Chris Lawler made a total of 546 appearances for Liverpool in a first team career spanning 12 years.
For a defender he scored on a regular basis, none more so than the 1969/70 season when he weighed
in with no less than 10 goals, making him the Reds second highest scorer! Such was Lawler's consistency
that he missed just 1 league game in an eight year spell between October 1965 and November 1973.
Even then Chris was not injured - he was being rested ahead of the 1971 FA Cup final against Arsenal.
Chris suffered a knee injury against Queens Park Rangers during the 1973/74 season and was never really
able to get back to the high level of performance that he had displayed at Anfield for over a decade.
He moved on to Portsmouth in October 1975 after 15 years as a model professional at Anfield.
He is pictured above during the 2-1 win against Spurs on 25/11/1972.
| |
| Liverpool: |
1962-1963 |
Played |
6 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1963-1964 |
Played |
6 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1964-1965 |
Played |
33 |
Scored |
2 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1965-1966 |
Played |
40 |
Scored |
5 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1966-1967 |
Played |
42 |
Scored |
4 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1967-1968 |
Played |
42 |
Scored |
3 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1968-1969 |
Played |
42 |
Scored |
3 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1969-1970 |
Played |
42 |
Scored |
10 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1970-1971 |
Played |
41 |
Scored |
3 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1971-1972 |
Played |
42 |
Scored |
6 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1972-1973 |
Played |
42 |
Scored |
3 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1973-1974 |
Played |
18 |
Scored |
2 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1974-1975 |
Played |
10 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
|
Transferred to Portsmouth in October 1975
for whom he played 36 League games.
1976 Miami Toros (loan) 21 (1)
1977–1978 Stockport County 36 (3)
1978 Bangor City 20 (1)
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| |
.
Chris Lawler pictured on 1st. January 1971. Photo George Herringshaw. ©
| Few full backs have ever scored on their England debuts, but Chris Lawler was one of them when he thumped home the final goal in a 5-0 demolition of Malta in May 1971 as England's early qualification campaign for the following year's European Championships was completed with three straight wins. A talented footballer, Lawler had been Liverpool's prime right back for nearly a decade (he is pictured above in action for the Reds), and was a comparatively old 27 by the time Alf Ramsey called him up, having lost his first choice No.2s - Tommy Wright and Keith Newton - following the 1970 World Cup exit. Chris started three of the next four internationals - a 0-0 draw against Wales and 3-1 win over Scotland in the Home Nations Championship and a 3-2 win in Basle versus Switzerland in a European Championship qualifier - before injury gave Leeds' versatile Paul Madeley a chance to grab the shirt, which he took so well that Lawler was never asked back. (Matthew Rudd) |