Lawrie Sanchez[SACKED!]

[Freddy Adu]

Lawrie Sanchez
Personal information
Full name	Lawrence Philip Sanchez
Date of birth	October 22, 1959 (1959-10-22) (age 48)
Place of birth	Lambeth, England
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Club information
Current club	Fulham (manager)
Youth clubs
1974-?	Southampton Thatcham Town
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1978-1984 1984-1993 1993-1994 1994-1995	Reading Wimbledon Swindon Town Sligo Rovers	261 (28) 270 (33) 008 0(0)
National team
1989	Northern Ireland	003 0(0)
Teams managed
1994-1995 1995-1999 2000-2003 2004-2007 2007-	Sligo Rovers Wimbledon (reserve coach) Wycombe Wanderers Northern Ireland Fulham

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham boss Sanchez accepts Konchesky dismissal

Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez accepted Paul Konchesky's dismissal in their 0-0 draw with Derby.

Konchesky was red-carded seconds before the interval for an elbow offence on Derby's Craig Fagan.

Fulham, thanks to an inspirational display from recalled goalkeeper Antti Niemi, held on in the second half to ensure they moved out of the relegation zone with a 0-0 draw.

Sanchez said: "I don't think there was any argument to be fair. Paul has been our best player this season but what we didn't want was to go down to 10 men in this game.

"The referee had no other option and now we miss him for three games which will be a big miss for us because he has been our best player.

"I will have a word with the lad on Monday and see what it is about because it seems out of character in terms of the game. I saw it 50 yards away and knew the referee had no option.

"We will deal with it internally but it is disappointing. We played poorly in the first half, we looked tentative, nervous, and waiting for something to go wrong.

"So then we do something wrong by going down to 10 men but I thought we came out and were the better team in the second half.

"But then I come in and we've gone up five places in the league."

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham boss hails keeper Niemi

Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez admits recalled Antti Niemi rescued them in yesterday's 0-0 draw with Derby.

Paul Konchesky was dismissed just before halftime, which left the Cottagers hanging on for a point as Derby threw everything at the hosts.

The difference between the two sides was Niemi who made superb saves to deny Matt Oakley, Kenny Miller and Giles Barnes. But he would not have been playing had Kasey Keller not injured a tendon in his arm in training on Friday.

Sanchez said: "Niemi earned his money today and about time. He's had injuries but he had three games this season and he let seven goals in.

"He was at fault for some of those goals. Kasey would have been starting but he trained yesterday and then claimed his arm hurt.

"He has now got a slight tear of a tendon in his upper arm and could not play. I told Niemi he was supposed to be number one at this club, but he hadn't done it so far this year, the first three games were not good enough, but today he showed he was a good goalkeeper.

"If we had lost today there would have been a lot more questions asked but we drew a game we should have won. I don't know whether to be pleased, satisfied or what. I don't know what to feel to be honest."

[Freddy Adu]

Sanchez can handle Fulham pressure

Lawrie Sanchez insists he can handle the pressure as Fulham continue to flirt with danger at the wrong end of the Barclays Premier League table.

The Fulham boss had labelled their clash against rock-bottom Derby as a "six-pointer" but Sanchez had to settle for just one thanks largely to an inspirational goalkeeping display from recalled Antti Niemi.

They booed Sanchez's team off the field at the end of another frustrating day and while the Fulham boss is the first to admit that eight points from 10 games is simply not good enough, he insists he can handle the pressure such a run creates.

"The fans have every right to be frustrated," he said.

"We haven't accumulated enough points from the goals we've scored. It is a strange season. Every game is pressure. A manager's job is pressure and that is what I am paid to deal with - the pressure. We put ourselves up for it as managers and we get on with it.

"If we had lost against Derby I would not have been smiling because it would have been a really bad day. But it's an okay bad day instead.

"We are not in trouble this week because we are not in the bottom three. Eight points from 10 games is not great. But there are another seven teams at least who are the same or worse than us.

"I am confident in every game we play. I see other teams in the bottom half getting beaten by seven, five, and three regularly. But our worst defeat was 2-0 by Portsmouth. If we were getting battered by teams week-in and week-out, it would be different.

"On that basis we are not bad but you need points on the board and other teams below you. Eight from 10 is not good enough. I know that, the players know that and the fans know that .

"It isn't good enough and it is not going to be good enough to play the next 28 games and get the same number of points. But we are a competitive team. We didn't crumble against Derby. We could have lost 2-0 and than I would have been sat here wondering where do we go from here. But we didn't."

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham boss Sanchez wants Burnley's Lafferty

Fulham boss Fulham Lawrie Sanchez wants to sign Kyle Lafferty, the Burnley and Northern Ireland forward, in January.

Lafferty, 20, who has scored only two goals in 12 appearances this season, nearly moved to Craven Cottage for £2 million in the summer.

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham boss Sanchez has £4M to spend

Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez has about £4 million to spend in the January transfer window.

The manager wants a forward and a centre back and is keen on Bobby Zamora, of West Ham United, Kyle Lafferty, of Burnley, and Patrick Kisnorbo, of Leicester City.

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham boss Sanchez warns Niemi

Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez has warned current first-choice goalkeeper Antti Niemi not to rest on his laurels.

Niemi, 35, will retain his place in goal for Saturday's home game with Reading on the back of two superb performances against Derby and Sunderland, but Sanchez has reminded him he was only back in the side because of an injury to Kasey Keller.

Sanchez said: "Antti's still a top goalkeeper and he showed that in the last two games, but before that he was responsible for some of the goals we let in and everybody knows that.

"Keller felt some pain in his upper arm after a training session before the Derby game and it turned out he has damaged some tendons. That's why Antti got back in but I had dropped him and he knows why.

"Now I've been telling him to keep showing why he's regarded as the number one here and at the moment he's certainly doing that again."

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham chairman Al Fayed backing Sanchez

Fulham chairman Mohamed al Fayed is delighted with the work of manager Lawrie Sanchez and has promised money for two top strikers should results improve.

"Sometimes you are unlucky, but I think he's fantastic in putting the team together," Al Fayed told Sky Sports News of Sanchez.

"He is supporting, caring about the players. He's a very human person. The players love him and I am sure we are going to produce quite good games in the next three or four weeks.

"We spent, I think, about £26million and if he needs any more it's no problem, but he has to deliver the results.

"I think one or two top strikers cost money, but I'm there. If we get the results, he gets the money. This is the principle."

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham boss Sanchez: Difficult to quit Northern Ireland job

Lawrie Sanchez has revealed how difficult he found it to quit as Northern Ireland boss to take charge at Fulham.

The former Wycombe boss had intended to stay with Northern Ireland until the end of the Euro 2008 qualifiers, when he initially took over as caretaker boss at Craven Cottage halfway through the qualification campaign.

"I felt I could combine both jobs and I meant it. That was my initial reaction," Sanchez said in a new book 'Lawrie Sanchez: The Northern Ireland Years'.

"We'd come so far with Northern Ireland. It was something I wanted to complete - six more games and we had a chance of getting there.

"But the Fulham job was too good an opportunity to turn down. The fact it was for a month gave them the chance to see if they liked me and if I could do the job.

"It became clear that it's 24-7 being a Premier League manager, and combining it with 24-7 as an international manager would have been very difficult.

"The pressures on me would have been intense. When push came to shove I had to make a decision.

"I decided that the Premiership was where I always wanted to manage."

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham boss Sanchez: Konchesky deserves England return

Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez says left-back Paul Konchesky should be considered for an England recall.

He told fulhamfc.com: "He has gone to the next level, he's got pace, anticipation and a great left foot. It was so disappointing for him to get a three match ban.

"He's probably been our best player who's come in this season. Left backs are hard to find and I've said myself, if we were higher in the table, his performances would have probably brought him to prominence with regard to England."

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez:
"It is a strange season.

"If a game ended at half-time we would be top, if it was 80 minutes we would be sixth or seventh and we are 13th after 90 minutes.

"Once we have learned to cope with those last 10 minutes we will be where I would like us to be."

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez:
"I'm frustrated. To take the lead twice and still be in front late on in the match, you hope you will win.

"We didn't help ourselves with our defending but we also had abysmal decisions go against us.

"They scored a goal that was clearly offside and we had two appeals for handballs in their area turned down."

[Freddy Adu]

"I'm frustrated. To take the lead twice and still be in front late on in the match, you hope you will win. We didn't help ourselves with our defending. They scored a goal that was clearly offside and we had two appeals for handballs in their area turned down."
- Lawrie Sanchez

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham manager Lawrie Sanchez:

"It's the biggest ground in the country, they are the champions, and the quality of the players on show is terrific. It's a great challenge, I'm looking forward to it.

"I was lucky enough as a player to walk out of there a couple of times as a winner, so I know what it's like.

"Taking my team back there , my first time as a Premier League manager, I'm looking for us to have a go."

[Freddy Adu]

Fulham sack Sanchez

LONDON: Fulham sacked manager Lawrie Sanchez yesterday after a poor run of results pushed them into the Premier League relegation zone last weekend.

The 48-year-old former Northern Ireland manager had only been in charge at Craven Cottage since April.

He becomes the seventh Premier League manager to lose his job this season.

“Losing the Premiership status is a proposition that simply can not be contemplated at this stage in the club’s on-going development,” the club said in a statement on their website (Fulhamfc.com).

Ray Lewington and Billy McKinlay will take charge of the side until a permanent replacement is appointed.

There was mounting speculation that former Fulham midfielder John Collins, who quit as the boss of Scottish Premier League club Hibernian on Thursday, could take over as the new manager.

Fulham are currently third from bottom in the table, having won just two of their 17 league matches this season, and have taken only one point from their last five games.

Sanchez was appointed boss on May 11 after starting as caretaker manager in April, when Fulham sacked Chris Coleman following a disappointing run of results that dragged them into the relegation dogfight.

Sanchez steered Fulham to safety but the club have failed to maintain that improvement this season.

Sanchez previously coached Northern Ireland and left that position to take over Fulham. The highlight of his playing career was scoring the winning goal for Wimbledon in their 1-0 win over Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup final. – Reuters