When Wimbledon gatecrashed the old First Division in 1986, the exploits of the so-called ‘Crazy Gang’ became mainstream.
Since the early 1980s, tales of the south London side’s outlandish behaviour had begun to permeate English football’s collective consciousness, but reaching the top flight meant they were well and truly mainstream.
The likes of Vinnie Jones and John Fashanu created an ‘us versus them’ mentality on the pitch, while off it, their pranks were often extreme and usually hilarious.
Dean Lewington on breaking into the Crazy Gang
Dean Lewington came up through the youth ranks at Wimbledon, graduating for the first team in April 2003, when he made his senior debut as an 18-year-old in 2003, which was at the tail end of the Crazy Gang era.
“I just remember how different it all felt,” Lewington recalls to FourFourTwo. “You go from playing reserve football in front of about 50 people to walking out into an atmosphere with cameras and interviews — the level jumps massively.
“My first start was against Bradford and after about 10 minutes, I was thinking, ‘I can’t play in this — it’s too quick’, and you can’t catch your breath. But, like anything, you get through it, you adapt.”
By the time Lewington made his debut in 2003, Wimbledon had been out of the top flight for almost three seasons and were only 18 months away from their controversial rebreeding to MK Dons.
And Lewington - who would go to make 917 games for the club before returning last month - is well aware of just how much ‘team bonding’ has changed during his career.
“It’s very different!,” he continues. “A lot of people were just naked all the time – that was almost the punishment for anything: birthdays, scoring a goal, winning a game. You’d get stripped.
“Sometimes there’d be boot polish involved, too. Players would even get tied to the goalposts during training – it sounds crazy now, but back then, at a Championship-level club, it just felt normal. It was a lot rowdier and alcohol played a big part.
“Nights out were a big thing – one or two a week sometimes. Now, players might go out for a coffee instead. Pre-season tours used to be about sneaking off to find a pub, but now it’s not even remotely on the radar.”
