‘THEY THREW BOTTLES AND METAL BARS’

FOR Liam Lawrence, the most unnerving part of his PAOK experience was in a darkened petrol station miles away from any football stadium. Off a dark, deserted highway, high in the Grecian hills, the Irish winger sat in silence in the PAOK team bus, sweating on his safety. Rivals fans had shut off the motorway forcing the police to take evasive action as 15cap Lawrence (above) recalled yesterday. ‘So the police came and took us off the motorway and shunted us into a village in the mountains to hide,’ he said. ‘We went down into this petrol station. They turned all the station lights off and all the bus and police car lights off, and we just sat there until they (fans) eventually got bored and cleared off the motorway, about two and a half hours later.’ What was going through Lawrence’s mind? ‘We were just hoping they didn’t come our way. We had two cop cars and they only had two policemen. So if they did come we were in trouble,’ he grinned. Lawrence can smile now but it was a scary moment in the madcap world of Greek football where he spent a season and a half. ‘It was all very different over there but I learned a lot, as a person, and a player, like if we’d lose a game, fans would be waiting outside the stadium wrecking the lads’ cars and stuff.’ Before one Europa League game against Rapid Vienna, Lawrence got a scary glimpse of the PAOK passion. ‘The Vienna fans had been firing flares into the family stand when suddenly the (PAOK) ultras, the guys who wear the balaclavas, started jumping the barriers and running on to the pitch throwing bottles, metal bars and chairs. That was a real eye opener.’ Lawrence, now at Barnsley, has not closed the door on an Irish recall — he was ‘gutted’ at being overlooked for the Euro 2012 finals. ‘I’m 32 and I’ll keep playing until they tell me to stop. We’ll try to keep the club up and see what happens.’