Brian Laws started his managerial career at Grimsby Town in 1994 when he took over as player/manager.

He was the first manager in English football to sign a Serie A player in the form of Ivano Bonetti.

Laws was in charge for just under two years after a poor start to the 1996/97 season led to his sacking.

After a short spell as a player at Darlington Town, Laws took over as Scunthorpe United manager in 1997. He led them to promotion to the old Division Two via the play-offs in 1999But Scunthorpe were relegated back to Division Three the following season.

He was sacked in 2004, only to be reinstated three weeks later, leading them to promotion the following season.

Laws left Scunthorpe in November 2006 after nearly 10 years at the club to take up a new challenge at Sheffield Wednesday.

The club had started the season poorly, but Wednesday managed a 9th place finish in the Championship.

The following season, Wednesday endured their worst start to a season in history, losing six matches in a row. But Laws steadied the ship, form picked up, and the club maintained its status in the Championship by beating Norwich City 4-1 on the final day of the season.

Laws built on this and the 2008/09 season saw the club finish 12th, with the best home defensive record in the division. The Wallsend-born tactician also became the first Wednesday manager for 95 years to do the league double over their neighbours Sheffield United.

However, after a poor sequence of results with saw the Owls drop to 20th, Laws departed by mutual consent in mid-December.

On 13th January, 2010, he was officially appointed as Burnley's new manager, replacing Owen Coyle who had defected to Bolton Wanderers a few days earlier.