Lawrie Sanchez (born October 22, 1959) is a Northern Irish football player and coach. He is currently manager of the Northern Ireland national football team.
As a player, Sanchez is most famous for scoring the goal that won Wimbledon the FA Cup in 1988 against Liverpool, a match widely believed to be one of the biggest cup final upsets in history. He had first played for Reading, between 1977 and 1984, before moving to Wimbledon for £30,000. He scored the goal that got the Dons promoted to the First Division in 1986, a premonition of their FA Cup glory two years later. Sanchez also won three international caps for Northern Ireland while at Wimbledon.
In 1993 Sanchez left Wimbledon for newly-promoted Swindon Town, but after only a year he left them to become manager of Republic of Ireland club Sligo Rovers. He led Sligo to the final of the FAI Cup, and through the preliminary rounds of the European Cup Winners Cup (eventually losing to Club Brugge 5-2 on aggregate).
In 1995, he returned to Wimbledon and became reserve team manager, winning the Football Combination in his first season in charge. He managed the reserves for under four years, before taking the reins at Wycombe Wanderers in 1998. Sanchez rescued the team from relegation that season, and in 2001 guided the club (then in the Second Division) to one of its greatest moments, playing Liverpool in the FA Cup semi-finals; Wycombe lost a respectable 2-1, having held Liverpool to 0-0 for most of the match.
However, Sanchez's side failed to meet the ensuing expectations generated by the cup run, finishing only 11th in 2001-02 and 18th in 2002-03. After a poor start to the 2003-04 season, Wycombe sacked Sanchez on September 30, 2004.
Sanchez didn't have to wait too long for a new job; after the Irish Football Association sacked Sammy McIlroy after a disastrous string of results (finishing bottom of their Euro 2004 qualification group), Sanchez (who had been an assistant manager to Bryan Hamilton in the 1990s) was suprisingly appointed as Northern Ireland's new manager in January 2004. Since his appointment, the side has notably improved, winning their first game in nearly three years, breaking the team's 1,298 minute-long goal drought, and reversing the team's slide down the FIFA world rankings. Sanchez signed an extension to his contract in March 2005.
