Exclusive: Ray Lewington on Crystal Palace exit, his coaching rapport with Roy Hodgson + forcing Pep’s City to go route one

Ray Lewington has spoken publicly for the first time about his Crystal Palace exit – and reckons it was a “natural time” to end that coaching chapter.

The 64-year-old, born in Lambeth, stepped down as Eagles assistant manager less than a month ago.

Lewington has been in coaching or management for 35 years – and has been Roy Hodgson’s number two at Fulham, England and Palace.

The South London club announced on May 19 that Hodgson would not be continuing as boss after the end of the 2020-21 Premier League season.

Lewington has described leaving as a “wrench”. But he added: “Palace is a strange club as there isn’t a massive turnover of players. Nine of the players from our first-ever win, against Chelsea in our fourth game in charge, are still at the club. That was quite unusual.

“That’s why it was a natural time for the two of us to walk away. The players need a different voice after four years. If the players aren’t going to change, then it has to be the voice that changes – it needs a fresh approach.

“It was hard to say goodbye to the players, because they are outstanding. It was sad to walk away from Palace, but it was the right thing to do.”

Following their resignation from England in 2016, Lewington would meet Hodgson in a cafe once a week. The pair would rarely discuss work, preferring to catch up on matters outside the game.

Then Lewington was reconciled to the fact that he may have prowled his last touchline in football.

The duo had led their country to two European Championships and the 2014 World Cup

“With England, you only get together three times a year, and on average, you spend around two weeks as a group – it’s a whirlwind existence,” said Lewington.

“We used to joke that Roy was the most famous man in England, apart from the Prime Minister.

“We were lucky in some respects that we didn’t quite have the expectation that Gareth Southgate has now. People saw our England team as a quarter-final side. Our four years was a transitional period – easing the old guard of Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard out of the side whilst bringing in some new faces.

“But you also know that you have the weight and hopes of an entire nation behind you – it’s quite daunting. When we lost to Iceland, which was catastrophic for us, we knew instantly that we had to walk away.

“We certainly needed time after that defeat – I don’t think I went out for a long time, I didn’t feel like being reminded about it all the time.

“We were just so devastated that it happened to us on that day against a team who were ranked outsiders.

“We had a year off after England. Both of us were veering towards the fact that it could have possibly been our last job in football. Despite it ending disastrously for us, it would have been a nice job to bow out on.”

But that all changed when Hodgson sat down for breakfast one day in September 2017.

“This one might be a little tempter for you,” Hodgson eagerly explained to Lewington – keeping him on tenterhooks before revealing: “Crystal Palace.”

“By the time we finished our coffee, we had decided we would do it. Roy knew I really enjoyed my first spell at Palace. We were both South London boys. It was a no-brainer for us.”

The experienced pair guided Palace to a comfortable 11th place finish, taking over from Frank de Boer and rejuvenating the side following the worst start made by any team in Premier League history. Safety and stability became the hallmark of their tenure at Selhurst Park.

They secured four mid-table finishes with a scarcely refurbished squad, developing the likes of Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Tyrick Mitchell.

When Lewington reflects on his favourite moments as the Eagles’ assistant manager, one performance stands out.

Lewington would spend hours scrutinising clips of his own team and the upcoming opposition with analysts Rob Weaver and Tom Johnson, as they formulated tactics. At the Etihad Stadium on December 22, 2018, one of the game plans was executed to perfection.

Palace visited Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City – title-contenders and unbeaten at home all year.

Fast forward to the 80th minute, with the Eagles 3-1 up, Lewington recalls glancing over at City’s technical area. He chuckles: “You have a world-class coach standing 15 yards down the line. You have a team of talented players. And in the last 10 minutes of the game, all they were doing was screaming: ‘Get the ball in the box’.

“Pep was absolutely right. There was no point playing the ball out from the back when the clock was winding down. You would think getting the ball in the box was above them? But the truth is, when it’s needed, that’s what you have to do.”

When Lewington and Hodgson announced they would be stepping away from Palace at the end of the season, the adulation from fans, players, peers and the media came flooding in.

Their paths first crossed in 1974. Lewington was playing for Chelsea and taking his badges.

Hodgson, manager of the Finnish national side, was the coaching course examiner.

They didn’t work together until Hodgson took charge at Fulham in 2007. They orchestrated a great escape from relegation, a seventh place finish in the Premier League, and made the 2010 Europa League final. Lewington describes them as “special days”.

He pinpoints trust as a vital factor in the longevity of their partnership. Lewington added: “It’s everything. If you don’t have faith in your backroom staff, you have no chance of succeeding.

“We tend to go for the players who will do it for us consistently. We try to build proper teams who will work for each other. Not too many stars, but players who have that work ethic where if someone messes up, the person next to them on the pitch will try and rectify it, not leave him to stand out because he has made a mistake.

“When you’re up against it, you have to create an atmosphere where your players enjoy being up against it. It doesn’t matter who the opposition is – they may be packed out with stars – but we can always give them a game and make it really difficult for them.

“Roy knows that if I am going to lose my temper, he will stay out of the way – he doesn’t even ask. The way that the relationship has evolved is that Roy doesn’t even have to tell me what to do – he trusts me to do what I do.

“It only needs to be little looks at each other to know we have both seen the same thing.”

Palace finished 14th in their most recent top-flight campaign – only played nearly exclusively behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lewington believes it was the duo’s best achievement.

There was a fear heading into the season – with several key players and the management staff out of contract at the end of June – that the squad would lose focus, become unsettled around their futures, and Palace would spiral down towards relegation.

Lewington said: “We were never getting towards the end of the season and thinking that we were getting relegated. It may be seen as a negative…but that’s where you start every season. People don’t realise how tough it is to stay in the Premier League.

“Training never suffered. I used to say to Roy: ‘I’m not looking forward to this one, I really think we’re going to get a reaction sooner or later’. But we never did.

“The Palace fans have to be really proud of this group of players. I have been at clubs where I know if the players had been in the position this group at Palace were, there would have been a reaction. They would have said: ‘Well, if you can’t tell me what my future will be, then I am not going to train or play.’ We never had any of that at Palace – not once. That was the wrench. You know you’re leaving behind a terrific bunch of players who have been professional right up until the last minute.”

In his winter jacket and summer shorts, Ray Lewington became the voice of an eerily quiet Selhurst Park. His loud shouts of “don’t foul”, “keep on him”, “well done” and “great work” became the soundtrack of behind-closed-doors football for Crystal Palace fans.

Lewington was blissfully unaware until someone told him: ‘You do realise that your barking has created some attention?’

And following a conversation with Danny Young, the kit man and player liaison officer, about the possibility of having some tracksuit bottoms that didn’t “suffocate my legs,” Lewington decided that no matter what the weather, he would brave the mid-winter games in the club shorts.

“I didn’t realise all the commotion it was causing!” he chuckles. “But I have always done it with every club that I have been at. It’s just now suddenly everyone can hear it because of the empty stadiums.

“Professional football is about the crowds. That’s what makes the Premier League – the atmosphere, the singing and everything that comes with it.

“You can’t beat a Premier League atmosphere. Palace in particular – for the size of our ground – the noise which our fans generate is incredible. To suddenly whip that away and have no-one in there was difficult. We had nearly a season and a half of it. You think you will get used to it, but I never did.”

Lewington brought passion and enthusiasm to games that lacked a competitive edge at times during the congested season. He tested positive for Covid-19 in late January.

“Like a lot of people, I was very blasé about it – you never think you’re going to get it,” he said. “We took all the precautions. But, unfortunately my wife visited a hospital, and we think that’s where she picked it up from. As soon as she tested positive, I had to stay at home. It was inevitable that I was going to get it.

“I got away with it quite easily, but my wife was really bad – it was quite scary. It was such a difficult time – you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy.

“In football, we were a protected species. We were tested twice a week, and our standards at the training ground were draconian. But for football to carry on, you had to have these strict precautions in place. It just shows that we were still going home at night, and we could still pick the virus up.”

In mid-February, Lewington and his wife Ann both made a full recovery, and he returned to the dugout against Burnley – as Lewington and Hodgson masterminded Crystal Palace’s ninth consecutive season in the Premier League.

Lewington will miss casting a watchful eye over the training pitch on a daily basis and conjuring up game plans to go toe-to-toe with the best teams in the top-flight. While he certainly isn’t ruling out getting back into the game at some stage in the future, he is excited about going to watch his two sons – Craig and Dean – play.

“I have had two really good spells with Palace – it’s a smashing club. It’s one of those clubs which is backs against the wall, us against the rest of them, and we’re going to get on with it because we don’t care what people say about us.”