Nottingham Forest in 2010 Born in
Long Eaton,
Derbyshire, Now a first-team starter, he scored his second career goal on 17 March, his 85th minute free-kick was the only goal of the game against Gillingham; the goal was subsequently voted by fans as the club's goal of the season. The
2006–07 season would still prove a highly successful one for an 18-year old McGugan though, as he finished the campaign as a member of the starting eleven, claiming two goals in 18 appearances. McGugan missed the start of the
2007–08 campaign due to an ankle injury that required surgery. He scored his first league goal of the season with a 20-yard strike in Forest's 2–2 draw with
Northampton Town. He scored his fourth goal of the season, in the second minute of stoppage time, in the New Year's Day 2–1 home win over Huddersfield a goal; the strike would win him the club's goal of the season for the second year running. Manager
Colin Calderwood went on to say that "he's a young player with a wonderful future ahead of him." McGugan signed a new three-and-a-half-year deal in February. He did not score again until April, but then scored three goals in Forest's last four matches of the season, including a free-kick against
Yeovil Town in the "Reds" 3–2 win on the last day of the campaign, which saw Forest promoted into the
Championship as runners-up of
League One. He missed two months at the start of the
2008–09 season with a thigh injury sustained in a 3–1 defeat at
Swansea City on 16 August. He scored his first goal in the Championship with a "fine free-kick" in a 2–1 defeat at
Queens Park Rangers on 18 October. On 2 November, he was sent off for a rash tackle in a 1–1 draw at
East Midlands rivals Derby County. He was voted the 16th best player outside the
Premier League in January 2009. However two months later new manager
Billy Davies dropped him from the starting eleven after feeling McGugan was unfit and overweight. Despite being complimented by Davies for his much improved fitness, McGugan found himself on the bench in the first half of the
2009–10 season, with
Paul McKenna,
Guy Moussi and
Radosław Majewski all being preferred ahead of him. He also missed six weeks after sustaining a fractured cheekbone in a defeat to
Watford. He was limited to just six league starts over the campaign, and though Forest qualified for the play-offs, McGugan made only a cameo appearance in the semi-final defeat to
Blackpool. Again on the bench at the start of the
2010–11 season, his marked his first start with a brace in a 2–1 victory at
Preston North End on 14 September. He claimed another brace 11 days later, in a 3–1 win over Swansea that was Forest's first home win of the campaign. After this he also went on to score in a 3–1 defeat away at
Barnsley on 16 October and a 1–0 home win over
Middlesbrough three days later. This left him as the club's top-scorer despite only starting seven matches; teammate
Chris Cohen said that "Lewis has made himself more versatile this season and has been fantastic so far. If it wasn't for his goals at the moment we'd be in a lot of trouble". On 23 October, McGugan continued his fine goal-scoring form with a "superb long-range free-kick" against
Ipswich Town; this would later be voted as the Championship Goal of the Season. Speaking on his good form he stated that "I've worked hard in the summer, made sure I had a good pre-season and waited for my chance. And I've taken it". His impressive form and spectacular long range efforts were seen again on 6 November when he scored from 25 yards to secure a 1–1 draw at
Watford. On 20 November, McGugan added to his great start to the season with the opening goal and assist for the second in a 2–0 win at
Cardiff City, who were the league leaders at the time. He continued to score goals and ended the season as the club's top scorer with a total of 13 goals in 45 appearances. McGugan scored his first goal of the
2011–12 campaign in a
League Cup match against
Nottingham derby rivals
Notts County on 9 August, in what was
Steve McClaren's first win in his short reign as Forest manager. He scored from the penalty spot in a 2–2 home draw with
East Midlands rivals Leicester City on 20 August. However he went on to suffer a loss of form;
Birmingham City made an approach to sign McGugan on loan in February, but were rejected by Forest manager
Steve Cotterill, who commented on the player's lack of form by saying "Lewis is one of our most creative, gifted players. But the fact is that creative players cannot be creative every five minutes". New manager
Sean O'Driscoll came into the club as a fan of McGugan, having previously tried to sign him on loan at
Doncaster Rovers; he stated that "When I came in and told him about it, I said 'You keep falling out with managers' and he said: 'No, they fall out with me'". However he only scored two goals under O'Driscoll and no goals at all under his successor
Alex McLeish, before rediscovering his form under returning manager Billy Davies. McGugan scored in six successive matches from 5 March to 6 April, earning seven points for the club's ultimately unsuccessful play-off push.
Watford On 2 July 2013, McGugan signed a three-year deal (with the option of a further 12 months) with
Watford on a free transfer; manager
Gianfranco Zola said "I'm sure our supporters will be excited to see what he can do in a Watford shirt". He scored his first goal for the "Hornets" on his
Vicarage Road debut, a 6–1 win over
AFC Bournemouth on 10 August. Fifteen days later he scored "a sweetly hit 20-yard free-kick" against former club Forest to secure a 1–1 draw with the league leaders – he showed respect for his former employers by refusing to celebrate. On 17 September, he scored both Watford's goals in a 2–1 home victory over
Doncaster Rovers, including the winning penalty with three minutes left to play. A key first-team player under Zola, he was dropped in the second half of the season after reportedly falling out with new manager
Giuseppe Sannino. He nevertheless finished the
2013–14 season with 11 goals in 37 appearances. He featured seven times at the start of the
2014–15 campaign, before he was allowed to leave the club on loan after telling manager
Slaviša Jokanović of his desire for first-team football.
Sheffield Wednesday On 19 November 2014, he joined
Sheffield Wednesday on a one-month loan deal. He returned to Wednesday on 2 February, signing on loan until the end of the
2014–15 season. He was named as the "Owls" player of the month for both February and March after first scoring in back to back games against Derby and
Millwall and then claiming a further goal and two assists the next month. Manager
Stuart Gray admitted he was keen to sign the player permanently following his run of good form. McGugan signed a three-year deal with Sheffield Wednesday for an undisclosed fee on 16 July 2015. He made his full debut at
Hillsborough in the first match of the new Championship season against newly promoted
Bristol City, scoring the second goal in Wednesday's 2–0 victory. On 23 September, he scored from outside the box at
St James' Park in what was the only goal of the game against
Premier League club
Newcastle United in the League Cup third round. On 3 October, he scored the third goal for the Wednesday in their 3–1 victory against
Preston North End from more than 35 yards in the 96th minute. He found first-team appearances increasingly rare however, despite scoring a brace in an
FA Cup defeat at
Shrewsbury Town on 30 January. He ended the
2015–16 season with six goals in 17 appearances and was not in the matchday squad for the
play-off final defeat to
Hull City. Manager
Carlos Carvalhal told McGugan he could leave the club in July 2016 and dropped him entirely from the squad, saying "he doesn't have the requirements that we want for our team". On 31 August 2017, having missed the entirety of the
2016–17 campaign, McGugan left the club after having his contract cancelled by mutual consent.
Northampton Town On 2 October 2017, McGugan signed for League One club Northampton Town on a short-term deal. Manager
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink admitted he was still "coming out of hibernation" after 17 months out of action and was still "far off" the player he once was. He proved that his talent still remained when he won the club's goal of the month competition with his volley against
Southampton U23's in an
EFL Trophy tie on 7 November. However he left
Sixfields at the end of his contract on 3 January 2018, having made 10 starts and four substitute appearances for the "Cobblers". During the 2018–19 season he had unsuccessful trials at
St Mirren,
Bradford City and
Port Vale, where he failed to prove his fitness. ==International career==