The Shocking Secret Behind Dennis Wise’s Signing: Theo Paphitis’ Bold Move That Left Millwall’s Manager in the Dark
Dennis Wise’s 2002 transfer to Millwall was one of the biggest deals in the club’s history, as the Lions snapped up the 21-time England international and three-time FA Cup winner.
The Lions had convinced Wise to drop down a division to join the club, but remarkably, Millwall’s then-boss Mark McGhee had no idea it was happening.
That’s because a chance conversation between Lions owner Theo Paphitis and another former England and Chelsea star in Ray Wilkins brought about a deal that was made at breakneck speed.
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Paphitis on how he signed Dennis Wise
“I had a heart to heart with Mark McGhee the previous week,” he Paphitis recalls to FourFourTwo. “He said that we needed a Dennis Wise style character in midfield.
“We had Tim Cahill, then a promising kid, learning his job, box to box. Dennis at the time had just left Leicester after an incident.”
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