Lawrie McMenemy has spoken for the first time in-depth about his controversial spell as Sunderland boss.McMenemy reveals all in the new book ‘The Managers: Tales from the Red and Whites Volume 3’, which is launched at the Stadium of Light this Friday. It features the thoughts of five other Sunderland managers on their spell at the club: Ken Knighton, Malcolm Crosby, Peter Reid, Gus Poyet and Simon Grayson. Reid and Crosby will be at the book launch on Friday night, (tickets here https://bit.ly/2JyzDh8). But it is the thoughts of 82-year-old McMenemy who arrived at Sunderland as one of the most highly regarded managers in football in 1985 but left with his reputation in tatters in 1987, which will be most closely scrutinised by fans of a certain age. Still a hate figure among many supporters, after his arrival was expected to signal Sunderland’s return to former glories, only to leave them on the brink of relegation to the third tier of English football, McMenemy’s chapter gives his version of events saying it was fairly clear from the start the club had problems on and off the field. In this extract he reveals to club historian Rob Mason that he knew he might have challenges with the squad he inherited from his very first training session. He recalls: “We went down to Seaburn where we were training on the beach. “I said to the lads: ‘Right I’m not going to do a lot of talking, you’ve all heard I’m here, let’s get straight down to it. “I need to get to know you so hope you’ve had a good summer and let’s get started’. “They were doing their warm up with the trainer and they were jogging around and I said to the physio, ‘If I point to a player you tell me who he is’ - it wasn’t as if Sunderland were up the road from Southampton and I used to watch them regularly. “They were totally at the other end of the country and I knew names but until I got in there I couldn’t get to know their nature. “As they were running around I noticed one who was limping a bit so I asked: ‘who’s that there?’ That’s a bad start, he’s limping. “The physio just said: ‘Cartilage’ and I thought, “Bloody hell, he’s good - the only bloke I knew who could recognise something from distance was Bob Paisley who had an art of doing it. “I said, ‘How the hell do you know that?’ and he said ‘He had it at the end of last season.’ “I said ‘Hang on a minute, he had a cartilage problem at the end of last season and he’s been away all summer, why he hell didn’t he get it done? “The physio said we told him he needed it, but he’d said ‘Not in my ******* time’ and walked out the door and went back for the close season. “That was my first session.” Tickets for the book launch, this Friday at the Stadium of Light can be bought here https://bit.ly/2JyzDh8, or fans can walk up on the night and pay on the door. ------------------------------------------------------- LAWRIE McMenemy arrived at Sunderland Football Club in the summer of 1985 feted as the new Messiah who would lead the Rokernen back to the top flight. Big Mac was one of the biggest names in English football having taken medium-sized Southampton to unprecedented success at the top of the game. He was big news, a big name, with many putting him in the same category as fellow North East bosses Bobby Robson and Bob Paisley. It’s no exaggeration to say that Sunderland appointing him then would be like Sunderland appointing a Jose Mourinho or a Jurgen Klopp. Expectations were through the roof but Sunderland never experienced a new manager bounce and were lucky to avoid relegation in his first season in charge, never mind win promotion. His second season at the club was to see the club relegated to the old Third Division for the first time in the club’s proud history. But before that demotion occurred, McMenemy had deserted the sinking ship, infamously leaving Sunderland under cover of darkness, having quit the club, in what was described as a ‘midnight flit’. Already on the back foot, after news had leaked that in taking the job at Roker Park he’d become the highest paid boss in Britain, McMenemy’s departure in such circumstances opened him up to further criticism. The Daily Mirror printed a giant cartoon of a rat with Lawrie’s face superimposed under the headline ‘King Rat!’ And now, more than 40 years on, he admits that he could have handled the way he headed off to his home in Hampshire so much better.. His life on Wearside, never easy given the club’s performances and results, had became intolerable after the colossal wages he was on were made public. And his relationship with the North East media had been fractious for some time. But the nature of his leaving - the first thing people knowing about it being when they read of his departure in The Sun newspaper - damned him further in the eyes of Sunderland fans. “Hands up! That was one of the mistakes I made,” he admits in this extract from ‘The Managers: Tales from the Red and Whites, Volume 3. “I let a friend of mine Alex Montgomery have the story. “He was a London-based reporter and I let him know what I was going to do. “I can understand why the north east reporters were annoyed because I knew how the media worked. “Wallop! “They were giving me it 100% because in their eyes I’d done a runner. “Looking back that was a mistake. “Hands up. “Mistake. “What I did was gather up Anne and other members of my family, packed our car and drove south early in the morning. “By the time the rest of the media found out, I’d gone. “Looking back, I can understand that wasn’t fair to them. “They’d get stick from their editors so naturally they went, ‘bang’, two feet into me. “A lot of what they said was over the top. “For instance, I didn’t want to go.” Tickets for the book launch, this Friday at the Stadium of Light, when issues from the book will be discussed, can be bought here https://bit.ly/2JyzDh8, or fans can walk up on the night and pay on the door.
I remember the day he actually arrived at the club....I didn't hear one voice against him becoming manager. We all looked forward to getting back in Division 1 and moving the club forwards...everyone had the same thought. It became apparent very very quick how limited he was. I cannot think of any manager we have had in my 55 years watching this club that has let me down as much as him....We thought we struck gold, we ended up spiralling towards the 3rd division. I felt sorry for Tom Cowie at the time...he must have felt he achieved the coup of the decade signing him.....Dear God it was a disaster
At 82 does he really need to involve himself in a book about his disastrous time with our club. Didn't he cause enough upset back in the day without trawling through it all again. We all thought we were onto a winner when he came but how wrong were we. To find things were difficult behind the scenes then smacks of a similar take some of our more recent incumbents have complained of. Have we as a club been so badly run behind the scenes for several decades, it seems hard to comprehend. Be interested to know if the other managers taking part in this book say something similar or was it just McMenemys excuse for what transpired during his time with us, easy for managers to blame the players.
While here he quickly gained the reputation of being, shall we say, rather tight with the pennies'! So I guess he's taking this opportunity to try and screw a few more quid out of us all. No from me though.
I'll be interested in what he has to say. It was an important and interesting time in the club's history as it coincided with Bob Murray arriving and obviously that lead to the construction the SoL and the premier league years etc. To understand what went on, you've got to hear all sides of the story.
I don't care about 'all sides of the story' . . . . I read the title and I'm disappointed that it's not what I thought
Well that's your prerogative then, innit? Personally, I'd rather try and understand what really happened than take newspaper reports and gossip at face value.
I almost always think similarly, marra, but I don't in this case 'cos the mere mention of his name just reminds me about the extremely negative effect he had on S.A.F.C. I don't hate him like he was a crook with a big chin, mind
Oh no, no one's as bad as him. I'm still interested to see what McMenemy has to say for himself though.
During the McMenemy era the SAFC team spent the week in training rehearsing how to play for set pieces. Frankie Gray would then take all of the set pieces in training, so that everyone was well drilled in what to do On the morning of the match, McMenemy decided not to put Frankie Gray in the starting 11 The bloke was a klutz
I doubt though that you will get much closer to 'The Truth' than you already are. The book will probably be ghosted and Newspaper Sports Writers are often used for this. The book will be 'The Case for The Defense'. Even worse it will be a view back in time of over 30 years through rose tinted spectacles. The publishers and the writer and Mr Mac will want SALES. This requirement does not always encourage honesty!!
Precisely. But it will be his side of the story which, when balanced against other versions of the story, will give a body of information which might well be closer to the truth than either side will give on their own.
OK. I understand your point of view. Under normal circumstances I am as keen as anyone to delve into the 'previously unpublished' history of our Club. However this particular dark episode still sticks in my throat after all these years and in a way that no other has. This is an episode that I just don't want to be reminded about. Having managed to block it out for almost all of the thirty years, it can stay that way.
Have you heard Bob Murray talking about it on the recent Roker Report podcast? I thought he was very fair. Very open about what happened, including McMenemy's odd signings and the fact he had to pay him off out of his own pocket to get him to go, without actually damning the bloke. Very interesting.
The bloke was a fooking GEORDIE!! Don’t need to say anymore really. A prize C U N T if ever you saw one anarl. Bart
bob murray (at least he built the SOL) calls Short for putting us in the 3rd division yet he did the same thing 31 years ago ! by bringing 'big Lawrie' in instead of Brian clough, this club has been very badly run for 60 years, I hope the current owner does not start selling our best players or we will be back to square one. I remember the empire hosting a talk in when he came and about the future plans for our club they were all there sitting on stage with a big screen in the background, so what happened ?
Tom Cowie brought McMenemy in. Murray was stuck with him for a season when he took over because McMenemy was made a director as well as manager.
Toad in the hole.... Ingredients 12 chipolatas 1 tbsp sunflower oil For the batter 140g plain flour ½ tsp salt 2 eggs 175ml semi-skimmed milk Method Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Put the 12 chipolatas in a 20 x 30cm roasting tin with 1 tbsp sunflower oil, then bake for 15 mins until browned. Meanwhile, make up the batter mix. Tip 140g plain flour into a bowl with ½ tsp salt, make a well in the middle and crack 2 eggs into it. Use an electric whisk to mix it together, then slowly add 175ml semi-skimmed milk, whisking all the time. Leave to stand until the sausages are nice and brown. Remove the sausages from the oven – be careful because the fat will be sizzling hot – but if it isn’t, put the tin on the hob for a few mins until it is. Pour in the batter mix, transfer to the top shelf of the oven, then cook for 25-30 mins, until risen and golden. Serve with gravy and your favourite veg. Alternatively you could just take the Sausages out of the freezer and insert them into your rectum if your not hungry.
