Lawrie McMenemy MBE is a Life Vice President of the LMA.
He began his managerial career in 1964 with non-league side Bishop Auckland and succeeded in transforming them from a struggling side into Northern League champions. McMenemy also took them to the third round of The FA Cup.
McMenemy then moved to Sheffield Wednesday where he spent two years as a coach before becoming manager of Doncaster Rovers where he remained in position until May 1971. At Doncaster he won the Fourth Division Championship in 1968–69.
He also won a Fourth Division championship with Grimsby Town before he was approached by Southampton in July 1973.
In 1976, McMenemy guided Southampton, then in the Second Division, to a famous FA Cup final victory over Manchester United. Southampton became the second club in just three years to win the FA Cup from outside the top flight of English football after Sunderland in 1973 and remain the second last non-top flight side to win the trophy, after West Ham United in 1980.
In 1978, the Saints then won promotion to the First Division and reached the League Cup Final in 1979 where they lost 3-2 to Nottingham Forest.
McMenemy was linked with the vacant Manchester United manager's job in the summer of 1981. Ron Atkinson was eventually appointed at Old Trafford.
McMenemy had signed World Cup winner Alan Ball to aid his side, later adding serving England captain Kevin Keegan in 1980. He then guided the club to 2nd place in the First Division - their highest ever finish in 1984.
Southampton and McMenemy parted ways on 1 June 1985, but he made a return to football five days later when he was named manager of Sunderland, who had just been relegated to the Second Division.
In 1990 he ended a three-year break from football when being appointed as assistant manager to England boss Graham Taylor, managing the Under 21 side, and nurturing future talents like Darren Anderton and Steve McManaman.
McMenemy was then offered the new position of Director of Football by Southampton at the end of 1993. He became the first man to be employed as a Director of Football in the English game. In McMenemy's first season back at Southampton, the Saints finished 10th in the Premier League.
A year later, in 1998 McMenemy was appointed Northern Ireland manager where he would spend 2 years in the job.
Since 2000, McMenemy concentrated on his role as FA special ambassador, which included travelling to Afghanistan in 2002 to help set up a national league and liaising with the English team in the Special Olympics.
In July 2006, McMenemy was appointed as a non-executive director of Southampton Football Club.
Other notable achievements include McMenemy being awarded the MBE in 2006, received an honorary MBA from Southampton Solent University as well being awarded the freedom of the City of Southampton.
Another fact about Lawrie McMenemy is that he is rated in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war English football. McMenemy is also Chairman of the Special Olympics UK.
He was recently honoured by Southampton Solent University with the new Lawrie McMenemy Centre for Football Research (LMCFR), which was officially opened by the Minister for Sport.
