Interview ~ Lawrie Sanchez

Monday 22nd February Adams Park 14.00 (2pm) I had a superb interview with our new man at the helm, Lawrie Sanchez.

WWISC: Lawrie, what have been your first impressions of Wycombe Wanderers, the Stadium and the supporters?

Lawrie: I’ve been saying to people that when I came back from Sligo where I was managing, to rejoin Wimbledon and after the first couple of games Sam brought me to here. I think it was the first time I’d been here about four years ago perhaps you second year in the league. The moment I walked through the door it felt a ‘welcoming’ club and everything looked right for a team higher than their status. I was impressed then and of course I’ve been back here numerous times. It’s a well run and well organized club, you only have to walk through the door to see that. That’s off the field and now it’s my job to make sure that it well organized and well run on the field.

WWISC: What areas of the team do you think need immediate strengthening?

Lawrie: That’s a bit difficult at the moment because if I say certain areas then the players who play in those positions are going to think I’m trying to get rid of them. The team doe’s need strengthening and to be fair that will be done more in the summer rather than now as I’m just trying to find out about all the players I’ve got here as I haven’t looked at everybody yet and I don’t want to throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak. There are a lot of players who’s contracts are up and I’ve got to make sure that I make the right decisions on their careers first and then I’ll do the strengthening in the summer. So at this moment in time I don’t want to particularly want to say that I want to strengthen here or strengthen there because its unfair to the players here who are waiting for contracts.

WWISC: What qualities do you look for in a player?

Lawrie: Well I think its quite obvious, you’ve seen the three games that have been played form the word go. They have to be whole hearted, enthusiastic, fit, strong, prepared to put their head and foot in where it hurts and willing to run for ninety minutes.

WWISC: How much of a disciplinarian are you?

Lawrie: I don’t know, I came from a club where we disciplined ourselves to a certain extent. I know we were known as ‘The Crazy Gang’ but we knew when the limits were set and we didn’t over step them. The law was never laid down to us and I hope I don’t have to lay down the law to anyone. Most people and especially the bunch of players here, who are a nice bunch, don’t need that. To a certain extent that possibly worked against them as perhaps they are ‘to nice’ and they don’t know when to take an advantage or work an advantage. I’m trying to install into them a little bit more ruthless a little bit more professional. So I would hope that I’m not a disciplinarian but at the same time I would hope that they will have self-discipline but there will be certain rules. Every club has to have certain rules to work by and there are boundaries I don’t want overstepped. I’m not laying down what those boundaries are because I will see how they react and what they do and if they do overstep what I think is a boundary I will say it to them.

WWISC: Since you’ve been here we’ve certainly seen a change in the style of play. Do you believe that attack is the best form of defence?

Lawrie: At this level it certainly is. I don’t think teams at this level can defend for ninety minutes with any security of keeping a result. What you have seen is that we’ve gone with three forwards to try and stop other teams from attacking us. It definitely worked against Fulham; it stopped their wing-backs coming forward. It worked to an extent against Preston even though we lost the game. I think we were better in the second half, I thought we were living on a prayer in the first half. We chucked in another forward when Stal came on and we played three upfront and I thought we caused them more problems then they caused us in the second half. Last Saturday against Burnley we played three up front from the start because we had to win the game. But with due respect to the players I don’t believe that at this level a team can secure a nil-nil and to be honest nil-nil’s are no good to us now, for the sake of a point you might just as well go for the two extras. If you don’t get them you’re hoping somewhere down the line it works for you and you pick up all three.

WWISC: I must say that against Burnley I thought we had more attempts on goal in the first half than any complete match right through the season.

Lawrie: Well I said to the team on Saturday, "I’m not interested in just winning this game I want to win this game well and the fans are expecting it". Each game has been different, at the Fulham game I came into the dressing room and said, "I want to win this game, I’m not interested in drawing, I want to win this game" and the player are looking at me thinking, "we’ll be quite happy to get a draw" and we got a draw. We went to the Preston game and I said, "I haven’t come here to get a draw, I’m expecting to win at Preston" and they’re looking at me thinking, "well maybe, if push comes to shove we might" and then they were bitterly disappointed that they lost. When we went into the Burnley game I said, "I don’t just expect us to win, the basis is I expect us to win well, by two or three goals". They’re looking at me thinking, "we’ll just be happy to win". So each time I’m trying to raise their level of their horizons of what to expect. If you think, "we’ll only get a draw here", you’ll end up losing. So that’s been the emphasis since I’ve been here, to raise their sights. I said to them that I’d like that game killed off in the first half hour and in the first ten minutes we had three chances to score. They didn’t really believe me at first but with each game they’re believing me more and more. I said to them "a simple thing, lets get the ball as quick as we can if we concede or score a goal". As it happened we got a goal, they kicked off and within twenty four seconds of the restart we’d got a second. Because they’ve thought, "he said that, lets go for it" and they get their rewards from it. So they believe you a little bit more every week and the more they believe me the better they’ll do.

WWISC: One of the things I find surprising is that they look a totally different team even though they are exactly the same players.

Lawrie: Well hopefully we’ll get one or two in on loan. We’ve got Neville Roach and Matthew Stowell in training today. Matthew was at Slough and I believe Neil tried to bring him here but he went to Bristol City for about £15.000 and they will both play this week. What I’m saying to the lads is that the cavalry won’t be coming here on loan to save you, you’ve got to save yourselves and the fans have got to be aware of that as well. One player from a Premiership club who isn’t in their set-up and is going out on loan for whatever reason isn’t going to be able to be able to do it on his own. So as I said the player who got us there are going to have to get us out of it and that’s the facts of life. To be fair to them their grafting now and their having a go.

WWISC: Who’s been the biggest influence in your playing career and what you’ve been doing since?

Lawrie: I think Dave Basset will have to take major credit for the very fact that I would have spent all my career at Reading, finished up having a testimonial and owning a pub in the town. In fact I did actually own two in the town. What I mean is a local lad going down that route, playing for the same team all his career. Now I’m saying there’s anything wrong with that but that’s the route I was going. Basset brought me to Wimbledon and he told me that I’d got to set my horizons higher. I was a fourth division player and I ended up playing the last ten seasons of my career in the highest division possible. I played international football; things that when I was at Reading I’d never I’d never even have contemplated because I’d never looked that high. That’s what I’m hoping to do with the lads here. So Dave Basset has to take major credit. Maurice Evans who had the strength of character to play me in the Reading team when I was still at school. If he hadn’t taken me on as a pro I don’t know if anyone else would have done so he’s got to take credit for starting me in the first place but for my playing career Dave Basset gets the credit.

WWISC: Was it a wrench to leave Wimbledon?

Lawrie: Yes and no. I’d spent fourteen of the last fifteen years at Wimbledon. That’s ten as a player and then I came back and did another four on the coaching staff. Yes because I’d spent fourteen years there but no because I knew where I wanted to go and I wasn’t going to achieve it at Wimbledon. The opportunity came to come here and like everybody who starts a new job you think, "have I done the right thing". But by the Sunday after I’d been appointed on the Friday and the game on the Saturday I knew I’d done the right thing. This is the right job for me and I come in here now and it feels as if I’ve been here months even though its only been fifteen or sixteen days.

WWISC: You’ve certainly raised the level of expectancy of the supporters. I have been talking to people and everybody was looking forward to Saturday. It’s been a good week, with the reserves drawing against West Ham and then beating Marlow in the county cup.

Lawrie: To be fair the reserve game here on the Monday night it pleases me as much as anything else I’ve seen so far. Lets be honest they were dire first-half and I said to them, "your playing for your careers for your futures and that’s not good enough. Now go out and perform and show me what you can do, because those who can’t won’t be here very long and those who can will". To be fair in the second-half they were a different level team. They got back three goals and it’s disappointing they didn’t get the win. In the second half they were phenomenal and I asked that why can’t they do that from the word go? Why have I got to come in at half-time and kick your butts up in the air? Those that can do it will have good careers and those who can’t, well the manager will get fed up doing it after a while. So that performance impressed me as much as any since I’ve been here. I was looking and they’d had one win in the reserves and the just five in the league, so that’s only six wins in about forty-five games. So all the players were going into games thinking, "if we can get away without losing, that’s a bonus" now we’re going for the win and if it’s a draw at least it’s not a defeat. I think I’m starting to get the message over to them now.

WWISC: What part of the training does Terry Gibson take and what part do you take?

Lawrie: What’s happened is that I’ve brought ‘Gibbo’ in because it’s nice to have someone you know, and someone you can bounce ideas off. But both he and Terry Evans assist me equally. Typical morning they do the warm-ups and then I’ll take the first team practicing various moves such as squeezing up at the back, we’ll then all come together again and play little keep-ball sessions or Big Tel will perhaps take a running group and then they come together again and do the warm-down. We mix it up, that how it works, I’ll step in if needed. To be honest they don’t want to hear my voice all the time, you have more emphasis if you just step in do your bit and step out. If your saying it all the while they’ll get fed up with the sound of my voice and it’ll go in one ear and out the other. This way I hope it’ll have more effect on them.

WWISC: What annoys you most in Football?

Lawrie: Well referee’s have annoyed me so far! They do their best, I don’t mind referees mucking up, we all muck up. I muck up the players muck up, what I do mind is if they’ve mucked up the say that they didn’t. There seems to be a culture among referees that they can’t be wrong and that sometimes will annoy you more than anything. It seems that they’re not prepare to put their hand up and say, "yes I was rubbish today" if you try to point that out to them you can get yourself in trouble and now I’m up before the FA. I had the regional assessor in here on Saturday and I showed him the video of the incident at Preston. He said that perhaps I’ve got a good case for him being sent off, I told him that he hadn’t even been booked and he couldn’t understand that. He asked for a tape to be made and presented to him as they have a conference coming up and we like to have real life events to show, we’ll show that and see what people think. To compound things later on, one by sending me off, and two when Gagan buried Baird after having thrown punches at Simpson, he booked Simpson. Even their commentators who seem to be the most biased said, "He’s going! Oh no he isn’t" even they thought he was off. So people who think they are infallible annoy my.

WWISC: During the Preston game Andy Baird was booked I assume for jumping at the goalkeeper, now both of them had their feet off the ground going for the same ball.

Lawrie: My point on this and I think it was on Saturday Scottie was jumping with their keeper and he dropped the ball. I said to the linesman that the goalkeeper hasn’t got exclusive right over any air space. If they’re both going for the ball, they might occupy the same air space at sometime. It’s not right that the forward is adjudged a foul all the time because he’s got as much right to jump as the keeper. I think the referee protected their keeper a bit as he was dropping everything left, right and centre.

WWISC: Do you have any superstitions?

Lawrie: No!

WWISC: I’ve been talking to a couple of players about Daly Thompson’s training program and they both answered the same way ‘HARD’.

Lawrie: The type of football I want to play is ‘High Tempo Football’ I want them to be able to go for ninety minutes at the same tempo. Pre-season is for the fitness level and then you maintain it during the season. I don’t quite know what’s happened here, I haven’t gone to much into it, but its not the level of fitness that I require. I have to get that level to them without a pre-season and without people breaking down with strains and pulls. The reason I brought Daly in is not that he can do anything that I can’t but there is a bit of a ‘snobbish value’ sometimes to top athletes and if a world-class athlete shows them they’re more likely to listen. Plus Daly is a winner; he was the world’s best athlete for eight years (ed’s note and according to Daly, he still is). Now he was supposed to take part in a ‘veterans’ contest in Birmingham, he didn’t consider that he was 100% fit so he dropped out. Which means unless I can win I won’t do it, and I won’t do it unless I’m 100% fit. He’s a winner and if they can take anything from him by being around him then that beneficial.

WWISC: I’ve had a number of enquires about you and about the club from Australia to Norway. Also some people from Ireland particularly from Sligo who want to know if there would be any chance of Wycombe Wanderers, going to Ireland to play pre-season matches any possibility?

Lawrie: I would love to go to Ireland on tour, I’ve got some great friends there and there are some lovely clubs in Ireland. It’s a beautiful place and I really enjoyed my time at Sligo. We had a great year and we had some fun as well. We played in the European Cup Winners Cup and we went to Bruges in Belgium. We had a terrific run and had a fair chance of the title but then it started to rain, we didn’t play for five weeks and it all blew up. I’d love to go back over but like everything else it’s down to cost. If I can I want to find us a trip that isn’t going to cost us any money. There are specialist agents that try to do that and I’m trying to work through one of them. Now if he can fund us to Ireland and it doesn’t cost us anything then I’d only be too pleased to go. This club can’t afford to send the team out on tour and pay all the costs involved. We can’t hope that we will get 50/50 of the gates and it will be enough money to pay for the tour and when we get back we find we owe £20.000. So yes I’d like to, but it’s all about finance at the end of the day.

WWISC: What do you think about the YTS set-up here.

Lawrie: I met the YT’s the first day and told them that they will have to forgive me but at this moment in time my priorities are the first team. I’ve got fourteen to fifteen weeks to sort out and save the first team and that is my priority. I’ve spoken to Gary Goodchild quite a lot and I’ve seen Danny Senda play, Martin Lee, Osborn, Leach and Eddie Gray, I’ve seen them play. Andy Baird has come through and is now playing in the first team. We’ve got Beeton and Wraight who are part of my plans, so its important that a club like this has a good youth set-up, but this season I possibly won’t have time to look at it as I’m trying to work with the first team players. The chairman said to me when I first arrived that the first team and the youth team are separated from the managers and I’m quite happy with that. Quite often a manager leaves a club and takes all his staff with him and the new man has to set up the whole system again so its good that they are separate. Wimbledon do the same and it ensures continuity which I’m very happy with. To be honest we’ve got to get the kids through and this is happening now. I was told that at the Marlow game we ended up with nine player on the field who’d come through the youth team, so that’s good and it’s a very important aspect. Last season at Wimbledon we finished with eight players who had been in the youth team. I have to give credit to Neil he did a tremendous job on that side and I think the board wanted he to stay a youth team manager and carry on the job that he had done but he wanted to have a go at being first team manager and unfortunately not only did they loose a manager but they lost a very good youth team manager as well.

WWISC: We’ve heard that Mizuno are pulling out of football kit manufacture, so with a new supplier you won’t try and change the kit design as has happened in the past will you?

Lawrie: Who did that? Smithy? No I’m a great believer in tradition, at Reading one year they tried to go away from the hoops and it just didn’t work. I’m sure that the powers that be will have taken everything onboard and keep it traditional.

WWISC: We have fourteen players out of contract at the end of the season, any in particular you want to keep?

Lawrie: Again that wouldn’t be fair to say before I speak to the players. It’s a good thing and it’s a bad thing at the same time, there are going to be players I’ll want to keep but because they’re out of contract they’ll be harder to keep and there will be other ones who perhaps I’ll decide I don’t need them and they’re easier to move on because they are out of contract. Then again there might be some under contract that I’ll decide I don’t want to keep. I will do my best to keep the players that I want to keep. The chairman and board have said they’ll back me for keeping players but at the end of the day there is a cut-off point. There is a budget at this club and as we don’t have any fairy godfather to give you lots of money you have to balance the books. If any of the players I want to keep a to expensive, we’ll just have to get on with it

WWISC: We know that you’ve had a lot of personal tragedy in your life but would you like to tell me about your little boy ‘Jack’.

Lawrie: Yes! He’s three years old. I’ve got close family nearby, my mother and my sister who has two children, one either side of him age wise and live in the Reading area, so I’ve got good support in that way. He goes to full time nursery and he’s been there since he was very young. He has been a power of strength to me, he’s been brilliant. I thought that the events that had gone on it would have affected him a lot more than it has done. He’s got a Wycombe strip and I’ll bring him along to a game when the weather gets a little bit better.