...but Lewington Jr values longevity as he seeks new deal
AS A small boy, Dean Lewington recalls spending his summer holidays at Fulham’s training ground where his father and future England No2 Ray was manager.
‘Dad used to give me and my brother Craig a goal and a pitch and say, “Right, I’ll see you in four hours”.
‘The youth team would come over and play with us. When one of the lads Udo Onwere made it to the first team, we were buzzing. He was our hero.’
Steeped in such football tradition, it was no surprise Lewington Jr became a professional footballer, but even he could not have predicted going on to become the Football League’s second current longest-serving player with one club at 13 seasons, one behind Wycombe’s Matt Bloomfield.
Lewington, 32, has made 625 appearances with 203 different team-mates. He has experienced two promotions and two relegations and, as the club’s captain and left-back, he has given them an identity after the controversial franchise move from Wimbledon And as he faces Northampton Town today, Lewington is grateful for the unexpected longevity in his career but said: ‘It’s not like the Premier League where you get five-year deals. It is one or two years. When we won promotion to the Championship in 2015, I was out of contract on the final day as we were celebrating. I went home to wait and hope. It wasn’t until June that I got a phone call and a new contract was offered.’ That contract will run out at the end of the season and once again he is not taking anything for granted. ‘I watched Steven Gerrard’s farewell at Liverpool, not many have the chance to say the fairytale goodbye on the last day. For 99 per cent of us, that is never going to be the case. The phone won’t ring and that’s that.’