Fulham hero Ray Lewington admits the transformation at the club over the years has been amazing.

A former player and now coach at Craven Cottage, tonight against Hamburg the 53-year-old will be in his usual place in the home dugout and perhaps, fleetingly, thinking back to those dark days and the extent since of the Fulham journey.

"It's been a long haul this season but one I will never forget," he told the London Evening Standard.

"The season before we had finished a marvellous seventh place so there we were in Europe. Our squad weren't the biggest and we went into the competition fairly relaxed and in a way, perhaps feeling that going out after the qualifying rounds would have suited us. Our first match was way back on 30 July, against Vetra from Lithuania.

"We had come back to pre-season training early because we wanted to be right for that first game.

"I remember there were concerns that we could run out of steam later in the season. We had seen Aston Villa the year before and the way they had fallen away because of their European commitments. They couldn't buy a win at the back end of the season.

"At the start, though, it was a nice little adventure, going to places we hadn't seen before and representing England in a major European competition.

"As we progressed, things got more serious especially after the two-legged win over Shakhtar Donetsk - easily our best performance.

"They were the holders and a very good side. They had a 20-minute spell at Craven Cottage which was better than anything we've played against at home but we won 2-1 and managed to draw the away leg 1-1. It was after that tie that I really thought we might do something special."