Known for being a hard man on the field of play, Dennis Wise enjoyed a great footballing career – both as player, manager, and director. He is revered by Chelsea FC fans as the best part of his career as a football player was with them. He rose through the ranks and became the football club’s captain before terminating his contract with the club.
In 2017, he alongside other big shot celebrities entered the jungle for the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here reality TV show. Unfortunately for Wise, he couldn’t make the distance.
Who is Dennis Wise?
Born December 16, 1966, in Kensington, England, Wise is a retired English footballer and manager. He is also a former director at Newcastle United.
He started his footballing from the Youth team at Southampton. In 1985, he was signed by Wimbledon as a pro footballer. In his five years at Wimbledon, he made 135 appearances, scoring 27 goals. Meanwhile, his first season at Wimbledon was spent on loan at the Swedish club, Grebbestads IF. The “Crazy Gang” as they were fondly called, was responsible for giving Wimbledon FC the FA Cup title in 1988, against favorites, Liverpool FC. Wise gave the assist that Lawrie Sanchez converted in that epic encounter. His prolific skill attracted Chelsea FC to sign him for a club record fee of £1.6 million, in 1990.
While at Chelsea, he became famous for his dogged, no-nonsense, and skillful approach to football. In his first season, he scored an amazing 13 goals in 44 games – an impressive feat for a midfielder. He went on to score 63 goals in 401 appearances. During his fruitful spell at Chelsea FC, Dennis Wise won two FA Cup titles, a League Cup, and a Cup Winners Cup – with 22 caps for the English national team. His stay at Chelsea FC was not completely without some squabbles outside the field of play as he served 3-month jail time in 1995, for assaulting a taxi driver.
After his days with Chelsea FC came to an end, with him making the fourth most appearances in the club’s history, he was sold to Leicester City on 25 June 2001. He also had spells at Millwall (as player-manager), Southampton (as player and caretaker manager), and Coventry (where he ended his playing career at the age of 40!). Denis Wise had a short full-time management spell at Leeds United between 2006 and 2008, before completely calling it quits.
For his contributions to the beautiful game of football, he bagged the Chelsea Player of the Season Awards in 1998 and 2000. He also took home the Alan Hardaker Trophy for being the Man of the Match in the EFL Cup final of 1998, where Chelsea FC ran out two nil winners over Middlesbrough.
Who are the Wife and Children?
Dennis Wise got married to Claire Wise in 2004. She had been touted as the brain behind his retirement from active football. They have two wonderful children; Henry and Amber Wise. He tries as much as he can to keep a private family life.
Stint At The Reality TV Show
After spending a somewhat quiet life after retirement, Wise popped up in the scenes in 2017 for the UK reality TV series, “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!”. He was in the show alongside fellow Chelsea FC legend, Georgia Toffolo – who ended up becoming the winner.
After narrowly missing out on a spot the final bout, Dennis was eliminated on the 19th day. He was the 6th celebrity to be evicted from the jungle. His expedition got the full support of his family even though he was shocked when he got the invitation, owing to the fact he hadn’t been on the spotlight for a long time. Dennis Wise saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity and felt privileged to be chosen as one of the celebrities for the show that year.
He admitted that though his friends thought he was crazy going into the show, it became something that added spice to the fun they have together.
How Tall is Dennis Wise?
He might be 5 feet 5 inches tall, but he doesn’t allow anyone to intimidate him with it. Wise was always squaring up to players taker and even bigger than him. He was famous for going head-on with Patrick Vieira I’m an aerial challenge back in 2001.
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