Paphitis' price for success

By Stephen Eighteen
April 2 2004

Victory in this weekend’s FA Cup tie will come at a price for Theo Paphitis – and for that he should blame the manager he appointed to bring him success.

In front of a packed press conference, Millwall boss Wise wasted no time in telling the world just what his chairman had verbally offered him as a reward for reaching a place in Europe.
Wise said: “It’s quite interesting because I spoke to Theo after the Burnley game, and I said, ‘What happens if we get to Europe’.
“He said ‘Don’t be stupid’. But I said ‘What happens? We haven’t got anything in our contract about being in Europe and he started laughing’.
“He joked with me that if we get into Europe he’ll take all his clothes off and run around London. So I said ‘Okay, fair enough, can I have that in writing?’ But he hasn’t put it in writing and I’m still waiting for it.”
Amid a flurry of laughter from the audience, Paphitis was forced into a hasty response: “I’m quite happy to do it in Trafalgar Square in the twilight zone.”
So there we are; the pre-cursor to a possible open-top bus celebration has already been selected.
But away from the giggles and jokes, Wise is very keen to stress that defeat at Old Trafford is not an option.
And he should know. The FA Cup has always treated Wise well, from his quarter final appearance as a 20-year-old at Wimbledon through to the three successes he achieved, starting with the Crazy Gang class of 1988 and continuing into the 1997 and 2000 victories with Chelsea.
He even joked that the draw had favoured him this year, and given that a victory over Sunderland would mean the club would have reached the final without facing a single Premiership club, there was more than a ring of truth to it.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to play in four finals where I’ve won three and lost one. The FA Cup has been great for me, and I’ve enjoyed it and it’s great for me now.
“Always the first one gives you most satisfaction. In 1988 when Wimbledon played Liverpool, it gives you most satisfaction because everyone wrote Wimbledon off at the time.
“The FA Cup is a fantastic tournament. It’s a great opportunity for all of us to achieve something. At the moment we haven’t achieved anything.
“We’ve got to the semi finals and are in a play off spot. It’s at the end of the season that we have to sit down and say we’ve achieved something, and the only way we can do that is if we beat Sunderland on Sunday and going all the way in the play offs.”
Unsurprisingly, the cup has provided Wise with his career highlight. It was when he carried his young son Henry up the famous Wembley steps to collect the trophy after captaining Chelsea to glory in 2000.
“That’s probably the most memorable moment of my career”, he added. “I’ve taken my little boy up. I had a great opportunity of doing it and I did it, and I think all the other lads did it but I went first because I was captain.
“It’s fantastic to play in a cup final and be involved in a cup final. The build up to the whole week is great.”
But he is keen to add that there have still been difficulties in adjusting to management this season.
“The hardest part of the job was telling players I’d trained with, played with and known for a year and a half that they weren’t what we wanted, and they weren’t going to get new contracts.
“That was Stuart Nethercott and Ronnie Bull. That was the hardest part, because I went to Ronnie’s little girl’s party and it’s very difficult to do something like that. It’s part and parcel of the job and you have to get on with it.
“I’d spoken to Ronnie about it because he came to see me early, so I went to the party after. Ronnie was and still is a friend of mine. I speak to him now and again and he’s fine. This is life, and this is the way it goes, and sometimes you have to get on with it. It’s difficult.
“I just wanted to be honest with him, and I was, and that’s all he wanted.”
But the help of assistant Ray Wilkins has made such situations all the more tolerable.
“Theo knew I was going to say Ray straight away, and I phoned Ray and asked him and was pleased that he said yes because I don’t think I would have been able to do it without Ray.”