ATTITUDE IS SO VITAL – LIAM
Potters need to find the hunger
WHEN it comes to adapting to life in a new division, Liam Lawrence knows more than most.
In a career spanning 18 years, the wideman celebrated five promotions and mourned four relegations across seven different clubs.
As a key member of Tony Pulis’ Stoke squad that reached the heady heights of the Premier League in 2008 and became an established top-tier side, Lawrence is well aware of the bumps and rigours of a Championship promotion race.
And despite many tipping Stoke to bounce straight back when they headed into their first Championship campaign in a decade, the 36-year-old knew that it was never going to be so easy for his former club.
“They were tipped to win the league on the first game at Leeds (a 3-1 defeat) and I covered that game on Sky,” said Lawrence. “I said to the guys in the studio that it doesn’t matter what it says on paper – a league’s not won on paper, teams are not promoted on paper.
“There’s been bigger teams than Stoke that’ve gone down and not come back up for years. I knew that it wouldn’t be the case that they’d come down and walk it and win the league – it’s just not possible.
Quality
“The quality is obviously much higher in the Premier League but in terms of workrate, attitude and hunger that’s in the Championship; everybody wants to get promoted, everybody wants to earn better contracts and more money.
“Any club in the Championship can beat any other club on any different day. It’s such a strange league at times.
“I think the players are only now just getting used to getting their mental side round it.”
Last seen turning out for NonLeague Rushall Olympic, Lawrence has made something of a name for himself in the local press, offering no-holds-barred insight from both the commentary booth and the pages of the
Stoke Sentinel. And watching his beloved Potters struggle to adapt to Championship life has been difficult for Lawrence.
“It’s tough seeing some of the players over the last 12-18 months that have come in and don’t care about the club,” he said. “When you’re seeing that and you’re having to commentate on it on the radio, you have to be a bit careful – but I’m just honest.
“I think one of the major things when you see teams getting promoted is character and togetherness in the dressing room. When you’re all united and you’ve all got that bond and are striving towards the same goal, it gives you such an edge.
“I’m a Stoke City fan now and when I’m watching the games, I see it as the fans see it.”
Stoke aren’t the only one of Lawrence’s former teams to be going through a turbulent time of late, however.
With the recent departures of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane from their Republic of Ireland posts, the FAI have turned to another man that Lawrence, who earned 15 caps for his country, knows well – Mick McCarthy, pictured below. “I think he’d be good for the job and he’d be good for some of the young lads coming through, definitely,” Lawrence added. “Obviously, Ipswich didn’t get promoted and they didn’t get the success that they wanted but they were never in danger of falling out of the league. “You don’t know what you’re missing until it’s gone and I think they should’ve stayed with him but I think because of the stick he was getting, he’d just had enough. “It was undeserved for me and I think he’s a fantastic manager.”