Dennis Wise

He is the president of Serie B side Como 1907.

Dennis Frank Wise (born 16 December 1966) is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder.

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.

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.

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.

He is best known for having spent the majority of his career at Chelsea, from 1990 to 2001.

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.

Wise signed for Chelsea on 3 July 1990 for a then-club record fee of £1.6 million.

His only goal for the national side was on his debut on 1 May 1991, against Turkey.

In the latter years of his playing career, Wise gradually became involved in the managerial aspects of the game, starting at Millwall, where he took on the role of player-manager, taking them to the FA Cup Final and European football for the first time ever.

He was briefly caretaker manager at Southampton, following the departure of Harry Redknapp, before he took over the reins at Swindon Town on a permanent basis.

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.

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.

In June 2001, he was sold to Leicester City.

In October 2006, he was appointed manager of the then-Championship side Leeds United, who found themselves in the relegation zone.

Although they were ultimately relegated, Wise reshaped his side in the close season and Leeds made an excellent start to their first season in the third tier of English football.

In a surprise career move, despite their strong position and likelihood of promotion, Wise left Leeds in January 2008 to join the newly reshaped management team at Newcastle United in an executive role, tasked with travelling around Europe and further afield identifying young players and developing the academy.

Wise left Newcastle on 1 April 2009.

Following the situation that led to his departure, Wise admitted that "it has all had a damaging effect on my career".

He has since worked as a pundit for Sky Sports.

In his first season with the club, he scored 13 goals in 44 matches as Chelsea finished in 11th place.

In 2017, Wise appeared on the seventeenth series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

Wise started his career as an apprentice with Southampton, but was left without a club after he fell out with manager Lawrie McMenemy.