Millwall's two wise men

Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, partnerships do end in disaster. Des O'Connor and his sunlamp are surely the prime example. There are occasions, however, when the two elements come together with outstanding success, as in mint sauce and lamb and Morecambe and Wise.

Not far from the Old Kent Road, in an industrial corner of south London, there is another Wise who is threatening to become one half of another highly successful double act.

Millwall player/manager Dennis Wise and his first-team coach Ray Wilkins are breathing new life into Millwall and come Sunday night, will be in the semi-finals of the FA Cup if they beat Tranmere.

At first sight, there are marked differences between the two main men at The Den. While Wise still has something of the rough diamond about him, Wilkins is more of the sophisticate, invariably immaculate and always polite.

When you scratch the surface, however, you begin to see that this pair have much in common.

First and foremost is their footballing talent. While Wise, at 37, still looks one of the best midfielders outside the Premiership, Wilkins won 84 caps for England and was one of the best of his time.

They both hail from west London, Wilkins, one of six children, from Hayes and Wise from Kensington, and as the former points out: "We're both small."

The similarities, as Wilkins confirms, do not end there.

"We both like to win and we like the game to be played the same way," he said. "Dennis is a little more outward-going than me but we're from similar backgrounds and we agree on most football issues."

The playing careers of the two men overlapped but Wilkins doesn't recall ever playing against Wise.

He said: "I played against Vinnie Jones a couple of times and I do remember that but I don't remember meeting Dennis in a match.

"If I had, I don't believe there would have been a problem between us. We are both competitive in our own ways but I would have played one and two touch before he got close in case he hurt me. I think we would probably have nullified each other."

The other big similarity between the two men is that they have both tried mixing playing with management, Wilkins for a couple of seasons at Queens Park Rangers and now Wise at Millwall.

"It's not easy but the advice I've given Dennis is to keep playing as long as you can - and always to be honest with your players," said Wilkins.

"The biggest problem Dennis has is that, because he was a player first at the club, he's everybody's mate. It was the same for me at QPR and it's difficult, believe me.

"If you're honest, though, you have half a chance. When Dennis has to break some difficult news to a player he has asked me, 'Shall I tell him, Ray?'

"My answer is always 'yes, be honest with them, Dennis, and they will respect you more.'

"I'm always in the office with him when he has to say something difficult to a player. It's good to have some support at a time like that."

For his part, Wise wants his righthand man to be honest with him.

"When my legs go, I want him to be totally honest and tell me so that I don't embarrass myself," he said.

"When I first agreed to give it a go on a temporary basis, I went home to the missus and said 'I'm knackered' because the first thing a new manager is going to do is get rid of me because he would see me as a threat.

"In the end, I decided to take the job permanently and it has gone well up to now. There have been some dodgy moments, though, like when we were 3-0 down at Norwich. I remember turning to Ray and saying 'This is good, this management lark, isn't it?'

"But then I thought, no, we're okay. They've had three shots and scored three goals and we had about 14 players out."

Because Wise still plays, Wilkins takes the coaching for the majority of the week. "Although Dennis does some organising on a Thursday before a Saturday match," Wilkins said. "If he's rested himself, he asks for my opinion and I give it. He then makes his own decisions.

"If he is playing we talk during the game and we both say our bit at half-time. If he's in the team he knows exactly what is going on out there, who is getting tired, who is struggling.

"I've never yet been tempted to advise him to substitute himself. Even when he is struggling, as he did in a game against Burnley recently, he has enough about him to help other people."

Wilkins would one day like to be a manager again. "I'm taking the second part of my coaching qualification this summer and I'd love to have another crack at it," he said.

"In the meantime, though, I'm enjoying every minute of it here at Millwall. It wasn't nice being out of work and thankfully Dennis saw enough of me when I was a coach at Chelsea to want me here with him.

"We have a good bunch of players here. They don't like losing any more than we do. After the defeat at Sheffield United on Tuesday, we didn't have to say too much to them. I just thought 'this lot won't be down for too long.'

"We're all looking forward to Sunday, Dennis, me, the players.

"Football has been good to the two of us but opportunities like Sunday's perhaps won't come along again for some of these players.

"We're all determined to enjoy it."

  • Millwall v Tranmere, FA Cup quarter-final, The Den, Sunday, 1pm (Live on BBC1)

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