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Lennie Lawrence was appointed as manager of Cardiff City on February 18, 2002, just six weeks after his dismissal from Grimsby Town.He replaced Alan Cork in the manager's role having initially been brought in to Ninian Park as Director of Football by Cardiff chairman Sam Hammam.
After a playing career in non-league football, Lennie began his professional coaching career at Plymouth Argyle in 1977 under Mike Kelly. He took over as caretaker manager in 1978 following Kelly's resignation and then became assistant to Malcolm Allison on his appointment in March 1978.
He left Plymouth Argyle in January 1979 following Allison's departure to Manchester City and was then appointed assistant to Colin Murphy at Lincoln City. Having helped Lincoln to promotion from Division Four in 1980-81 Lennie left to take a reserve team post at Charlton in 1982, taking over as manager "temporarily" in November after Ken Craggs was sacked. He remained in charge at Charlton for nine years leading The Addicks to promotion to the old First Division during the period in which they shared Selhurst Park with Crystal Palace whilst The Valley was renovated.
He left Charlton in Summer 1991 to take up the managerial reins at Middlesbrough and won promotion to the newly formed Premier League in his first season as well as making the semi-final of Littlewoods Cup. Unable to maintain their place in Premiership, 'Boro were relegated at the end of the 1992-93 season and Lawrence left at the end of the following year.
He became Bradford City's manager in July 1994 but left after just fifteen months at Valley Parade having finished in mid-table in Division Two. He was then appointed Luton Town manager but with the team five points adrift at the bottom of Division One, he could not prevent their relegation. Finished 3rd in Division Two the following season, The Hatters were unfortunate not to win an immediate promotion but they were knocked out in the play-offs to eventual winners, Crewe.
Lawrence was surprisingly sacked by the Hatters in the summer of 2000 but he wasn't out of work for long as Grimsby moved to acquire his services just two matches into the season.
His long and varied managerial career has been characterized by shrewd transfer dealings on a limited budget and a dedicated approach to youth development. With The Mariners narrowly escaping relegation back to the Second Division in 2000, Lawrence's first objective was to ensure the club consolidated it's position in the First Division but despite a famous League Cup victory over Liverpool early in the season, Grimsby's league form left them fighting relegation once again and he was dismissed just before the New Year.
Lawrence was not even out of the game for a week before being appointed as the Director of Football at Cardiff and less than two months later he was back in management as The Bluebirds' new boss.
In his first full season in charge of Cardiff he sealed promotion to the First Division in fairytale style.
City fans were celebrating in the Welsh capital after their team won promotion by beating Queens Park Rangers 1 - 0 at Wales' Millennium Stadium.
The Bluebirds met the London club in front of 66,000 fans for the play-off, a vital step in the side's ambitions to reach the Barclaycard Premiership.
Roads around the stadium were closed to traffic to control both teams' supporters.
Before the game hundreds of Cardiff fans paraded from the club's Ninian Park ground to the Millennium Stadium.
Lawrence said it was a difficult match: "I thought we were just about worthy winners in the end.
"It's a start as far as we're concerned - this club's big enough to get to the First Division and beyond."
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