescheduled fixture, Laws scored an own goal. Already distraught, Laws controversially and insensitively had his hair ruffled antagonistically by Liverpool striker John Aldridge
John Aldridge
John William Aldridge is a former Republic of Ireland international footballer and football manager...
celebrating the goal.
Forest were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 1992–93 season and Clough retired, a year and a half later and with reduced first team opportunities, Laws left on a free transfer to become player-manager at Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...
.
Managerial career
Laws started his management career at Grimsby TownGrimsby Town F.C.
Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town...
in 1994, replacing Alan Buckley who had moved to West Bromwich Albion. Laws' management of Town was initially successful, but deteriorated after he clashed with Grimsby player Ivano Bonetti
Ivano Bonetti
Ivano Bonetti is an Italian football manager and former player. His father Aldo played for Brescia until the Second World War, brother Mario played for Atalanta and brother Dario played over 100 games for Roma and won two caps for Italy.He is the current director of football of Lega Pro Prima...
. Laws reportedly threw a plate of chicken wings at the Italian following a 3–2 defeat at Luton Town
Luton Town F.C.
Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...
in February 1996. Laws was sacked by Grimsby after a poor start to the 96–97 season. He then had a short spell as a player with Darlington
Darlington F.C.
Darlington Football Club is a professional association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, currently playing in the Conference National. The club was founded in 1883, and originally played its games at Feethams, before moving to the Darlington Arena in 2003...
before taking charge of Scunthorpe United
Scunthorpe United F.C.
Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One....
.
At Scunthorpe Laws achieved promotion twice, in 1999 and 2005 respectively. He was sacked by the club in March 2004 but was reinstated three weeks later, leading them to promotion the following season.
After nearly 10 years at Scunthorpe Laws left the club in November 2006 to take over the manager's job at Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
. Ex-Wednesday chairman Dave Allen, in an interview made before hiring Laws, admitted that he liked him because of his Brian Clough
Brian Clough
Brian Howard Clough, OBE was an English footballer and football manager. He is most notable for his success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. His achievement of winning back-to-back European Cups with Nottingham Forest, a traditionally moderate provincial English club, is considered to be...
management style. He said "I like him, he comes from the Clough camp, I’m a great admirer of the Clough camp".
On 7 February 2009, Laws became the first Sheffield Wednesday Manager for 95 years to do the league double over their neighbours Sheffield United, therefore making sure his name goes down in Wednesday history. Laws however came under increasing pressure from Wednesday fans to depart at the start of December, after a poor run of results which saw the Owls drop to 20th along with four straight home defeats. Laws left Sheffield Wednesday on 13 December 2009 by mutual consent after a run of bad results. Sheffield Wednesday were relegated in 2010 after failing to win in their last game against Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
.
In January 2010, Laws was linked with a return to his first club Burnley
Burnley F.C.
Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888...
as manager, this following the departure of Owen Coyle
Owen Coyle
Owen Columba Coyle is a Scottish-born Irish international former professional player and professional association football manager . He is currently the manager of Bolton Wanderers....
to Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....
. On 13 January, Laws was appointed as the new manager of Burnley. Having lost the entire management team to Bolton during January and with little time to assess the squad or buy new players in the transfer window and with several key players injured, they lost 15 of their remaining 18 Premier League games, plummeting from mid table in October to the relegation zone; their relegation being confirmed with two matches remaining. Despite this setback, the Burnley board of directors agreed that Laws would be in charge of the team for the quest to regain top flight status in 2010–11.
In summer 2010 he let a number of older players go and sold Steven Fletcher
Steven Fletcher (footballer)
Steven Kenneth Fletcher is a Scottish international footballer who plays as a striker. He is currently signed to English Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers....
to Wolves. In pre-season he has had a successful start winning all games, bar one draw. laws made a number of signings during the summer transfer window, including current Burnley top goal scorer Chris Iwelumo
Chris Iwelumo
Christopher Robert "Chris" Iwelumo is a Scottish footballer who plays for Watford as a striker.Iwelumo started his career with St Mirren before moving to Danish club Aarhus Fremad for two years. A move to Stoke City in 2000 saw him sent out on loan to several teams before a short-lived spell with...
from Wolves and Ross Wallace
Ross Wallace
Ross Wallace is a Scottish footballer who plays for Burnley as a winger.-Celtic:Wallace was born in Dundee, Scotland and started his career with Celtic where he played as a left midfielder but under his former manager Gordon Strachan he played at left back for the reserves and eventually the first...
from local rivels Preston North End
Preston North End F.C.
Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...
. Laws managed his 700th league game in a 4–0 win over Hull City. However, after a poor run of results that left Burnley 9th in the Championship, after the 2–0 loss to Scunthorpe United which saw Burnley fans calling for his dismissal, on 29 December 2010 it was announced that Laws had been sacked from the club.
Personal
Laws has two children from his late first wife Margaret and a son with his second wife, Jane.Nottingham Forest (player)
Winner- League CupFootball League CupThe Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...
: 1989, 1990
Runner Up
- League Cup: 1992
- FA CupFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
: 1991
Scunthorpe United (manager)
Winner- Division ThreeFootball League Third DivisionThe Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...
play-off winners (fourth tier): 1998–991998-99 in English football-Premier League:Manchester United overcame close competition from Arsenal, Aston Villa and Chelsea to win their fifth Premiership title in seven seasons thanks to the comeback of Roy Keane after his long-term injury and a transfer raid totalling nearly £30 million which netted Aston Villa striker...
Runner-up
- League TwoFootball League TwoFootball League Two is the third-highest division of The Football League and fourth-highest division overall in the English football league system....
runners-up (fourth tier): 2004–052004-05 in English footballThe 2004–05 season was the 125th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:*2004–05 was the first season to feature the rebranded Football League. The First Division, Second Division and Third Division were renamed the Football League Championship, Football League One and Football League...
Manager
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Grimsby Town Grimsby Town F.C. Grimsby Town Football Club is an English football club based in the seaside town of Cleethorpes, in North East Lincolnshire, England, who compete in the Conference National. They were formed in 1878 as Grimsby Pelham and later became Grimsby Town... |
29 November 1994 | 1 November 1996 |
||||||
| Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United F.C. Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One.... |
24 February 1997 | 25 March 2004 |
||||||
| Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United F.C. Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One.... |
15 April 2004 | 6 November 2006 |
||||||
| Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday F.C. Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the... |
6 November 2006 | 13 December 2009 |
||||||
| Burnley Burnley F.C. Burnley Football Club are a professional English Football League club based in Burnley, Lancashire. Nicknamed the Clarets, due to the dominant colour of their home shirts, they were founder members of the Football League in 1888... |
13 January 2010 | 29 December 2010 |
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| Total |
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