FOLLOWING the departure of Malcolm Shotton and his assistant Mark Harrison, youth team coach Mickey Lewis has been appointed caretaker manager. It seems likely he will be assisted by chief scout Maurice Evans.

Nicknamed 'Mad Dog' because of his wholehearted midfield play which has earned him more than 300 appearances in 11 years with United, Lewis takes charge of team affairs, and since the 34-year-old has done just about every other job at the Manor this season, it's unlikely to faze him.

He has been drafted into the first team to play in defence and in midfield, he's run the reserves, the kids, driven the team bus to take the club's young players to matches . . . he's even acted as physio in this season's game at Blackpool.

Harrison, who played in goal for Port Vale, came to Oxford as former manager Denis Smith's goalkeeping coach, having previously coached Wales international Neville Southall at Everton, and he worked his way up to first-team coach, becoming Shotton's assistant when Malcolm Crosby followed Smith to West Brom.

As a player Lewis won England Youth call-ups and played for West Brom and Derby before joining Oxford United in 1988 as part of the deal that took Trevor Hebberd to the Baseball ground.

After a spell in midfield he switched successfully to centre back at the Manor and went on to make just under 300 league appearances for Oxford United, begging a huge hit with supporters who nicknamed him "Mad Dog" for his tigerish tackling.

One of the first decisions Lewis may have to make now that he's in charge of team affairs will be whether to drop himself! Last Saturday he was surprisingly recalled to the team by Malcolm Shotton but he has frequently said there are better, young players at the club than him.

Story date: Tuesday 26 October

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