Dennis WISE

The appointment of Ruud Gullit as player/manager was a significant step forward for Chelsea and the arrival of foreign superstars Roberto Di Matteo, Gianluca Vialli, Frank Leboeuf and, three months into the 1996/97 season, Gianfranco Zola, gave added impetus to a club on the up. As with Gullit a year earlier, Dennis took the new imports under his wing and charmed them with his wit and wisdom. They, in turn, helped Dennis improve his grasp of the English language! Gullit's team gave the Stamford Bridge supporters some moments of sheer delight as the Blues embarked on the most successful period in the club's history. An early-season clash at Highbury saw Wisey score Chelsea's last-gasp equaliser in a 3-3 draw. There were, however, two other six-goal clashes in which Chelsea were beaten, 5-1 at Liverpool and 4-2 at home to Wimbledon (with Dennis a surprise substitute), but perhaps the turning-point was the October death of club vice-chairman Matthew Harding in a helicopter accident.

Hit hard by the tragedy, Wise and Gullit's response was to galvanise the squad into believing that it was their duty to win a trophy for Harding. League form steadily improved with impressive wins at Old Trafford and against Liverpool at home being followed by a six-goal salvo against Sunderland and the obligatory league double over Tottenham as Chelsea clinched sixth spot. However, the season didn't end there as Chelsea reached the FA Cup final. Wisey had scored the first goal of the cup campaign as West Bromwich Albion were beaten 3-0 in the third round and, having despatched Liverpool, Leicester City, Portsmouth and Wimbledon, on 17th May 1997 Dennis became the first Chelsea captain to lift a major trophy at Wembley (see photo above, enjoying the moment with Gianluca Vialli) after Chelsea beat Middlesbrough 2-0 to end their 26-year hoodoo. (Kelvin Barker)

Further star players were added to the squad in the summer of 1997 but Wisey remained pivotal to the team. He scored his first of the season in a 4-2 win over Southampton and had helped guide the Blues to second place in the Premiership and into the semi-finals and quarter-finals of the Coca-Cola Cup and European Cup Winners' Cup respectively when it was suddenly announced that Ruud Gullit had been dismissed in a row over a new contract. Gianluca Vialli took over the reigns and within weeks was leading Chelsea out at Wembley for the Coca-Cola Cup final, where Middlesbrough were again the opponents. Pitted against his old mate Andy Townsend, Dennis was magnificent but he saved his best for Boro debutant Paul Gascoigne, a second-half substitute, twice nutmegging the baffled Geordie in the middle of the pitch to the delight of the crowd. Chelsea again won 2-0, although extra-time was required on this occasion, and it was Wisey's superb cross that enabled Frank Sinclair to open the scoring. Trophy number three followed hot on the heels of that Wembley win after the Blues overturned a 2-0 deficit to beat Italian side Vicenza in the ECWC semi-final.

The final against Stuttgart was played in Stockholm and appeared to be heading for stalemate when Dennis' perceptive pass found substitute Gianfranco Zola and the little Sardinian lashed home the only goal of the game just 17 seconds after entering the fray. Three trophies in twelve months, Dennis' arms were starting to ache. Further team reinforcements saw Chelsea turn in an impressive performance throughout 1998/99, losing just three league matches throughout the campaign. Wisey had his hands on another trophy early in the season after the Blues beat Real Madrid to clinch the European Super Cup but there were also frustrations; namely three red cards, one for an awful lunge on Aston Villa's Darren Byfield, who had irritated the Chelsea players with a string of dives during a League Cup match which the Blues were, nevertheless, winning 4-1 at the time of Wisey's dismissal. Chelsea failed to defend either of their trophies but a third-place finish saw them qualify for the following season's Champions League, where Dennis truly excelled. (Kelvin Barker)

 In his tenth season with the club, 1999/2000, Wisey's performances reached previously unseen heights as he showed that he had the skills to perform on the biggest stage of all. After a shaky start to the European campaign, the Blues turned things around with consecutive wins over Galatasaray, Dennis being amongst the scorers as Chelsea won the away match by an incredible 5-0 scoreline. Two weeks later he latched onto Di Matteo's long pass to slide home the goal that clinched a draw against AC Milan in the San Siro, and launched a tribute song which was regularly sung around Stamford Bridge long after the little man had departed, and he also scored the only goal of the game as Marseilles were beaten at the Bridge. Hell, he even scored with a towering far-post header in a 3-1 away win over Feyenoord! The Blues eventually succumbed to Barcelona in the last eight but, despite a turgid league campaign, lifted another trophy (see photo above, baby in one hand trophy in the other!  Photo Nigel French  ©) when they defeated Aston Villa at Wembley in the FA Cup final, Dennis accruing two goals and one red card en-route.

Having figured in England's disappointing Euro 2000 campaign, Wisey was back up the famous Wembley steps at the beginning of the 2000/01 season as Chelsea beat Manchester United to lift the Charity Shield, but manager Vialli was surprisingly sacked just weeks later and new boss Claudio Ranieri was brought in with the specific task of lowering the age of the squad. Dennis was the top appearance maker that season but was often played out of position and it was an open secret that manager and captain did not see eye to eye. The last of his three goals that year came in a 2-1 win at Manchester City on the season's final day and was celebrated by an emotional finger-wagging in Ranieri's direction. That summer Dennis Wise joined Leicester City for £1.6 million (the exact amount the club had paid for him eleven years earlier) and when the following season's fixtures were announced, it was noticeable that the home clash with Leicester, previously one of the less-appealing matches in the Chelsea calendar, was sold out within days. Wisey returned to a hero's welcome and a presentation from a tearful Ken Bates. Bates cried, Wise cried, the tea-ladies cried, and the middle-aged Chelsea fans who had once been the scourge of the land.... well they cried too. Cheers Wisey. Legend! (Kelvin Barker)