JAMIE Lawrence could be excused if he feels any split loyalties at Valley Parade tomorrow.

One club rescued him from a potential life of crime; the other made him the folk hero that he remains to this day.

But despite the huge debt he will always feel for Sunderland, Lawrence’s colours will be firmly pinned to the claret and amber mast in the FA Cup fifth-round showdown.

“No disrespect to Sunderland and I will always be grateful for what they did to me,” he said. “But it’s got to be Bradford for me.

“That’s where I spent my best days and my heart will always be with the Bantams.”

Lawrence was talking from Malabo, the capital of Equitorial Guinea where he has been working as fitness coach for the Ghana team that were beaten by Ivory Coast in a dramatic penalty shoot-out in the final of the African Cup of Nations.

It was there, over 7,000 miles away, that he learned of the drama unfolding at Stamford Bridge in the last round.

Lawrence laughed: “I was in utter shock, I just couldn’t believe it. I’d seen the score was 2-0 and thought that was it.

“But I should know better than to write off the Bantams after what’s gone on before.”

Lawrence’s ties with the Black Cats go back to 1993 when he was released from Camp Hill prison on the Isle of Wight.

After catching the eye of league scouts playing for local club Cowes Sports, Lawrence had trials with Southend, Millwall and Wimbledon before Sunderland stepped in.

Terry Butcher was the manager at the time and immediately took a shine to the rough diamond with the “pineapple” hair style.

Lawrence made his debut in a north-east derby at Middlesbrough that was shown live on ITV. His cult status was already established when the DJ played Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” during the warm-up!

Sunderland lost 4-1 but Lawrence got 20 minutes from the bench and his football career was born.

“It was a massive shock moving up so far from London and it took a lot of getting used to with the local accent. But Sunderland made me so welcome and I loved it.

“Terry Butcher was, and still is, a top man for me because of that. Even though it never really worked out for him up there, he literally saved my life by giving me the chance.

“I was pleased I got the opportunity to tell him that a few years ago when he was manager at Brentford.

“Sunderland were still at their old ground and the ‘Roker Roar’ was something else. It used to make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up because it was that loud.”

Lawrence had only been on Wearside a month when Butcher was sacked and replaced by hard-liner Mick Buxton. Everything quickly changed.

The locals may have loved Lawrence’s flashy demeanour, his gold tooth, highlighted hair and designer clothes when he went out on the town with team-mate David Rush but it was never going to please Buxton.

“He was an old-fashioned sergeant-major type,” recalled Lawrence. “I thought he was a bit of a football dinosaur who didn’t have a clue about man management.

“It was no surprise that we didn’t get on and I never got a look-in when he was in charge.”

Doncaster, then managed by Butcher’s former assistant Ian Atkins, offered an escape and Lawrence left Sunderland after five months and five appearances. But he still looks back fondly on his first break in the pro game.

“Football is the biggest thing in Sunderland,” Lawrence wrote in his autobiography. “Anyone who plays for them is immediately a celebrity and although I didn’t last long there, I’m glad I made an impression.”

Proof that Lawrence had made his mark on the north-east football scene came early on when he was approached in a nightclub by Andy Cole, the biggest name at the time with Newcastle.

“He was a legend up there but came up and spoke to me in a club and wished me all the best. That meant a lot and to this day we have remained friends.”

Back to the present day and the new goalscorer on the block is Jermain Defoe, whose arrival at Sunderland from Toronto could prove one of the bargains of the season.

Defoe still has aspirations to win back an England place after returning to the Premier League and Lawrence has singled him out as the biggest threat to City’s hopes of reaching the last eight.

“Defoe has been a proven goalscorer for years. The City players will have to be right on their jobs and really switched on because he is so dangerous in and around the box.

“But it’s going to be a great game and Valley Parade will be absolutely bouncing.

“People are talking about the pitch and I’ve not really seen it but it could be a great leveller against Sunderland. That’s how we used to use it when we were playing the so-called bigger teams.”