Honeymoon over

By Stephen 18
February 18 2005

Stephen Eighteen of the Southwark News looks at the precarious situation that Millwall player-boss Dennis Wise suddenly finds himself in. Just a while ago, he was proclaimed a hero. Yet in some fans' eyes his certainly less popular than he once was.

If a week is a long time at most football clubs, it must be an eternity at Millwall.

It is not even approaching the 52 mark since Dennis Wise was proclaimed by many as the best manager in the club’s history, yet here we are with a contingent of supporters already calling for his head.

In the same breath we have Jeff Burnige. A fortnight ago he was the peoples' director, a week later he became the peoples' chairman, and all of a sudden he is now on an almighty collision course with Wise about money.

Honeymoons are traditionally short in football, but the cases of Wise and Burnige have all the length of a goldfish’s memory.

Given Wise's less than harmonious relationship with the media over the years, it is no surprise that he is seldom keen to stoke up controversies in after match press conferences.

His usual approach is to accentuate the positives and deal with the negatives behind closed doors.

It is a tactic regularly used by Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, and certainly helps to foster a spirit of togetherness at a football club.

So it came as an astonishing turnaround to hear Wise not only criticising Burnige for telling him that there would be no money available for new signings, but to openly state that the pair are at 'conflict'.

Wise was speaking after the goalless draw at Gillingham, and having been subject to some abuse by the travelling Millwall fans, one could suggest that he was letting rip in the heat of the moment.

But this was not the case. Wise spoke articulately, calmly and appeared incredibly relaxed and controlled.

Furthermore, his outburst was followed by a number of other measured statements along similar lines during the early stages of this week.

Clearly, he used the media to bring across exactly what concerns he had about the club's future and opened up an almighty can of worms in the process.

“This wasn't in the brochure when I signed up,” Wise said.
“We felt we were going to have a good chance at getting promoted this year, but all of a sudden, things have changed.

“Jeff wants to focus on bringing youngsters up through the ranks. But if you don't have enough quality coming through, then you have to look elsewhere.
“All the teams around us are bringing in new players. And our strategy could cost us promotion.
“I have spoken to the board for the past six to eight weeks and have been trying to get players in.

“I said that now is the most important time to get loans in. It won’t cost a lot of money to bring in three loan players in. I feel that we could get players in but he feels we can’t.

“Is that conflict? Maybe, yes.

“Everyone knows Theo is leaving and we might not get the same privileges we've had the past eight years.”

For Wise to speak out in such strong terms against a newly announced chairman who is still three months away from entering the job firmly sets down his stance.

Wise is not happy with the appointment. He has grave concerns about the direction the club is heading, and if relations do not improve, it appears that a parting of ways could occur in the foreseeable future.

But why are these statements being made now, as opposed to the close season?

Burnige is meant to take charge in the summer, isn’t he?

Given that Wise wants new faces immediately, surely he would be better off directing his criticism towards current chairman Theo Paphitis, who we are told is still in charge of money matters until the end of the campaign.

If he did, it is a good bet that Paphitis would point out that after reaching the FA Cup Final last season, the club still struggled to break even.

He would probably also state that the Den is half full most weeks, and even if it was packed to the rafters regularly, a profit would be reluctant in coming.

Then Paphitis would protest that of the £1.5 million received for Tim Cahill in the summer, nearly half was spent on Scott Dobie, and the wage bills of former Premiership players Barry Hayles, Jody Morris and Danny Dichio represent additional cash that has to be found from somewhere.

Paphitis could further mention the annual £1 million that the club invests in the youth academy – a scheme that Wise himself backed when he was appointed manager last season.

But maybe Wise has a point. Maybe he has conducted some research, done the maths and deduced that cash should still be available from the Cahill sale.

Perhaps he has studied the abundance of outgoing loans, looked at the latest wage bill and worked out that a couple of temporary signings could still be afforded.

If so, then why is Burnige being brought into it, and why has it taken his first real grilling from his own fans for Wise to focus on the issue with so much venom?

A cynic could suggest that once the tide has turned, it is imperative that you get out into safer waters, and by publicising a behind closed doors unrest at a time when supporters are showing signs of impatience, Wise is clearing the path into another club with his reputation intact.

But Wise has made too many friends and won over too many doubters since arriving at Millwall two-and-a-half years ago for it to be deemed plausible that he should want to walk away with so many ambitions to achieve at the Den.

The stance from the hierarchy on this issue is one of silence. Neither Paphits nor Burnige are prepared to comment on Wise’s comments.

However, it is unlikely that we have heard the last of the debate. This one is set to run and run.