THE LOWRY, TERRY, LAWRIE AND MORE

June 1st 2009 was the UK Premier of the Eric Cantona movie "Looking for Eric" shown at the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays, Manchester. Eric played himself and the most memorable line was "I am not a man-I am Cantona".

Two years earlier (2007), John Terry played an unusual role at the newly rebuilt Wembley, when he scored England's only goal against Brazil in front of nearly 89,000. It looked like a victory at one point but Diego equalised in "added" time. It w.as the first game to be played at the "new" stadium.

At the end of the 1971-2 season, when fans invaded the pitch after Grimsby Town won the Fourth Division Championship, their manager, Lawrie McMenemy, made a speech to the crowd in an attempt to restore order. As soon as Lawrie finished his speech a lad in the crowd, threw away his crutches and cried "It's alright Lawrie, I can walk now!". The lad strutted off, others gawped at the miracle and Lawrie enveloped a "God-like aura"! 

Actually Lawrie knew the lad and knew the child had been on the mend previously. Lawrie moved to the south coast, from Grimsby in the Summer of 1973 and within 3 years guided the Second Division  club, Southampton to winning the FA Cup (remember Bobby Stokes' goal v Man U?). The Saints were then promoted, were runners up in the 1979 League Cup, he signed Kevin Keegan from Hamburg in 1980 and then came runners up in the League behind a rampant Liverpool in 1983-4. 

In 1985, Lawrie decided he had done his work at Southampton and he moved to his "north-east" and Sunderland. 

He did not have the success that he hoped for, despite spending money on Eric Gates, George Burley and Ray Kennedy. 

With the club, one point above the relegation zone, the local lads vandalised his gold Mercedes in March 1987 and he resigned. A month later, Sunderland lost their final league game to Barnsley 2-3 having been 2-0 up and missing a penalty. Needing a win, they then lost the relegation play-off to Gillingham and Sunderland dropped into the Third Division for the first time in history.

On June 1st 1958, Scotland played their first ever international match against Poland in Warsaw. So almost a perfect coincidence, but at least 8 of the 11 Poles had a "k" in their name and no Scot was called "Mc" or "Mac"!! The Macs won 2-1. A bloke with a "k" in his name scored the Poles' goal. 

TODAY Wales are playing Poland away in the Uefa Nations League....presently 0-0!