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As the 2009-10 season comes to a close, let us take a moment to honor a manager who set himself apart from his peers, achieving a rare and historic feat that deserves to be recognized.
Yes, congratulations are in order for Brian Laws, who managed to get TWO teams relegated this season.
Laws started the campaign with Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship.&nbsp; In December, on the heels of three straight home losses that saw the Owls fall into to the league’s bottom three, Laws left the club by “mutual consent.”&nbsp; The team’s record stood at a dismal 4-11-6.
Despite his “resignation” from Wednesday, Laws was surprisingly named manager of Burnley in January. The Premier League side selected their former player over a host of other (some could say better) candidates after Owen Coyle left for greener pastures at Bolton.
To say Laws picked up right where he left off at Wednesday would be an understatement.&nbsp; In 17 league matches at the helm, Laws posted an unsightly record of 2-1-14.&nbsp; In addition, he lost his only non-Premier League match to Championship side Reading in the FA Cup.
Burnley’s Championship pedigree was confirmed in embarrassing fashion on April 3rd, when they conceded three times inside of the first eight minutes at home to Manchester City on their way to a 6-1 defeat.&nbsp; Several fans were seen heading for the exits after the first ten minutes.
After the defeat, Burnley midfielder Joey Gudjonsson offered up this gem:
“He lost the dressing room long ago. I think all the players have lost faith in him, the performances say all that has to be said.”
Burnley were officially relegated from the Premier League on April 25th, after the Turf Moor faithful endured another home shellacking, this time a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool.
If Laws were to somehow stay on at Burnley’s head man next season, he won’t have the opportunity to square off against his former side, because, like his new club, his old club is also heading down.&nbsp; Sheffield Wednesday and their new gaffer Alan Irvine were unable to avoid the axe and will be playing their football in League 1 next season.
Laws’ achievement is certainly historical, but amazingly, it does have some precedent.&nbsp; And in three consecutive seasons no less.
In the 1985-86 season, Ron Saunders left Birmingham City to take over fellow First Division strugglers West Bromwich Albion.&nbsp; Both teams were relegated at season’s end.
The following year, Billy McNeill started the season with Manchester City, but departed early doors to take the helm at Aston Villa.&nbsp; Neither team could avoid the drop from the First Division.
The very next season, Dave Bassett turned the trick as well, leaving Watford of the First Division in midseason to take over Sheffield United of the Second Division, with both clubs heading south at season’s end.
If Burnley had any sense, they’d add Laws’ name to another dubious group: managers who have been sacked by two teams in the same season.

Brian Laws Turns Historic Double in 2009-10 Season

Brian Laws Turns Historic Double in 2009-10 Season - World Soccer Talk

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Now, I suppose some people out there are still scratching their heads over Burnley’s appointment of Brian Laws and I must admit I was a tad taken aback. Anyone without a knowledge of the game outside of the Premiership, and there are plenty of those fans in England, never mind outside the U.K., would be wondering where on earth he’s come from.
Yes, it is a bit of a left field choice, but Burnley’s board have long admired Laws’ qualities as a manager and at the third attempt to sign him, they have got their man. Burnley went for Laws before they appointed Steve Cotterill back in 2004 and again in 2007 before going for Owen Coyle. It seems a spiritual affair too, as Laws’ playing career started at Burnley, who spotted him playing for the legendary North East junior team, Wallsend Boys club.

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Most of the surprise seems to be based on the fact that Laws was until two weeks ago, manager of Sheffield Wednesday. Now a quick look at the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/default.stm" target="_blank">Championship League table</a> will tell you all you need to know about why some people are shocked he’s landed at Turf Moor. Yet I don’t think that paints the full picture of his abilities and the achievements that he had whilst managing Scunthorpe should not be underestimated. Not least being sacked for <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2004/apr/15/newsstory.sport4" target="_blank">3 weeks before being re-instated back in 2004</a>.
He achieved miracles on a shoestring whilst he was at Glanford Park and rightly earned the chance to have a crack at trying to deal with the poisoned chalice that Sheffield Wednesday now offer. 13 managers since 1st January 2000, including 5 caretakers, tells you all you need to know about a club with ideas very much above its station. In fact, quite a lot of people had a lot of sympathy for Laws when he was shown the door at Hillsborough, because they were aware of the financial constraints that he has had to work under, tallied with with an over demanding level of expectation. Leeds United they are not.
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Yet it is that same ability to work within tightly controlled budgets that probably gave him the nod to take control at Turf Moor and as an ex-player he will know all about the history and pride that Burnley fans have. Some people may be underwhelmed by the appointment and I was surprised when I saw that he’d been approached in the first place, but in the cold light of day I can completely see where Barry Kilby and the Burnley board are going here.
They haven’t gone down the depressing route of looking to a foriegn manager or an ex-player with loads of badges but no ability. Yes, he got sacked from Sheffield Wednesday, but as with Paul Hart, it’s not as obvious as things can be made out on the surface. No-one has succeeded at Wednesday since the early 1990’s and when he took over at Hillsborough in November 2006, the club were in danger of being relegated back to Division One.
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Laws is a prudent, honest and no-nonsense manager who could be a great success at Burnley, don’t be too hasty to chastise him. Survival would mean everything to those Clarets fans and after all the upheaval in recent weeks, Laws can offer a smooth and straight talking style immediately. He served under Brian Clough as a player for 5 years during Forest last heady days of success and was always on the fringes of the England squad at the time.Now if he can survive a baptism of fire at Old Trafford and avoid <a href="http://www.caughtoffside.com/2009/07/13/ten-strangest-football-injuries-ever/" target="_blank">hitting his star player in the face with a plate of chicken wings</a>, he’ll do just fine.

Brian Laws Crashes The Premiership Party At Burnley

Brian Laws Crashes The Premiership Party At Burnley - World Soccer Talk

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Wednesday were all at sea for years…&nbsp;
Did you ever think that you would look at the Premier League table and see the Wigan in 7th, Hull take 20 points in the first 9 games and Fulham challenging for 6th?
If&nbsp; that wasn’t&nbsp;strange enough, once Champions League semi-finalists Leeds United are currently sitting in the middle of the third tier following in similar footsteps to the once impressive Sheffield Wednesday.&nbsp;
So what happened to the big boys who are nowhere to be seen in England’s top 20?
&nbsp;Leeds United – Essentially,&nbsp;Leeds&nbsp;spent millions&nbsp;that they simply did not have under the guidance of&nbsp;then chairman, Peter Ridsdale (now at Cardiff City)&nbsp;.&nbsp;Ridsdale took out large loans to buy&nbsp;players in&nbsp;an effort to&nbsp;build on&nbsp;the success of&nbsp;previous high finishes.&nbsp;The club expected to pay these back with prize money and revenue from television rights obtained from progress in the UEFA Champions League. Of course Leeds then failed to qualify and this led to high profile player sales to try and keep the club afloat, most notably Rio Ferdinand to bitter rivals&nbsp;Manchester United. This transfer caused the dispute between Ridsdale and manager David O’ Leary, under whom they never finished lower than fifth. Terry Venables took over followed by Peter Reid and then Eddie Gray but alas after three years of financial meltdown the club was relegated.
United were then the subject of a succesful take over bid by a Ken Bates (the once controversial Chairman of Chelsea). The club nearly made a return at the second attempt under&nbsp;Kevin Blackwell,&nbsp;Leeds finished fourth and reached the play-off final only to lose to Watford. Blackwell was sacked early in the following season after a sluggish start and was replaced by Dennis Wise. Despite the change in regime wise couldn’t lift Leeds out of the bottom three. With&nbsp;relegation&nbsp;virtually assured, the club applied to go into&nbsp;administration immediately in an attempt to incurr the 10 point dedution&nbsp;penalty whilst in the Championship. The football league overruled this and after a lengthy court battle and&nbsp;dispute with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, Leeds started life in League One, 10 points adrift. Amazingly they still reached&nbsp;the play off final and lost to Doncaster.
Leeds in 2009
They are currently seventh in League One and four points off the play-offs with a game in hand. Should Leeds achieve promotion, it will be an arduous task to keep them in the second tier. It will be a long, LONG time before Leeds compete for European football again.
Sheffield Wednesday – In the 1990/91 season Wednesday were relegated to the second tier having spent the previous six seasons in the top flight. Little did they know they were about to enter the club’s most succesful&nbsp;spell in the modern era. Promotion back to&nbsp;the top echelon of the English game&nbsp;was secured at the first attempt with the&nbsp;Owls&nbsp;finishing&nbsp;third. For all the joy that promotion brought the&nbsp;Hillsbrough faithful, this was&nbsp;eclipsed in some style by winning the League cup in the same&nbsp;season by defeating Manchester United&nbsp;1-0 at Wembley to win the clubs first major trophy since 1935.
&nbsp;The following season Trevor Francis took over the reigns in a player-manager role&nbsp;to fill the void left by Ron Atkinson’s departure to Aston Villa. Francis success was immediate, securing a third-place finish in their first season and Wednesday made four appearances at Wembley the following season. Defeating bitter rivals Sheffield United in the FA Cup semi final and losing the final after a replay to Arsenal.&nbsp;The Gunners&nbsp;had beaten Wedneday in the league cup final at the twin towers earlier in the season.
&nbsp;It was the 1994/95 season where most Wedneday fans feel it started to go wrong. After achieving another seventh place finish, Trevor Francis was sacked after a disappointing start that led to club finishing 13th and was succeeded by&nbsp;David Pleat and the latter by&nbsp;Danny Wilson&nbsp;This signalled the start of a managerial merry-go-round at&nbsp;Hillbrough,&nbsp;nine managerial changes followed in a mere&nbsp;ten years from Francis’ departure
Wednesday’s financial problems were starting to be exposed,&nbsp; the managers that followed&nbsp;Francis&nbsp;invested heavily in the squad with very little to show for it. Inflated transfer fees,&nbsp;high wages&nbsp;and badly negotiated contracts were the order of the day&nbsp;for the ailing club and they soon had to offload the high earners.
Wednesday started to capitulate and were relegation favourites for the&nbsp;1999/2000 season, a disastrous campaign demonstrated by the 8-0 thrashing by Newcastle United. As a last ditch attempt at survival Wilson was replaced by Peter&nbsp;Shreeves who failed to keep the club in the top&nbsp;flight, Wednesday were relegated&nbsp;away to Arsenal despite a 3-3 draw on the last day.
After relegation Paul Jewell, Peter Shreeves (again), Chris Turner all braved the hot seat. The Owls&nbsp;suffering another relegation under Turner’s tenure at the club.&nbsp;
Stability&nbsp;And The Future
&nbsp;Paul Sturrock brought the club off its knees and Wednesday were promoted to the Championship in 2004 via the League One play offs and even kept the club in the Championship after the promotion. Wednesday however started the next season in poor fashion and the&nbsp;scot&nbsp;was replaced by currrent manager&nbsp;Brian Laws who guided the club to ninth in the league. Last season Wednesday survived the dogfight&nbsp;but with an ambitious new Chairman and a solid manager in Laws &nbsp;who has performed well on a shoe-string budget,&nbsp;Wednesday may well return to Premier League in the coming years.

Does Anybody Remember Leeds United And Sheffield Wednesday?

Does Anybody Remember Leeds United And Sheffield Wednesday? - World Soccer Talk

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Does Anybody Remember Leeds United And Sheffield Wednesday?