Dennis Frank Wise (born 16 December 1966) is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder. He spent the majority of his career at Chelsea, from 1990 to 2001.
Beginning his career at Wimbledon, Wise came to prominence as a member of the "Crazy Gang", and in 1988, was part of the team that won the FA Cup in an upset victory over Liverpool. In 1990, he joined Chelsea, becoming captain three years later under the stewardship of Glenn Hoddle. During his time at Stamford Bridge, Wise won two FA Cups, a League Cup and a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, and is the club's second most successful captain, behind John Terry. Wise was a popular figure amongst the Chelsea support, and was named the club's Player of the Year on two occasions. In June 2001, he was sold to Leicester City.
Internationally, Wise was in and out of the squad for the England national football team, with the majority of his appearances coming in 2000, when Kevin Keegan was manager. He was named in the UEFA Euro 2000 squad, playing in all three of England's group games. His only goal for the national side was on his debut on 1 May 1991, against Turkey.
Wise was player-manager of Millwall, taking them to the 2004 FA Cup Final and European football for the first time. He was briefly caretaker manager at Southampton in 2005. After two months in charge of Swindon Town, he was appointed at Championship side Leeds United in October 2006. After relegation to League One, he made a good start to the season before a surprise move in January 2008 to Newcastle United in an executive role for the academy, until April 2009. From 2021 to 2024, he was the sole administrator of Italian club Como 1907. He has also worked as a pundit for Sky Sports, and in 2017 he appeared on the seventeenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.
Playing career
Wimbledon Wise started his career as an apprentice with Southampton, but was left without a club after he fell out with manager Lawrie McMenemy. He moved to Wimbledon on 28 March 1985 at the age of 18 on a free transfer and made his debut under manager Dave Bassett. During the autumn of 1985, Wise was loaned to Swedish non-league club Grebbestads IF. He returned to Plough Lane following his loan spell and helped the club gain promotion to the Football League First Division in 1986. In his first season in the First Division, Wise scored four goals in 27 starts as the club defied the critics and finished the season in sixth place.
He was a member of the infamous Wimbledon "Crazy Gang" that reached the 1988 FA Cup Final. On 12 March 1988, he provided the free-kick from which Brian Gayle headed in the clinching goal against Watford to secure passage to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. In Wimbledon's semi-final match against Luton Town on 9 April, he scored the winner as they reached the final with a 2–1 victory. In the final on 14 May, he played an influential role in defeating heavy favourites Liverpool at Wembley, containing winger John Barnes and supplying the cross from a free kick from which Lawrie Sanchez headed home the winning goal. Wimbledon were unable to compete in the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup, due to the ongoing ban on English teams from European competitions, following the actions of a group of Liverpool supporters in the 1985 European Cup Final Heysel disaster.
Chelsea Wise signed for Chelsea on 3 July 1990 for a then-club record fee of £1.6 million. In his first season with the club, he scored 13 goals in 44 matches as Chelsea finished in 11th place. Wise's former Wimbledon teammate Vinnie Jones joined Chelsea prior to the 1991–92 season, and the intimidating presence of his fellow Londoner in the middle of the park seemed to help him rediscover his best form. Wise was Chelsea's top scorer for the season with 14 goals from midfield, with perhaps his best performance coming in a 2–1 victory away to Liverpool on 1 February 1992; Chelsea's first league win at Anfield since 1935.
Following the departure of captain Andy Townsend in 1993, and the arrival of Glenn Hoddle as manager, Wise's growing stature within the side was recognised, with Hoddle installing him as captain. Though league form was disappointing throughout the 1993–94 season, with the Blues finishing 14th, Wise led Chelsea to their first FA Cup Final in 24 years, though he couldn't prevent the Blues crashing to a 4–0 defeat to Manchester United.
In the second league match of the 1994–95 season, Wise scored his first goal, netting a penalty as the Blues came from 0–2 down to defeat Leeds United 3–2 on 27 August 1994. Wise's ill-discipline began to show at the beginning of the 1994–95 season, picking up a red card for swearing in a 2–4 loss to Newcastle United on 10 September. He scored his first goal in Europe five days later, capping off an impressive Chelsea performance as the Blues defeated Viktoria Žižkov 4–2 in the first round of the Cup Winners' Cup. Worse was to follow off the pitch as Wise was sentenced to a three-month prison term in March 1995 for assaulting a London taxi-driver and was ordered to pay £965 compensation to him for damage to the cab, £169 for damage to his spectacles and £100 for the shock and distress. The prison sentence was later overturned on appeal. Nonetheless he was briefly stripped of the Chelsea captaincy by Hoddle over the affair, and a long term thigh injury capped a miserable season for the midfielder.
Wise captained the Chelsea team that defeated Middlesbrough 2–0 in the 1997 FA Cup Final, only the club's second FA Cup triumph and Wise's first trophy as Chelsea captain. Chelsea's success would continue in the 1997–98 season as Wise first led Chelsea to victory in the League Cup, another 2–0 win against Middlesbrough, the midfielder's cross for Frank Sinclair's opener capping a superb display. Wise also made a decisive contribution in the Cup Winners' Cup final, a dinked pass over the Stuttgart defence setting up Gianfranco Zola to score the winner, moments after coming on as a substitute.
Wise then captained Chelsea to victory over Real Madrid in the 1998 UEFA Super Cup, a late Gus Poyet strike securing a 1–0 victory in Monaco. His disciplinary issues were so severe during the 1998–99 season, that Wise missed no fewer than 15 matches in all competitions. He received three red cards in addition to being charged with biting the arm of Real Mallorca defender Elena Marcelino in the second half of their Cup Winners' Cup semi-final first-leg 1–1 draw at Stamford Bridge, though he was later cleared by UEFA. In the Premier League, he led Chelsea to their highest ever final position at the time, third, thereby securing a place in the Champions League for the first time in the club's history, losing only three leagues games along the way, a feat bettered by only three English champions in the 20th century.
In Chelsea's first ever Champions League match, a third-qualifying round match against Latvian side Skonto FC, Wise captained the side to a 3–0 victory, and 0–0 draw in the second leg meant that Chelsea had qualified for the group stage of the Champions League at the first time of asking. On 20 October 1999, he came on as a second-half substitute and scored Chelsea's fourth goal as they defeated Galatasaray 5–0 in Istanbul in their fourth Champions League group match. He scored a memorable Champions League equaliser in the San Siro against A.C. Milan a week later to secure top spot in the group. In February 2000 his disciplinary problems resurfaced as he was charged with misconduct by the FA following an alleged confrontation with Kenny Cunningham in the tunnel after the 3–1 victory over former club Wimbledon at Stamford Bridge, and was later fined £7,500. Wise captained Chelsea to their second FA Cup win in three years, being awarded the Man of the Match honour as the Blues defeated Aston Villa 1–0 courtesy of a Roberto Di Matteo goal on 20 May 2000. Wise's last major trophy as captain of Chelsea would come in the 2000 FA Charity Shield on 13 August, as goals from Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mario Melchiot secured a 2–0 win over reigning league champions Manchester United.
With new manager Claudio Ranieri seeking to lower the average age of the Chelsea squad, he was sold to Leicester City on 25 June 2001 for £1.6 million. His time at Stamford Bridge would span 11 years, from 1990 to 2001 and when he finally left Chelsea, the combative midfielder finished with the fourth most appearances in the club's history, featuring 445 times and scoring 76 goals.
Leicester City Wise's time at Leicester was less successful and marred by controversy. He made just 17 league appearances, scoring once against Liverpool, and was sent home from a pre-season tour of Finland and suspended by the club on 20 July 2002 after breaking the nose and jaw of teammate Callum Davidson in an argument.
Wise was sacked by the club for serious misconduct on 2 August, after which Leicester went into administration. Surprised by the dismissal, he contacted the Professional Footballers' Association and appealed against the decision. The Football League Disciplinary Commission later ruled that Wise had been harshly treated by Leicester and ordered that he be reinstated and given the maximum punishment of two weeks' wages (about £70,000). The tribunal's order led the club to launch an appeal against the decision, which they won on 18 September.
Millwall Six days after his dismissal from Leicester, Wise signed for First Division club Millwall on 24 September 2002. Manager Mark McGhee said "He'll intimidate the opposition but, because of his reputation, it's got be controlled. I don't want him to miss half his games". He made his debut four days later in a 3–2 win at Coventry City, and was booked within two minutes for a foul on their player-manager Gary McAllister. On 26 October, he scored his first goal for the club, opening a 3–0 win over Derby County at The Den.
McGhee left in October 2003, and Wise succeeded him as player-manager for what was initially a four-game stint. On his debut in a 2–0 home win over Sheffield United on 18 October, David Livermore was sent off, so Wise brought himself on as a substitute. Within four minutes of coming on, he too was sent off for a foul on Chris Armstrong. Wise ruled out becoming the manager permanently, as he said he wanted to obtain his UEFA B coaching licence. However, having won two and drawn one of his four fixtures, he and experienced assistant Ray Wilkins were given contracts until June 2005. Millwall lost to Reading in their next game, and Wilkins said that Wise would need time to grow into the role, like Gianluca Vialli had done at Chelsea.
Millwall were the first team from outside the top flight to reach the FA Cup final since Sunderland in 1992 when Wise led them to their first ever FA Cup Final in 2004. They lost 3–0 to Manchester United. Despite losing, Millwall qualified for a place in the UEFA Cup for the first time in their history, as United had already qualified for the Champions League. They were knocked out in the first round by Hungarian champions Ferencváros. Despite having added a year to his contract in December 2004, he resigned at the end of the 2004–05 season, as new ownership entered the club.
Southampton Wise returned to Southampton on a free transfer on 27 June 2005 and made 12 appearances for the club. With the resignation of Harry Redknapp, he was briefly joint-caretaker manager of the club with Dave Bassett, but left St Mary's on 26 December, when George Burley was appointed as the new manager. He scored once in the league for Southampton, in a 2–2 draw with Ipswich Town.
Coventry City