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Lawrie McMenemy A Saints Legend Part 1
Lawrie McMenemy A Saints Legend Part 1
Tuesday, 15th Feb 2011 14:13

A tribute to ex Saints manager Lawrie McMenemy

There are some Saints supporters that do not like Lwrie McMenemy, a few have long memories and still havent forgiven him for his defection to Sunderland in 1985, others feel that he deserted the club again in 1997 upon the arrival of Rupert Lowe and further faction who associate him with the Michail Wilde era and feel that was ill advised, however Southampton Football Club is bigger than individuals and has had its fair share of controversial figures both on and off the field, but in the case of Lawrie Mac he remains the only Saints manager to win one of the big 3 domestic honours and for that he is justifiably entitled to be called a Saints legend.

Whatever your thoughts on Lwrie the fact remains that his contribution to the club is woefully under celebrated, take one oh is contemporaries for example, Bob Stokoe has a statue outside the stadium of light for winning Sunderland the cup in 1973, but Stokoe's connections to Sunderland are far less than McMenemy's to Saints, firstly Stokoe spent most of his playing career with arch rivals Newcastle  and only managed Sunderland for four years (apart from a brief spell in the 80's when ironically he took over as caretaker from McMenemy) yet he is more revered on Wearside than Lawrie has ever been in Southampton either officially or unofficially, yet Lawrie achieved so much more for Saints during his 12 year spell as manager.

When Lawrie McMenemy arrived at the Dell in the summer of 1973 he came with a reputation as an up and coming coach, he had not played professionally but had gained admiring glances as manager of Doncaster (ironical that it should be a gift from Doncaster that would see his portrait removed from the Saints boardroom)and then Grimsby, winning the fourth division championship at both.

Initially he was titled "Team manager designate" the idea being that although Lawrie would have full control, Ted Bates would still technically be manager and mentor him, initially this seemed to work and with Saints in a top 10 spot and speculation that Forest were about to offer him the vacancy there, he was appointed in full control in the November, however this seemed to put a curse on the team and the slump was dramatic, between his appointement on 15th November 73 and the end of the season Saints would win only five more league games out of 27 played, the last of these being on the final day of the season against Everton which would not be enough to save us from relegation.

The following season saw McMenemy be public enemy number one in Southampton, the team failed to win in any of its six games, beating Pompey at the Dell in the 7th, but that would be a rare win and after the first anniversary of his appointment to sole charge, Saints were languishing in 18th position in Division 2 and relegation was a distinct possibility, despite the inclusion of the likes of Mick Channon and Peter Osgood in the side and indeed most of the 12 who would represent the club at Wembley in the near future.

At the time most Saints fans thought the club had a good side but it was just being badly managed and thw walk from the tunnel to the dugout was a nasty experience for Lawrie and he was booed every inch of the way, after the Xmas though the side rallied and although it suffered the odd blip or two it eventually finished in 13th well clear of relegation and leaving the fans wondering about if they had had a better start would promotion have been realistic. There was enough hope there to suggest that better times might be ahead, but it would clearly be a make or break season for Lawrie.

However the summer of 75 was one of reality, nine players were let go on free transfers and Bobby Stokes, Jim Steele, paul Bennett & Gerry O' Brien were placed on the transfer list, the club was going to rely clearly on its youth policy as it only brought in one player, that on a free transfer himself, Peter Rodrigues. Mick Channon had demanded a transfer but the Club refused the request.

Initially the season started well and Saints were early leaders in the division, however it was very strong and Saints would rarely get above the sixth position it would end up in, although this would only be four points off third and promotion, the truth is Saints won five of their last seven matches (two points for a win back then) and promotion was lost in a month period from the end of February till just after the semi final win, in that period they played six league games and failed to win one, drawing two and losing the other four, the FA Cup run clearly affected league form, but Saints were the outside bet and couldnt seem to find the consistency that the three promoted clubs managed.

But it was the Cup that was making the headlines, In Channon and Osgood Saints had two genuine superstars and McMenemy was making a name for himself as a personable rising young manager and came over on TV as everyones favourite uncle at a time when his peers were either outspoken and obnoxious as in Brian Clough, dour as in Bob Paisley, or just plain as in most of the others, he was seen as a breath of fresh air.

In the dressing room McMenemy was a wise man, his philosophy was to surround himslef with people who knew their job be it players or coaches, Jim Clunie was his trainer and a wily scot whislt on the field he had a lot of experience, be it the aforementioned Channon & Osgood, Jim McCalliog or Rodrigues or Saints stalwarts like Stokes, Steele Fisher, in truth there wasnt much youth, only Nick Holmes at 22 and ian Turner 23 were under 25 on the day of the final.

Of course we all know what happened on that day and suddenly Saints were launched from being a provincial club that nobody really cared about, to being the talk of the country and one man was determined to ensure that now they were in the spotlight, Saints would not step back out of it, at least not whilst he was there, some would say he had an agenda and that was to make Lwrie McMenemy famous, but the truth is that to do that he had to succeed with Saints and that could only benefit the Club, but his transition had been swift, just over a year earlier he had to be careful where he walked in the City, by April 1976 he was idolised wherever he went, rarely has a manager at any club seen such a change of opinion in such a short time.

Next Part--- How Lawrie built on Saints success by dismantling the cup final squad and rebuilding it for promotion.              

Photo: Action Images



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sholingred added 19:36 - Feb 15
He cost us the fa cup in 84,picking Steve williams when he wasn't fit,and effectively played with ten men,and has flogged the 76 win to death,never stops talking about it in his echo column.
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st_bangkok added 06:06 - Feb 16
Not really fair that Sholing. !984 was a case of damned if he did or didn't as if he had NOT picked a 50% fit Williams and we lost, what would you have said then, think about it. It was just the luck of the cup that cost us in 84, lots of hitting the post etc and in the end a goal from a free kick that never was. Anyway LMM is legend for me for sure, defo one of the real Mr. Southampton types!
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eusebio added 12:17 - Feb 16
If memory serves there is a good bit, in the book shown, of Lawrie trying to sign Colin Todd
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