Liverpool legend Mark Lawrenson has revealed what his estranged mother told him on the day she left home.
Lawrenson, 67, is best known for winning five league titles and a European cup during a glorious seven year period between 1981 and 1988. However, before he made it as a footballer, he spent his childhood days going to school in Preston, delivering a paper round in his spare time.
In-between one of his hometown delivery sessions, Lawrenson was called into the living room by his mother and father, the latter of whom would have normally have been working at the post office at the time. His mother, Theresa would then break the news that she would be walking away from him and his older sister.
At the time, a 13-year-old Lawrenson did not quite appreciate what that meant. More than five decades later, the iconic defender is still able to recall what happened.
“My biggest disruption was my mum leaving us,” Lawrenson said in an interview on the Disruptors’ podcast. “My mum left us when I was 13 and my sister was 14 and a half. She met another guy. We don’t know the whole story. She’s passed away unfortunately.
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“We never knew why. My mum would always say to us ‘I’ll never tell you what happened, but you would have done the same thing’."
When asked if that planted negative seeds about his dad, Lawrenson replied: “Yeah, but my dad was a lovely, lovely bloke. So that made it even more difficult. Her leaving was a big thing.
Lawrenson opened up about his difficult start to life (Getty Imags)“I remember, I was at St. Theresa’s Primary School in Preston and I would run back at 10 past three and I’d have a paper round. I’d run in the house, get a load of ginger biscuits, put them in my pocket for eating while doing my round.
I’d go and pick my papers up and when I ran to the house on this particular day, my mum just popped her head around the lounge door and she said, ‘You need to come in here for a minute’. I was thinking, ‘That’s funny’.
"I got in there and my dad was in there, we had a post office, which my dad was there for 24/7, and I’m thinking ‘Hold on a minute’. They said ‘Your mum’s leaving’ and all that kind of stuff. I just stood there and I remember going ‘Alright, can I go and take me paper round now’ because you don’t know what to say at that age. But it all worked out."
Lawrenson was only 13 when it happened (PA)As well as working at the post office, Lawrenson's father Tom was also an aspiring footballer. The highest honour he achieved was earning one appearance for Preston North End.
In that singular game, he earned the opportunity to play alongside Sir Tom Finney and Sir Alf Ramsey, the latter of whom went on to become the only England manager to win the World Cup. Lawrenson spent three seasons at Preston, after breaking into the first team in 1974.
Before his seven year spell at Liverpool, Lawrenson would swap Preston for Brighton and Hove Albion before moving to Anfield in 1981. After a year at Barnet between 1988 and 1989, Lawrenson retired in the United States after 20 appearances playing for the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
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