Hartlepool United appointment of ex-Middlesbrough and Bradford City manager a 'step in the right direction'

Lawrence is no stranger to the North East having guided Middlesbrough to the inaugural Premier League in 1992 before then playing a big role in the Teessiders landing Manchester United legend Bryan Robson as his successor in 1994.

Following his Boro exit, Lawrence went on to have spells with Bradford City, Luton Town, Grimsby Town and Cardiff City before later in his career moving into consultancy roles. Lawrence became managerial consultant of Newport County in 2017 where he spent three successful years as the Welsh club made the League Two play-off final in 2019 before moving onto a similar position at Stevenage.

But Lawrence has now returned to the North East as a non-executive director with Hartlepool after Adrian Bevington confirmed he had stepped down from the position last month. Pools announced the 74-year-old will will join the board in ‘an advisory role on footballing matters,’ with interim manager Keith Curle delighted to welcome Lawrence to the club, admitting he will act as somebody ‘on the ground’ at the football club and as something of a go-between for management and boardroom staff.

“Lennie has been brought in as a bounceboard, not only for the stakeholders of the football club but for myself, in trying to create that link, and the continuity of conversations, going on so it's not always me ringing up the chairman and Lee,” Curle told The Mail.

“It’s getting somebody on the ground at the football club who is available and understands the dialogue and how to translate that.”

Club chairman Raj Singh revealed Lawrence will join the club, initially, until the end of the season with a view to reassess the situation.

“I’ve been in constant dialogue with him since he moved back to the area earlier this year,” said Singh.

“There’s a mutual agreement that Lennie will be with us until the end of the season where we will then sit down and reassess the situation. For now, he will provide a great knowledge of the game following his managerial successes and it’s another step in the right direction for this football club.”

And Curle is looking forward to tapping into the experience brought by someone with over 1,000 games under his belt as a manager.

“He brings in that little bit of football knowledge, that football expertise, a contact book and is somebody that’s got fantastic relations in the game.

“We know we’re coming into a very busy period now where we’re going to need all the contacts available to make the right decisions and somebody of Lennie’s experience, know-how, knowledge and personality in and around the group is an excellent addition.

“The only thing I've got to make sure with Lennie is we don’t sit down and reminisce about the good old days too much because we know there’s a job to do here.

“I’ve known Lennie a long, long time and I’ve got a lot of respect for Lennie. There won't be many things that happen in a football club which happen on a Monday to Friday, or on a Saturday afternoon, that Lennie has not experienced himself. The more people you’ve got around like that, the better.”