Career
Born in Newton Heath, Manchester, Lawton began his football career with Manchester United, joining the club as an amateur in 1956. He was also involved in the club"s 1957 FA Youth Cup title. Following the Munich air disaster in 1958, Lawton gave up his job with a local coal merchant to sign professional forms with Manchester United.
However, while playing for the club"s reserve team, Lawton succumbed to a heavy bout of the flu, leading to double pneumonia and the temporary loss of the use of his legs.
The emergence of Pat Crerand, however, meant that Lawton"s first team opportunities became increasingly limited and he was sold to Preston North End in March 1963. He continued to captain the side for the next three seasons, before a succession of knee injuries forced his sale to Brighton & Hove Albion in September 1967.
He spent a further three seasons with Brighton before dropping down to the Fourth Division to play for Lincoln City in 1970. He retired from professional football in 1972 and took several jobs before returning to Newton Heath in 1977 to work for an export packaging firm.