January 20 2011

Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace have installed Lennie Lawrence as assistant manager to Dougie Freedman.

Lawrence, who is most noted for his time as Charlton manager in the 1980s, has left his post as Hereford United's director of football.

The 63-year-old played non-league football with Croydon, Carshalton Athletic and Sutton United and has more than 30 years in management.

Rookie manager Freedman identified the experienced Lawrence, who has a good record of saving clubs from relegation under limited resources, as the ideal man to help keep Palace in the Championship.

Lawrence said: "I want to contribute to Palace climbing the table and making sure the club preserve their Championship status, something I firmly believe we will be able to do.

"Dougie is someone I’ve known for a while but we’ve never worked together before. I’ve been around for a while and he obviously thought my experience would be a useful addition bearing in mind he is a young manager."

Co-chairman Steve Parish added: "Lennie's obviously on board because of his experience. I had a two-hour meeting with Lennie and Dougie and I was very, very impressed (with him).

"His track record is good and I think he's just the right person to work with Dougie, nurture him and point him in the right direction on things. We're really hopefully that he can give Dougie a fast-track (education) and minimise the mistakes a young manager might make."

Lawrence began his mangerial career with Plymouth, before heading onto Charlton, Middlesbrough, Bradford, Luton, Grimsby, Cardiff and director of football roles at Bristol Rovers and Hereford.