Lawrie Sanchez to Manage Fulham
Northern Ireland Manager Resigns to Take Control at Craven Cottage
Lawrie Sanchez has resigned as manager of the Northern Ireland International team to take up the full time post as manager of Fulham who have just avoided relegation.
Mission accomplished. Lawrie Sanchez was appointed as Fulham’s caretaker manager with five games left to the season. His specific task was to ensure the club avoided relegation from the Premiership. As Fulham’s season slipped dramatically over the past months, pressure had mounted on former manager, Chris Coleman and the decision was taken to remove him from post and appoint Lawrie Sanchez on a temporary basis to the end of the season.
Northern Ireland Success
Sanchez had risen to prominence in the past months by unexpectedly taking the Northern Ireland international team to the top of their qualifying group for the European Championships. A victory over Sweden at Windsor Park, Belfast had been another exciting victory to add to previous memorable wins against Spain last September and over England twelve months earlier in a World Cup qualifying game. Such results had previously only been the matter of dreams for a Northern Ireland team which had gone for two and a half years without a victory and 1,298 minutes (thirteen games) without scoring a goal prior to Sanchez’s appointment.
As a player for Wimbledon, Lawrie Sanchez scored the goal for the club in their FA Cup triumph over Liverpool in 1988 and had made three international appearances for Northern Ireland. When he took up management he had success with Wycombe Wanderers, memorably taking them to an FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool, but failed to build on that and resigned in 2003. He was appointed Northern Ireland manager in January 2004 and was regarded as an unexpected choice, selected ahead of others with higher Northern Ireland credentials, having played for the country because of the connections of his mother.
Sanchez has greatly raised the standing of the Northern Ireland international team, lifting them from 124th to 33rd in the FIFA world rankings during his three years in charge. His most memorable achievement was undoubtedly the success over England at Windsor Park when a goal from David Healy defeated Sven Goran Eriksson’s side denting their World Cup qualifying aspirations.
Critical Media Coverage
While there have been notable highs during his time as Northern Ireland team manager there have also been lows – most significantly nine months ago when on the Saturday prior to their amazing victory over Spain, the Northern Ireland team had lost 0-3 to Iceland before the home fans. This was a very disappointing start to the European Championship campaign and the media hounded Sanchez so harshly that after the win against Spain there was speculation that Sanchez was set to step down.
Sanchez's Ambition Fulfilled
Sanchez has achieved his ambition. He made no secret of the fact that he wanted to manage a team in the Premiership. Fulham gave him the opportunity as caretaker to the end of the season and having kept them in the top division by taking four points from four games, the decisive result coming last weekend, a one goal win over an under strength Liverpool side who had their thoughts fixed on the Champions League Final, they offered him the full-time position at Craven Cottage.
Sanchez leaves Northern Ireland on a high and amid much disappointment that he is leaving in the middle of the campaign. It had been thought he might have been possible to combine the two jobs but to no avail. He is taking up a full-time appointment with a reported salary of £750,000 compared with his £110,000 salary with the international team. He had to take this opportunity when it became available – in a few months if the results for Northern Ireland had taken a down turn, Sanchez’s stock would have slumped and no team in the Premiership would have been interested.
Lawrie Sanchez has achieved his goal of managing in the Premiership – Northern Ireland are without a manager. Will they achieve their aim of reaching the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland next summer?
