Tommy LAWRENCE | 1963-1966 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)

LAWRENCE PES STATS | 1963-1966

electric_trigger Tommy LAWRENCE | 1963-1966 Club: Liverpool Position: GK Nationality: Scottish Age: 23-26 Height: 180 Weight: 89 Foot: R Side: B Attack: 30 Defence: 87 Balance: 86 Stamina: 61 Top Speed: 66 Acceleration: 69 Response: 91 Agility: 79 Dribble Accuracy: 65 Dribble Speed: 62 Short Pass Accuracy: 65 Short Pass Speed: 70 Long Pass Acc.: 74 Long Pass Speed: 74 Shot Accuracy: 48 Shot Power: 79 Shot Technique: 55 Free Kick Accuracy: 52 Curling: 55 Header: 50 Jump: 81 Technique: 58 Aggression: 80 Mentality: 79 Keeper Skills: 85 Team Work: 68 Injury Tolerance: B Condition/Fitness: 6 Weak Foot Accuracy: 5 Weak Foot frequency: 5 *1-1 Stopper PERHAPS the most under-rated goalkeeper in the League during the sixties was our man Tommy Lawrence. For some unfathomable reason he was never considered to be among the top keepers in the country, always to be mentioned way behind Gordon Banks (Leicester/Stoke), Peter Bonetti (Chelsea), and Alex Stepney (Manchester United). But, realising that Liverpool were one of the top clubs in the country during those years, and that Bill Shankly could have attracted any keeper he wanted to sign for the club, the simple fact that Tommy Lawrence was the number one No. 1 for all those years speaks volumes about his ability and his value to Liverpool. Tommy's style of play was different to most other goalkeepers of that era. He played behind a mostly flat back four which tended to push forward as much as possible. That sometimes allowed a well timed penetrating pass to breach the last line of defence, giving a scoring opportunity to a quick forward with only the keeper to beat. But even if that forward was Jimmy Greaves, or Denis Law, or others of that era, it was not so easy when Tommy Lawrence was in their way. His ability to react quickly to the danger, and his bravery in diving at the feet of onrushing forwards, set him apart from the rest. It's amazing that with all the times that he came rushing out to make those stops that he wasn’t seriously injured. In all of his eight years of playing for Liverpool, he only missed a handful of games. It was his tendency to come rushing out of his goal to stop an attack that caused Joe Mercer to comment, during the 1966 Charity Shield match, he comes so far off his line he plays like an extra defender. That led to the coining of the term Sweeper Keeper which is an accurate description of how Tommy Lawrence's style of play fit into Liverpool’s. Another accurate description came with the affectionate nickname The Flying Pig. That was a reference to his physical size, which can be imagined when we see that at 5 11 and 14 stone (about 200 pounds) that he was not the stereotypical athletic figure (for example, Willie Stevenson was the same height, but weighed in at just under 12 stone, or about 165 pounds). The nickname is anything but an insult as it is more in reference to his quick movements in diving around the penalty area than a derogatory comment about his bulk. No matter what his physical appearance may be, his record of 133 clean sheets in 390 appearances is enough evidence of his ability. He had an uncanny understanding with fellow Scot Ron Yeats, and the two of them would control the penalty area with Yeats using his height to deal with crosses and Lawrence using his speed of movement to snuff out attacks on the ground. It was rare to see both players going for the same ball, and most attacks were stopped before they presented too much danger. If it was strange that Tommy Lawrence was under-rated and dismissed by the experts of the day, it's even stranger that with all the achievements and the medals earned during the mid sixties that Tommy was only capped three times for his country. The first came in June of 1963 in a friendly against Northern Ireland, and it's a mystery as to why the other caps didn't come until six years later in 1969. In the summer of 1967, Bill Shankly signed a young goalkeeper from Scunthorpe who would eventually be Tommy's replacement. That youngster was of course Ray Clemence, and he not only later replaced Lawrence, but went on to be the number one keeper for more than ten years after. When Shankly convinced Clemence to sign for Liverpool, he told him that, Tommy Lawrence is over the hill and past his best, and that Ray would be in the first team within six months. But, as Clemence recalls, When I got to Liverpool for pre-season after signing for them I found out that Tommy wasn't over the hill and past his best. He was at the peak of his career and I had to wait two and a half years before getting a regular first team place. To underline the point, Tommy Lawrence claimed a first division record in the 1968-69 season by conceding only 24 goals in 42 games, a record that stood until beaten by Ray Clemence ten years later. Any goalkeeper that could keep Ray Clemence patiently waiting in the reserves must have been doing something right, and is perhaps the greatest tribute of all to Tommy Lawrence's career. The beginning of the end for many of Shankly's sixties greats, including Lawrence, came in February 1970 when Liverpool were embarrassed by losing 1-0 to struggling second division Watford in the FA Cup. Tommy played one more match, fittingly against Manchester City, who were his very first opposition fourteen years earlier, in November of 1971. He then joined Tranmere Rovers on a free transfer, and played there for three years before a knee injury put an end to his professional career. Tommy tried his hand as a player coach with non-league Chorley for a year before returning to Rylands wire factory in Warrington as a quality controller until his retirement. It's often forgotten that Tommy Lawrence made a significant contribution to the Liverpool glory days of Shankly's side of the 1960's, but happily there are enough who do remember to have made him number 80 in the 100 Players Who Shook The Kop. English Champion: 1964, 1966 Charity Shield: 1964, 1965 (Shared), 1966 FA Cup: 1965 Cup Winners' Cup: Runner-up 1966 Tommy LAWRENCE | 1963-1966 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)