Matt Lawrence made over 500 appearances in the Football League, as well as spells in non-league football, and ranging from Crystal Palace to Burgess Hill’s Under-21s, the FA Cup finalist spoke exclusively to Transfer News Central.

Lawrence kick-started his career with non-league outfit Grays Athletic, but soon impressed after just five months and subsequently earned a move to the Football League – costing Wycombe Wanderers a measly £20,000. However, after just 21 appearances he earned another move, joining Fulham for an undisclosed fee. He ultimately impressed once more, and made featured over 60 times for the West London club. Following their failure to gain promotion to Division One, Lawrence returned to Adams Park on a free transfer, but it wasn’t a hard decision for him.

“Firstly, I realised I had a nice time and my first enjoyable spell was at that club, and things had come to a head at Fulham,” he said. “I’d played a number of games and experienced a successful spell, but things weren’t going to progress in terms of Kevin Keegan bringing in bigger players. He offered me a contract, but it was a somewhat derisory offer and it told me to ‘get the hell out of here!’

“Wycombe were the only club at the time I really wanted to speak to, and so it is a very simple choice to return,” he added. “They were in a bad position at the time, having narrowly staved off relegation that year but I loved my second spell at Wycombe because I really knew the club and knew a lot of those involved. It was a no-brainer really.”

The Chairboys also produced the best from Lawrence once more, and netting four times in 63 league appearances, impressed the Lions enough for another transfer – this time with a £200,000 fee. In his first season at the Den, he missed just a single game before swooping the Player of the Year accolade alongside promotion. Looking back on the 2000/01 campaign, Lawrence considered it to be one of his best campaigns.

“It was certainly in terms of success my best season, and gaining promotion is as good as it gets,” he told Transfer News Central. “I played an awful lot of games myself and as a whole it was probably my best season. I’ve undoubtedly had better experiences – in terms of single matches and cup runs – but in terms of an overall season, it was definitely my favourite and probably my best.”

With a six-year spell with Millwall, Lawrence somewhat struggled during the 2003/04 season. Under the management of Mark McGhee, he was no longer playing such a role he possessed following his transfer. Nonetheless, Lawrence doesn’t hold a grudge against the former Newcastle and Celtic striker.

He continued: “My opinion has never changed on him as a person. Managers have to have an opinion and those opinions change. I have always thought he was a good manager and a good guy – I still live near him now and see him around – and he is a really nice perusable character.

“As he’s now gone on and become the assistant manager with Gordon Strachan at Scotland, he’s done a great job – just because a manager doesn’t pick you, it doesn’t mean you fall out with them. It’s just part of football. It’s a game based on opinion, and although someone has an opinion on you, you have to get on with it and cannot think any worse of them. We still stop and chat if I see him, there’s no problem there!”

McGhee’s eventual departure from the Den worked in favour of Lawrence, who returned to the set-up with the introduction of Dennis Wise. It was during this time he lined-up at the Millennium Stadium to conclude the season against Premier League giants Manchester United in the FA Cup. Leading his side out in front of 71,350 spectators with the armband, he featured alongside fellow defender Darren Ward, a partnership remembered by many after a transition from right-back to a more central role.

When asked about how he found the transition, he replied: “Really simple! It came about in unfortunate circumstances and Paul Robinson (who featured in the role at the time) blew out his cruciate ligament at Norwich, in fact I remember it well still, and Dennis Wise always saw me as a central defender rather than digging into the transfer market.

“The fact that the spot opened up worked very well for me, and I was become more experienced and established within my career. A role centrally just fitted perfectly, as going throughout the years as a full-back have been more up and down. I had to keep up with the fitness of the wide position and it was a tough, and coming to the end of a career your legs so slightly.

“I read the game very well, and it was simply a great match started with Wise. I was lucky enough to play with Darren Ward, and he was a wonderful person and a really good player. It was a very simple transition at the right time of my career.”

Once his time at Millwall came to a halt in 2006, the next move on the Football League journey saw the Englishman join Crystal Palace. The transfer came shortly after defensive partnership Ward headed to Selhurst Park, and the duo were reunited – partly due to the work of Ward himself.

“Darren and quite a few others had an involvement. Tony Burns, the goalkeeping coach at Millwall, had recently moved so I spoke to a lot of people. It was partially geography too, and where they were. Millwall had been relegated to League One, while Palace remained fighting in the Championship.

“I was always going to go to a Championship side, and they were in a good location for me. I’ve always been settled in Sussex, and with Palace’s training ground only a mile away from Millwall’s, it was a quick and simple transition.”

Four years with Crystal Palace and two seasons with Gillingham saw the traditional central defender eventually return to non-league football. Two years with Whitehawk and a brief stint with Burgess Hill Town – in which a youth team appearance at the tender age of 40 suggested his time as a footballer was over – showed the difference in standards between the levels.

“I started out playing non-league and finished in a similar way, but very simply it’s a lot less professional, which becomes obvious in the game,” Lawrence said with emphasis on the professionalism – or lack of it – for some clubs. “You learn a lot from non-league, especially when you’re younger, and you’re playing with men.

“You have to learn to stand up for yourself and in terms of ability wise, non-league is nowhere near the standard of Football League. However, it’s a great base for football and it helps progress to play and continue to the professional game.”

After reflecting on his career, Lawrence also spoke about his aims for former club Millwall ahead of the 2015/16 season. Relegation has seen the Lions fall into League One, and a number of key stars departed the club – with their futures remaining in the Championship. Ricardo Fuller, Justin Hoyte and Danny Shittu are just three notable names to have been released, and Lawrence feels the results of the upcoming window could make or break Millwall’s season.

“It depends who they bring in,” he responded when asked about how Millwall will perform. “I have no idea what kind of budget Neil [Harris] has been given, and going down a league could affect the spirits. I know Neil and Dave Livemore, the assistant manager, very well and I know they will work very long and hard hours to get to their best, but it won’t be easy.

“Should they lack a budget and fail to attract the required players, I can see them struggling considerably throughout the year. They have lost some very good players with the drop, and it’s going to be a long, long season for them. But with Neil and Dave, things may not happen this season, but they’ll certainly put in a good base to get promotion.

“If they fail to gain promotion back to the Championship, I certainly think it’ll happen within the next two or three seasons – as long as they are given time to progress and given some financial backing, which will be very important.

Millwall will now look to add to their squad, boasting just 21 players, and will hope to find another Lawrence-esque player to lead the club to glory, and maybe even reach another FA Cup final in years ahead. And if they did, there wouldn’t be another Ronaldo – van Nistelrooy partnership ready to strike three goals past the defence.