Laurence William Batty (born 15 February 1964), sometimes known as George Batty, is an English retired

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, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, best remembered for his nine years in the higher echelons of

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

, for whom he made over 500 appearances. He was capped by England at

Semi-Pro ''Semi-Pro'' is a 2008 American sports comedy film. The film was directed by Kent Alterman in his directorial debut, written by Scot Armstrong, and produced by Jimmy Miller. It stars Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André 3000 (credited as And ...

level. Later in his career, Batty player-managed Walton & Hersham and became a goalkeeping coach.

Club career

Early years

, Batty began his career in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club ha ...

. He progressed to the first team squad for the 1982–83

Segunda Divisão : : The Segunda Divisão Portuguesa ( English: ''Portuguese Second Division'') was a football league situated at the third level of the Portuguese football league system. The division had previously been the second level of the Portuguese pyrami ...

season, but he failed to make an appearance and returned to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to sign for

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

First Division club

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. Affiliated to the Berks & Bucks FA, they are currently members of the . The club were established in October 1870 and have played at ...

in 1983. He left the club at the end of the 1982–83 season.

Fulham

Batty moved up 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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

to sign for

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

in August 1984. He made just 12 appearances in a seven-year spell and spent time away on loan at

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

, before departing

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football stadium in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 29,589; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game agains ...

in April 1991.

Brentford

Batty dropped down to the Third Division to sign for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

on loan in February 1991, with

Tony Parks Anthony Parks (born 28 January 1963) is an English association football, football coach and former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. In a career spanning over 20 years, ...

moving the other way on loan. Two months later, he signed a contract until the end of the season. He failed to receive a call into the first team squad and instead played for the reserves, making five appearances before departing at the end of the 1990–91 season.

Woking

Batty returned to

Non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

to sign for Isthmian League First Division club

during the 1991 off-season. He was an ever-present in the league in his first season and collected the first silverware of his career with the First Division title, which the Cards won at a canter. Rarely for a goalkeeper, Batty also scored four goals during the season, three penalties and one from open play in a match versus

Wivenhoe Town Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English association football, football club based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at Broad Lane. History The club was established as Wivenhoe Rangers by Frank Slaughter and students ...

. His performances also won him the club's Player of the Year award. Playing in the

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

for the 1992–93 season, Batty made 39 appearances as the Cards consolidated their position with an eighth-place finish. He continued to be a first team regular over the following three seasons, in which Woking challenged for promotion to the Football League with a third-place and two runners-up finishes in the Conference. Despite frustration in the league, Batty won four cups during those three seasons, collecting two FA Trophies and two

Surrey Senior Cup The Surrey Senior Cup is the senior Saturday cup competition of the Surrey FA. It is currently competed for by teams playing in the top nine levels of the English football league system who are affiliated to the Surrey FA. The competition was i ...

s. Batty made 32 appearances during the 1996–97 season, an eventful campaign in which he missed six weeks with a fractured hand, won his third FA Trophy and helped the Cards take Premiership club

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

to a replay in the third round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. After his third FA Trophy win, he said "the first one is the most special but I was delighted to keep a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

for the first time at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

". As a recognition of Batty's continued service, he was awarded a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whe ...

versus former club Fulham in August 1999. Batty continued to play on until the end of the 1999–00 season, having seen his appearance-count diminish over the previous two seasons with the emergence of young understudy

Darryl Flahavan Darryl James Flahavan la-hay-van(born 28 November 1978) is an English association football coach and former player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the goalkeeper coach at club Plymouth Argyle. He has spent most of his career in the Footbal ...

. In the summer of 2000, Batty stalled over signing a new one-year contract and was then released by manager Colin Lippiatt in a summer clearout. Batty made over 500 appearances and scored five goals during his 9 years with Woking.

Later years

Batty finished his career with spells at Isthmian League clubs Chesham United, St Albans City,

Molesey Molesey is a suburban district comprising two large villages, East Molesey and West Molesey, in the Borough of Elmbridge, Surrey, England. Molesey is within the Greater London Built-up Area, and is situated on the south bank of the River Thames ...

, Walton & Hersham and a second spell with Maidenhead United.

International career

Batty's good form while with Woking saw him capped by England Semi-Pro at international level.

Managerial career

Molesey

While with Molesey, Batty combined his playing duties with that of the assistant manager's role.

Walton and Hersham

After the sacking of Matt Alexander in December 2002, Batty was named as caretaker manager. He accepted the manager's job on a full-time basis in January 2003, before being sacked in December that year.

Coaching career

Batty has held goalkeeper coaching roles at Woking, Fulham (first team,

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and ladies), Chelsea ( youth team and academy) and Brentford. He has a link with manager

Paul Lambert Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town. Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-o ...

, having served as first team goalkeeping coach under Lambert at

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

and most recently

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. He holds FA Level 3 and

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

B coaching badges. He co-founded BedHead FC and the Guy Mascolo Football Charity.

Personal life

Batty is the son of songwriter Steve Wolfe. He moved with his parents to Portugal as a teenager. Batty had a role in the 1992

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Screen One ''Screen One'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and distributed by BBC Worldwide, that was transmitted on BBC One from 1989 to 1998. A total of six series were broadcast, incorporating sixty individual films, s ...

'' episode ''Born Kicking'' and played the part of the goalkeeper.Laurence Batty – IMDb
/ref>

Career statistics

Honours

Woking *

First Division: 1991–92 *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1996–97 *

: 1993–94, 1995–96, 1999–00 Individual *

Player of the Year: 1991–92

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Batty, Laurence 1964 births Footballers from the City of Westminster People from Westminster English men's footballers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players S.C. Farense players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Men's association football goalkeepers Maidenhead United F.C. players Isthmian League players Fulham F.C. players Woking F.C. players National League (English football) players Chesham United F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Molesey F.C. players Walton & Hersham F.C. players Walton & Hersham F.C. managers Isthmian League managers Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Brentford F.C. non-playing staff Wycombe Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff England men's semi-pro international footballers Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Living people English football managers