Club legend opens up on what it was like playing with 'Mr MK Dons'

Dean Lewington’s remarkable career will never be replicated, according to MK Dons hero Luke Chadwick.

The popular winger spent five-and-a-half years playing with Lewington, who hung up his boots at the end of the season with numerous accolades to his name.

Racking up nearly 950 career games, with 917 of them for MK Dons, Lewington retires as the man with the most EFL appearances for a single club, a record which former Manchester United man Chadwick does not believe will ever be surpassed.

“Lewie was Mr MK Dons,” Chadwick said. “What he has achieved here will never happen again in professional football, to play that many games for one club. He was a fantastic footballer, but also, to have the mentality to play over 900 games in your career is unbelievable.

“He was Mr Consistent. He used to kick me up in the air a lot in training though!

“I’ve been out of the game for so long, but he’s just coming out of it now, and he is someone the club should be very proud of.”

Chadwick recently released his autobiography “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Luke Chadwick Story”, where he goes into detail about his playing days, and his time at MK Dons - the club he played most for during his career, playing nearly 250 games.

The majority of those, of course, were played alongside skipper Lewington, who Chadwick admitted was not a happy player to be alongside, but said his qualities were clear to see for anyone who took to the field with him.

Chadwick continued: “My overriding memory of playing with him was that he was a really grumpy player! He used to moan a lot, used to have a go at me a lot and moan at referees! But he always knew where I needed the ball. Under Karl, he had a certain way of playing and grew something here. So many of those passing moves started with Lewie.”

Luke Chadwick’s book “Not Just a Pretty Face: The Luke Chadwick Story” is out now.