Liam Lawrence is a professional football player who was born on December 14, 1981 in Retford, a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands of England.
On February 16, 2006, he was selected for the Republic of Ireland football team for the first time for a friendly match against Sweden that was held on March 3, 2006. Since then, he had been named regularly in Steve Staunton’s first squad.
Liam Lawrence began playing professional football for the Mansfield Town football club in 1999. This midfielder was with Mansfield till 2004 and made 136 appearances with thirty five goals to his credit.
During the Division 3 play-off final, Sunderland Manager Mick McCarthy and his scouting staff spotted his talent and considered him as a great prospect for their club. In 2004, Liam Lawrence signed to play for Sunderland and he became a fan-favorite in no time, thanks to his determined and committed style of play. He had a remarkable first season at Sunderland, making twenty appearances in the team’s starting line-up and netting a total of six goals, including two brilliant strikes against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Stadium of Light. He also assisted his teammate Marcus Stewart in scoring one of the most important goals in Sunderland’s season in a match against Wigan Athletic played at the JJB Stadium. In addition to these games, Liam Lawrence also has twelve substitute appearances to his credit.
Sunderland was promoted to the Premiership in 2005 and Liam Lawrence started in twenty three games and ten substitute appearances during the 2005-2006 season. That season, he pulled off brilliant goal-scoring feats against Fulham, Chelsea and Sunderland’s bitter rivals, Newcastle United. He ended this season by finishing as the runner-up in the race for the Player of the Year award, behind teammate Dean Whitehead. The following season, Liam Lawrence was loaned to Stoke City, and he played eight games for this club, scoring two goals to his credit.
Stoke City bought him in the January 2007 transfer window for an initial transfer fee of £500,000 and gave the jersey number 7 to this midfielder. Liam Lawrence netted fifteen goals, including a hat-trick in the 3-3 draw against Barnsley during the 2007-2008 season. He was the leading goal scorer of the club and was named Stoke City Player of the Year that season.
