Tim Sherwood – The First Team Coach of Tottenham Hotspur F.C. – English Premier League Football Club

Timothy “Tim” Sherwood (born 6 February 1969 in St Albans) is an English former professional footballer who was captain of Blackburn Rovers’ Premiership title-winning side. He also made three appearances for the England national team and is currently assistant first-team coach of Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.

Personal information
Full name : Timothy Sherwood
Date of birth : 6 February 1969 (1969-02-06)
Place of birth : St Albans, England
Height : 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position : Midfielder / The First Team Coach
Club information : Tottenham Hotspur
(Assistant first-team coach)

Career
Sherwood made his debut for Watford against Sheffield Wednesday on 12 September 1987. 31 more league appearances followed in Division Two. He moved to Norwich City in July 1989 and notched up a total of 88 games and 13 goals in Norwich colours before joining Blackburn Rovers in February 1992.

As one of Kenny Dalglish’s first signings for Blackburn, he initially struggled to make the first team but became an integral part of Dalglish’s big spending Rovers side. Under Sherwood’s captaincy, Blackburn finished second in the Premiership in 1993-94 before winning it the following season. At this point it was a surprise that he did not gain international recognition, adding only an England B cap to the England Under 21 honours he picked up whilst at Norwich. During his time at the club Dalglish had wanted to sign both Zinedine Zidane and Christophe Dugarry who were playing in France for FC Girondins de Bordeaux, however Rovers Chairman Jack Walker reportedly said to Dalglish: “Why do you want to sign Zidane when we have Tim Sherwood?”

Source: For more Time Sherwood, First Team Coach of Tottenham Hotspur, English Premier League Football Clubs, visit wikipedia.org.

Raymond Lewington – First Team Coach of Fulham F.C. – English Premier League Football Club

Raymond “Ray” Lewington (born September 7, 1956 in Lambeth, Londonis a former footballer and a coach. He currently holds the position of first team coach at Fulham. His son, Dean, is a professional footballer currently playing for MK Dons.

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. In December 2007, Lewington served a brief stint as caretaker manager after the departure of Lawrie Sanchez, managing the team for three games until Roy Hodgson was appointed full-time. He has remained at Craven Cottage as part of the management team as first team coach.

Source: English Premier League, Fulham F.C., Ray Lewington, Fulham First Team Coach information at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Lewington

Football career
Mike Phelan began his career at Burnley, signing as an associated schoolboy in July 1979, as an apprentice two years later and as a professional in July 1980. He made his league debut in January 1981 against Chesterfield and whilst at Turf Moor, gained England Youth caps and a Third Division champions medal in 1982. But in 1985, Burnley were relegated to the Fourth Division, and Phelan moved to Norwich City.

Norwich won the Second Division title in his first season at the club. He became club captain when Steve Bruce joined Manchester United in December 1987, captaining them to fourth place in the First Division and a place in the FA Cup semi-finals in his first full season as captain.

He was called into the England squad for the Rous Cup games against Chile and Scotland but did not play due to a hamstring injury. His success drew the attention of larger clubs and he followed Steve Bruce to Old Trafford for £750,000 in July 1989. At Manchester United, he won his first international cap (against Italy) and an FA Cup winner’s medal in his first season. This was followed the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1991, the League Cup in 1992.

By the time of the 1992 League Cup triumph, however, Phelan’s first team opprtunities were being limited by the emergence of younger players like Andrei Kanchelskis and Lee Sharpe. He managed to make enough appearances to collect a Premier League title medal in 1993, but the subsequent arrival of Roy Keane made his first team chances even more limited during 1993-94, during which United won the double. However, Phelan did not make enough appearances to merit another Premier League title medal, nor did he feature in the squad for the FA Cup final, and after the season was over he signed for West Bromwich Albion.

Phelan was often deployed at right-back during his stint at Manchester United, but following the arrival of Denis Irwin in 1990 he mostly played on the right or in the centre of midfield. By 1993, however, he was very much a bit-part player due to growing competition from younger players like Andrei Kanchelskis, Paul Ince and Lee Sharpe. By the time of his departure, even his place on the substitutes bench was being threatened by a new generation of youngsters such as David Beckham and Nicky Butt. He had missed out on a place in the 1994 FA Cup winning squad, and had not played in enough Premier League games to merit a title medal.

After leaving Old Trafford, Phelan signed for West Bromwich Albion, where he spent 18 months and played just 21 games, his first team chances limited by players such as Kevin Donovan and Lee Ashcroft.

He returned to Carrow Road in December 1995 as Assistant Manager to Gary Megson and managed the Norwich Reserves. When Megson was fired and joined Blackpool, Phelan followed him, returning to his native North-West. A year later he followed Megson to Stockport County. His career total stands at Burnley (168 league games, nine goals), Norwich City (194 games, 10 goals), Manchester United (102 games, two goals) and West Bromwich Albion (21 games).

Following Megson’s sacking as Stockport boss on 25 June 1999, Andy Kilner took over as manager. Phelan moved on shortly afterwards, taking up a role at Manchester United’s Centre of Excellence. With Steve McClaren’s departure to Middlesbrough in the summer of 2001, Phelan was promoted to first team coach.

In 2002, Norwich fans voted Phelan into the club’s Hall of Fame.

Prior to the start of the 2008-09 season with the departure of Carlos Queiroz as the Red Devils Assistant Manager, Phelan was temporarily promoted. He was one of the favourites to maintain this post

Source: For more information about Michael Christopher Phelan, Manchester United Coach, Premier League Football Club, visit wikipedia.org