Theo: Sunderland game is biggest ever

By Stephen 18
March 19 2004

Millwall chairman Theo Paphitis believes next month’s FA Cup semi-final against Sunderland will be the biggest game in Millwall’s history.

The Lions reached the last four of the competition for the first time since 1937 following Tuesday night’s 2-1 win at Tranmere.
The club is expected to be allocated more than 25,000 tickets for the April 4 semi final at Old Trafford, and chairman Paphitis believes it is Millwall’s finest hour.
He told Southwark News: “The game against Sunderland at Old Trafford is both their and our cup final, because the winner of that game will go into Europe, and there’s no bigger prize in football.
“Whatever you say about the Cardiff game against Arsenal and Manchester United, whoever wins our game will get into Europe. So at the time that has got to be the biggest game in our history.
“It’s been a great boost to us, and allows us to keep our good players while next season we may have been under pressure.
“But we set our stall out at the beginning of the season. We said we were going to have a go and maybe raised people’s expectations a bit. We didn’t deliver earlier on but have made the changes and are now delivering, and that’s what the fans want to see.
“We’ve achieved tremendously above our weight. We’ve gambled the money but it’s come back to us today. We gambled at the beginning of the season and made a statement that we were going to have a go at it this season.
“It didn’t seem to want to work out, but we changed our plans and it’s worked out.
“Less than six months ago we lost to Preston and the world looked dim and we parted company with Mark McGhee and our world looked as if it was coming apart.
“We felt as if we got it so wrong, but how did we go from it being so wrong to being so right? That’s football for you.”
Paphitis is the first to hail manager Dennis Wise’s impact in the Lions resurgence since McGhee left in October.
Theo was quoted at the weekend as saying that Wise could be Chelsea’s next manager, and he knows that should the new boss’s good run continue, offers may come in to tempt him away from the Den.
He added: “I certainly expected him to have a short term impact. I wouldn’t have given him the job otherwise. I had other options but he was certainly my favourite for that, and has shown more importantly that he has had a great impact long term.
“His tactical nous and ability to motivate the players is the best I’ve seen from any manager I’ve worked with.
“People have misquoted me about the Chelsea comment. I said that he is maybe not quite ready yet for a team like Chelsea but will be ready eventually.
“I hope he’s with us forever and a day, but there’s no question that the boy will be able to manage at the top level without a problem.
“This is Millwall we’re talking about. We expect to lose our good players to the bigger clubs and we expect sometimes to lose our managers.
“George Graham had great success with Arsenal after leaving here, and we’ve lost some great players at Millwall but it’s what happens. We’re a club with 10,000 crowds, and hopefully this will bring people in, and that will bring in the revenue to allow us to hold on to people, and progress.”
Paphitis also revealed his superstition of wearing the same suit to help maintain the club’s impressive run.
He joked: “I’ve got to get my clothes clean but I can’t now because these trousers need cleaning, although the tie is fine.
“I’ve got to do something about it because I’ve been wearing them every game. I didn’t wear it at Sheffield United and I regretted it dismally and I cost them the game! I don’t know how long it can last.”