written by Chris Wood
Mark was one of manager Bob Paisley's most astute signings, a classy defender with over 200 Football League games under his belt for his home-town club Preston North End and then later Brighton & Hove Albion, from whom Liverpool bought him for £900,000 just before the start of the 1981-82 season.
He went straight into the team and made his debut at Wolverhampton on 29th August 1981 and figured in 39 of the 42 games that would lead to him winning the first of the five championship medals he would gain during his time at Anfield. It was an unlikely championship too with many changes in personnel to the squad which had become champions of Europe the previous Spring. Lying mid-table after a depressing home defeat by Manchester City on Boxing Day, the team won 13 and drew 3 of its last 16 games and Mark's towering header past former Anfield favourite Ray Clemence in the penultimate fixture of the season equalised Glenn Hoddle's first-half strike before he hooked the ball over his head just 4 minutes later to lay on a goal for Kenny Dalglish. Ronnie Whelan's late volley ensured that Liverpool could not be caught in the race for the championship. It was the first of three successive League titles for the club and Mark only missed 5 of the 126 fixtures that brought about that remarkable achievment.
He also won 3 successive medals in the League cup and showed his usual composure in the intimidating atmosphere of the Olympic stadium in Rome when the Italian champions were held to a 1-1 draw in the European cup final before Alan Kennedy won the resulting penalty shoot-out. Mark was also a key member of the 'Double' squad in 1986, although perhaps fortunate to play in the F.A. cup final against Everton. He had been injured against Oxford towards the end of March and missed 4 crucial games of the championship run-in, although Kenny Dalglish did recall him for the last 4 League matches but only two of them were from the start. However, Gary Gillespie's late withdrawal from the Wembley squad due to injury made the player-manager's selection headache a lot easier and Lawrenson did finally add an F.A. cup winners' medal to all his other honours.
Capped numerous times by his 'adopted' country (the Republic or Ireland), Mark started the 1987-88 season at the age of 30 with seemingly several years of good football still ahead of him. But forced to leave the field through injury against Arsenal in the middle of January 1988, he was never able recover the fitness he needed to continue playing at the top level and reluctantly but wisely announced that his playing career was over. After a brief and unhappy spell as manager of Oxford United, Mark was away from the football scene for a while but later used his considerable knowledge and experience to become a member of the BBC's "Match of the Day" team.
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