Shane Westley began his career at Charlton but after just 8 matches was transferred to Southend. It was during his spell with the Shrimpers that Shane came to Norwich on loan as defensive cover but failed to make any first team appearances. After 144 league games for Southend, he moved to Wolves where 50 league matches were played. He returned south to Brentford for whom 64 league matches were played. A brief spell at Southend yielded another 5 league games before a brief tenure at Cambridge where he made 3 appearances before joining Lincoln. Shane was Assistant Manager to John Beck, proponent of the long ball game. However Beck's sacking in March 1998 resulted in Shane being appointed Caretaker Manager. However the Imps lost their first game until his leadership to Leyton Orient. This did not deter Shane and his Imps won promotion to Division Two. Shane was given the manager's position at Sincil Bank on a permanent basis after this success. However the Imps found the standard of Division Two higher than that of Division Three. They struggled at the bottom of the table and Shane paid the price being sacked in mid November 1998 with Lincoln rooted firmly at the bottom of the table.

Shane returned to managership in January 1999, teaming once again with John Beck. Struggling Conference side Barrow appointed Wesley as manager and Beck as a consultant. However it was a short-lived tenure as Barrow were close to bankruptcy and faced a winding-up order. Two of his defenders were ex-Canaries in Andy Fensome and Mark Seagraves. However Shane quickly lost the services of striker Andy Mutch, once of Wolves and Swindon. Barrow's financial plight saw them kicked out of the Conference in June 1999 and facing the possibility of starting next season in the North Western Trains League Second Division (4 leagues below the Conference). Eventually placed in the Unibond League, Barrow and Westley parted company.

At the end of February 2001, Shane returned to Cambridge as Assistant Manager to new U's supremo John Beck. Cambridge's poor start to the 2001/02 season saw Beck and Westley resign from their positions at the end of November 2001