RAY LEWINGTON

'Ray Lewington' (born September 7, 1956 in Lambeth, London) is a former footballer and a coach. He currently holds the position of reserve team coach at Fulham. His son, Dean, is a professional footballer currently playing for the MK Dons.

Contents

Playing career

Management

Playing career

Lewington was a midfield player in the 1970s and 80's, playing for Vancouver Whitecaps, Chelsea, Fulham (twice) - 1980/85 & 1986/90, Sheffield United and Wimbledon.

Management

Lewington became player-manager of Fulham after their relegation to the old Division Three in July 1986.
His first season was a difficult one: with a tight budget imposed on him, Lewington was unable to lift the club and they flirted with relegation. Off the field, the club was unstable after two takeovers in quick succession and the suggestion of a merger with another club. It was also suggested that Lewington was a puppet of owner Jimmy Hill, who was thought to have had some hand in team affairs.
The next two seasons showed no sign of an up-turn in fortune, but in 1988/89 Lewington guided the club to the play-offs, although they were unsuccessful in achieving promotion. The following season saw the club struggle against relegation once more. At the end of that season, Alan Dicks was brought in, with Lewington becoming his assistant.
Lewington had spells as caretaker manager at Fulham in 1991 and 1994, before joining Crystal Palace as a coach, becoming assistant to Alan Smith as Palace were relegated from the Premiership. After the former Palace owner Ron Noades' takeover of Brentford in 1998, Brentford's infamous "chairman-manager" brought in Lewington as a Coach in 1999. After Noades relinquished his team-selection duties in 2000, Lewington was appointed as manager of Brentford, taking them to a losing appearance in the Football League Trophy final in 2001 and guiding them to 14th in Division Two. He left at the end of the 2000-2001 season to become Gianluca Vialli's reserve team manager at Watford: a difficult role, as Vialli never let any first-team players play for the reserve side.
When Vialli was sacked in the summer of 2002, Lewington was appointed manager. Like with Fulham 16 years earlier, Lewington assumed control of a club that had an extremely limited budget, with the club crippled from the collapse of ITV Digital and the high-spending of the Vialli era. Despite this, Lewington guided the club to two middle table finishes and two cup semi-finals - a 2-1 loss to Southampton in the FA Cup in 2003 and a 2-0 loss (over two legs) to Liverpool in the League Cup in 2005. Just two months after the Liverpool game Lewington was sacked, after a poor run of League form.
In July 2005 Lewington joined former club Fulham once more, as reserve team manager.