Media Career
Lawrenson began his television career providing match analysis on HTV West's local football coverage, before working as a pundit for the BBC but then left briefly to become a coach specialising in defensive tactics for Kevin Keegan at Newcastle United. However, the position was again short-lived and he returned to media work. He has since become established as a pundit, both on BBC television and radio,often finding himself sitting alongside his former defensive partner, Alan Hansen, and, since the departure from the BBC of Trevor Brooking, he has assumed the main co-commentator on major national and international (FIFA) matches covered by the television network. He appears regularly on Football Focus and Match of the Day.
He is also often a co-commentator on BBC Radio Five Live, often working on the feature matches on Sunday afternoons. He previously worked as a pundit for Ireland's TV3 between 2001-2007 for mid-week Champions League games alongside Welsh national (FA) team manager and former Liverpool striker, John Toshack. When the Champions League returned to TV3 in 2010 he no longer provided punditry, instead he was replaced by Tony Cascarino and Martin Keown but he moved into the commentary box alongside TV3 commentator Trevor Welsh. He works for Irish radio station Today FM on Premiership Live with presenter Michael McMullan in talking about football related topics, predicting scores and stating facts; usually he does this between 2pm and 3pm on a Saturday afternoon. He also has a column on the BBC website where he gives his views and predictions on the Premier League's weekend fixtures.
Lawro appeared on The Russell Howard & Jon Richardson show on BBC 6 Music in a feature called "Lawro's Top Three" where he randomly chooses 3 objects or items and the presenters have to guess which order his top 3 go in.
One of his most memorable moments as a pundit was when he shaved off his trademark moustache after betting on Football Focus that Bolton would be relegated from the Premiership in the 2001–2002 season. He was ultimately proved wrong by Sam Allardyce's team and kept his word by shaving off the moustache.
He also writes a regular Preston North End column for the University of Central Lancashire's Students' Union newspaper, Pluto, and a weekly column for the Liverpool Daily Post newspaper. He worked with Japanese entertainment company Konami, recording commentary samples for the Pro Evolution Soccer series, alongside ITV commentator Jon Champion, from PES 2008 to PES 2010. He was replaced by ITV pundit Jim Beglin for PES 2011.
Despite the fact that Lawrenson's own eligibility for the Irish national team was due to his grandfather being born Irish, on 9 June 2012 during the UEFA Euro 2012 Germany v Portugal match he questioned Lukas Podolski's Germanness, who — born in the Polish region of Silesia which has a significant German minority — has German grandparents and has lived in Germany since age two.
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