News

Shamrock Rovers have appointed Brian Laws as Director of Football until the end of the season.

By Declan Whooley

The 50-year-old has been out of football since December 2010 after he was sacked by Burnley as they struggled in the Championship.

Laws has previously managed Grimsby, Scunthorpe United and Sheffield Wednesday during his 16 years in management. His longest stint was at Scunthorpe where he oversaw 520 games over a nine-year period which also included a bizarre sacking in April 2004. Three weeks later he was re-instated as boss and lead the club to promotion the following season.

In his recently released autobiography, the wonderfully named ‘Laws of the Jungle’ the former Burnley player said that his sacking Turf Moor was the most ‘hurtful period of my career.’

Rovers moved quickly to replace Kenny after a poor run of results leaves the team in fourth place in the table, 13 points behind leaders Sligo Rovers. After such a memorable run in Europe last year, the club face the real possibility of failing to qualify this time and have just seven games left to rescue their season.

Laws knows he has little time to turn the tide but believes he will bring his own qualities to the Tallaght-based outfit.

"My strengths include getting to know clubs from top to bottom and leading change where necessary, at all times identifying and building on the club’s strengths, culture and brand. I am delighted to be accepting the challenge and can't wait to get going," he said in his statement this afternoon.

For those trivia buffs, Laws becomes the first manager to take over a League of Ireland team after managing in the Premier League.