Ray Lewington has spent the week working with the England squad as they prepare for Saturday’s Euro 2016 qualifier with Slovenia. It is a career move that looked unlikely when he was sacked by Watford chairman Graham Simpson as the 2004-05 season drew to a close but it’s one that suits Lewington perfectly.

The former Watford boss, one of the most respected coaches in the game, is Roy Hodgson’s assistant and admits that the role is ideal.

Talking exclusively in the latest edition of the book Tales from the Vicarage, Lewington said: "I think I’m happier in the background. The thing I like best is being on the pitch with the players. That’s what I enjoy. The players don’t judge you, but they’ll know if you can’t do the job because there will be cracks in your armoury."

Lewington’s record as a coach and manager is impressive. His departure from Watford remains the only time he’s been sacked in his career.

He joined the Hornets as reserve team manager during the Gianluca Vialli era and a year later found himself accepting the top job amid the beginning of a financial crisis that almost sunk the club.

He admits in the book that his was not a glamorous appointment.

"I got a call from (former Watford Observer assistant editor) Oli Phillips," Lewington began to explain. "I didn’t know him very well at the time but I liked him. He rang to offer congratulations and then told me that I’d got one per cent of the vote in a newspaper poll asking who the next manager should be. I told him that was probably my mum voting."

Lewington’s first job as manager was to meet with Barclays Bank, along with Simpson - an unusual task for a football manager but he had to be made aware of the severity of the financial challenge facing the club - and within a couple of months he was telling the players they needed to defer a portion of their wages to avoid going into administration.

In the book, he talks about how adversity brought the team together, how the fans’ reaction to the news helped earn a victory at Sheffield United that he still rates as one of his best days in football, and how the club went on a run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

He also talks about how difficult it was to drop Tommy Smith, in favour of loanee Michael Chopra, for the semi-final against Southampton. The tragic death of Jimmy Davis is also recalled and the run to another cup semi-final, where the Hornets lost to Liverpool over two legs in the Carling Cup.

When the end of his reign came, it was again the Watford Observer's Phillips who broke the news before he was summoned to meet Simpson.

He admitted: "I felt a sense of injustice. I felt let down. If you’re a manager and you come under pressure and the crowd are booing and you’re in the bottom three, you almost expect it.

“I didn’t expect to get the sack because we’d only just been in a cup semi-final and lost to Liverpool."

Read the full interview in Tales from the Vicarage 3 available, for £10 from The Hornets Shop, John Lewis, WH Smith and HMV in Watford’s intu centre and online at Amazon.

Authors Lionel Birnie and Adam Leventhal, and ex-Watford forward Nick Wright, will sign copies at John Lewis in Watford between 1pm and 3pm tomorrow (Saturday).