Brian Laws (born 14 October 1961) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

. Playing as a defender, Laws made over 100 appearances for each of Burnley,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

, and Nottingham Forest. In 1994, Laws became

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

of Grimsby Town before taking a similar position with

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The te ...

in 1997. For the next nine years, Laws served as manager of Scunthorpe, guiding them to promotion twice. In 2006, he accepted the managerial role at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

, lasting three years in the job during which time Burnley approached him for their managers job when Steve Cotterill left, but were put off by the compensation demanded by Wednesday. Wednesday later struggled with financial problems and he was dismissed in December 2009 after a poor run of results. After only a brief spell out of the game, Burnley appointed Laws as their manager, giving him his first chance to manage in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

after Owen Coyle left the club for Bolton in January 2010 and took the entire management team with him. He was dismissed by the club in December that year. Laws returned to manage Scunthorpe United in 2012 only to be dismissed in November 2013.

Playing career

Born in

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

, Laws began playing football at the famous

Wallsend Boys Club Wallsend Boys Club is an English youth football club based in Wallsend, North Tyneside. The club is well known for producing professional footballers; more than 65 players from the club have gone on to play professionally, some of them even ...

. Aged 17 he signed his first professional contract with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

, joining the club as an apprentice. Over the following four seasons he made 181 appearances for the club and, despite his defensive role, scored fifteen goals. However, during this period the club's fortunes were in decline and, following relegation back to the old Third Division, Burnley sold Laws across the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Common ...

to Huddersfield Town for only £10,000 in 1983. Two years later Laws was sold again, moving to

for £30,000. After a short period Laws became first choice in Middlesbrough's starting eleven, in his three seasons at the club he twice helped the team to promotion, firstly to the Second Division and then, just a year later, up to the old First Division. However, the club's finances were not strong, and when Nottingham Forest offered £120,000 for his contract in 1988 Middlesbrough sold him to the Trentside club. On 14 July 1986, he famously applied to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

to have his contract cancelled and enable himself to leave Middlesbrough on a free transfer, as they were in liquidation and on the verge of losing their

status and going out of business at this stage. However, they were saved from closure the following month and Laws remained part of the team who won promotion in the next two seasons to take them from the Third Division to the First. Laws was part of

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engli ...

's successful Nottingham Forest team for six seasons, playing mainly as right full-back. He is sometimes credited as Forest's second-best right-back of all time behind regular England international Viv Anderson. During this time he won the League Cup twice and was runner up in the League Cup and

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

. Clough's first words to his new signing were "I've never seen you play, son, I'm going on the recommendation of Ronnie Fenton. So if you're crap, Ronnie signed you. If you're good, I signed you." Laws was at Forest at the time of the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal human crush during a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in ...

in the

1988–89 FA Cup The 1988–89 FA Cup was the 108th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition, The Football Association Challenge Cup, or FA Cup for short. First round proper Teams from the Football League Third and Fourth Division entered in ...

semi final. The originally scheduled fixture had to be abandoned early in the game due to fans being fatally crushed in the Leppings Lane terracing. In the rescheduled fixture, Laws scored an own goal; the game ended 3–1 to Liverpool. Forest were relegated from the

at the end of the 1992–93 season and Clough retired, a year and a half later and with reduced first team opportunities, Laws left on a free transfer to become

at Grimsby Town.

Managerial career

Laws started his management career at Grimsby Town in 1994, replacing Alan Buckley who had moved to West Bromwich Albion. Laws' management of Town was initially successful, but deteriorated after he clashed with Grimsby player

Ivano Bonetti Ivano Bonetti (born 1 August 1964) is an Italian football manager, club director and former professional footballer, the current CEO and president & owner of Mobisafe. As a player he was a midfielder from 1981 to 2002. He made appearances for s ...

. Laws reportedly threw a plate of chicken wings at the Italian following a 3–2 defeat at Luton Town in February 1996. Laws was dismissed by Grimsby after a poor start to the 96–97 season. He then had a short spell as a player with

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underw ...

before taking charge of

. At Scunthorpe Laws achieved promotion twice, in 1999 and 2005 respectively. He was dismissed by the club in March 2004 but was reinstated three weeks later, leading them to promotion the following season. After nearly 10 years at Scunthorpe Laws left the club in November 2006 to take over the manager's job at

. Ex-Wednesday chairman Dave Allen, in an interview made before hiring Laws, admitted that he liked him because of his

management style. He said "I like him, he comes from the Clough camp, I'm a great admirer of the Clough camp". On 7 February 2009, Laws became the first Sheffield Wednesday Manager for 95 years to do the league double over their neighbours Sheffield United, therefore making sure his name goes down in Wednesday history. Laws however came under increasing pressure from Wednesday fans to depart at the start of December, after a poor run of results which saw the Owls drop to 20th along with four straight home defeats. Laws left Sheffield Wednesday on 13 December 2009 by mutual consent after a run of bad results. Sheffield Wednesday were relegated in 2010 after failing to win in their last game against Crystal Palace. In January 2010, Laws was linked with a surprise return to his first club

as manager, this following the departure of Owen Coyle to

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

. On 13 January, Laws was appointed as the new manager of Burnley. They lost 15 of their remaining 18 Premier League games, plummeting from mid table in January to the relegation zone; their relegation being confirmed with two matches remaining. Despite this setback, the Burnley board of directors agreed that Laws would be in charge of the team for the quest to regain top flight status in 2010–11. In summer 2010 he let a number of older players go and sold Steven Fletcher to

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

. In pre-season he has had a successful start winning all games, bar one draw. Laws made a number of signings during the summer transfer window, including Chris Iwelumo from

and

Ross Wallace Ross Wallace (born 23 May 1985) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a winger. He has previously played for Celtic, Sunderland, Preston North End, Burnley, Sheffield Wednesday, Fleetwood Town, and once played in a full int ...

from local rivals

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

. Laws managed his 700th league game in a 4–0 win over Hull City. However, after a poor run of results that left Burnley 9th in the Championship, after the 2–0 loss to Scunthorpe United which saw Burnley fans calling for his dismissal, on 29 December 2010 it was announced that Laws had been dismissed from the club. On 17 September 2012, Laws was appointed Director of Football at

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí na Seamróige) is an Irish association football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is the most ...

until the end of the

2012 League of Ireland The 2012 League of Ireland Premier Division was the 28th season of the League of Ireland Premier Division. The division featured 12 teams. Sligo Rovers were champions, winning their first top league title since 1976–77. Drogheda United finishe ...

season. On 29 October 2012, Laws returned as manager of League One Scunthorpe United, following the dismissal of

Alan Knill Alan Richard Knill (born 8 October 1964) is a professional football manager and former player, who is a coach for the Wales national team. He played as a centre-back for several clubs, spending the most time at Halifax Town, Bury and Scunthorp ...

. In November 2013 he was dismissed by Scunthorpe following the side's

defeat by local rivals Grimsby Town. He currently provides analysis and co-commentary on Nottingham Forest matches for BBC Radio Nottingham and Sheffield Wednesday matches on BBC Radio Sheffield.

Personal

Laws has two children from his late first wife and a son with his second wife, Jane. in November 2016, Laws revealed to Sheffield Live TV that he underwent double heart bypass surgery.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Burnley Division 3 Championship 1982. Nottingham Forest *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

: 1988–89, 1989–90 * Full Members Cup: 1988–89, 1991–92

As a manager

Scunthorpe United * Football League Third Division play-offs: 1998–99 Individual * League One Manager of the Month: September 2006 * League Two Manager of the Month: April 2005

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laws, Brian 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from Wallsend Footballers from Tyne and Wear English footballers Association football defenders Wallsend Boys Club players Burnley F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Premier League players English football managers Grimsby Town F.C. managers Scunthorpe United F.C. managers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. managers Burnley F.C. managers Shamrock Rovers F.C. managers Premier League managers English Football League managers League of Ireland managers FA Cup Final players