Dennis Wise

Wimbledon

Wise started his career as an apprentice with Southampton, but was left without a club after he fell out with manager Lawrie McMenemy. He moved to Wimbledon on 28 March 1985 at the age of 18 on a free transfer and made his debut under manager Dave Bassett. During the autumn of 1985, Wise was loaned to Swedish non-league club Grebbestads IF. He returned to Plough Lane following his loan spell and helped the club gain promotion to the Football League First Division in 1986. In his first season in the First Division, Wise scored four goals in 27 starts as the club defied the critics and finished the season in sixth place. He was a member of the infamous Wimbledon "Crazy Gang" that reached the 1988 FA Cup Final. On 12 March 1988, he provided the free-kick from which Brian Gayle headed in the clinching goal against Watford to secure passage to the semi-finals of the FA Cup. In Wimbledon's semi-final match against Luton Town on 9 April, he scored the winner as they reached the final with a 2–1 victory. In the final on 14 May, he played an influential role in defeating heavy favourites Liverpool at Wembley, containing winger John Barnes and supplying the cross from a free kick from which Lawrie Sanchez headed home the winning goal. Wimbledon were unable to compete in the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup, due to the ongoing ban on English teams from European competitions, following the actions of a group of Liverpool supporters in the 1985 European Cup Final…

Wise made his England debut on 1 May 1991 and scored the game's only goal as England defeated Turkey in a Euro 92 qualifying match at the İzmir Atatürk Stadium. Following a good season, Wise was expected to be included in the final squad for the 1996 European Championships held in England but just missed out on a place in Terry Venables' squad. Despite leading Chelsea to victories in the 1998 Football League Cup Final and the 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final, Wise was passed over by former Chelsea manager Glenn Hoddle for a place in the England squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He earned a recall to the England team in 1999, after four years away from the national setup, playing in the match against Belgium. He followed this up with an impressive performance against Argentina on 23 February 2000, as the sides drew 0–0 at Wembley. He featured in three of the four friendly matches for England in the build-up to the Euro 2000 tournament in the Netherlands and Belgium and was subsequently included in the final squad by manager Kevin Keegan. He came on as a second-half substitute for Steve McManaman in England's first match on 12 June 2000, his first competitive international in almost nine years, but England threw away a 2–0 lead and were defeated 2–3 by Portugal. He started England's next match against Germany and was praised for his part in the 1–0 win, England's first over Germany in a major tournament since the final of the 1966 World Cup. He started England's final group…

Swindon Town

On 22 May 2006, Wise was appointed Swindon Town player-manager on a three-year contract, with ex-Chelsea teammate Gus Poyet as his assistant. He won six out of seven games and topped the League Two table with 18 points after a 2–0 away win against Chester City on 1 September. He was awarded the Manager of the Month award for August. On 24 October, Wise left Swindon to join Leeds United, leaving the club third in the league, with thirty-one points from fifteen games.

Leeds United

On 20 September 2006, Wise was linked with the vacant Leeds United managerial post, following the sacking of Kevin Blackwell. On 21 October, Swindon gave Wise and Poyet, permission to speak to Leeds, following their request. However, talks broke down between the clubs when they were unable to agree a suitable financial package and on 23 October, Swindon withdrew permission for Leeds to talk with the pair; in a bid to keep hold of them, the club offered them both significantly improved terms. Later that day, Swindon confirmed that they had reached a suitable financial settlement package with Leeds for Wise and Poyet and that they looked set to join. Following the successful negotiation of acceptable compensation in line with the expectations of Swindon Town, on 24 October, Wise, Poyet and Andrew Beasley joined Leeds United as manager, assistant manager and goalkeeping coach respectively. On the evening of his arrival, Wise watched from the stands at Elland Road as Leeds…

Club

International

Score and result list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Wise goal.