English League: Anniversaries are often times for reflection and Dennis Wise has spent much of the past week in unusually contemplative mood.
On Wednesday he completed an extraordinarily turbulent year in charge of Leeds United, embracing not only relegation from the Championship but a descent into administration followed by the deduction of 15 points imposed for abuse of the League's financial regulations.
Wise, though, now knows that some clouds really are lined with silver. Paradoxically, when supposedly key individuals began drifting away and his remaining squad went weeks without pay during the summer, things began changing for the better. A further watershed was reached when those 15 points were lost and the former Chelsea and England midfielder's players found a cause worth fighting for.
"Strangely it was fine when people weren't being paid," explained Wise. "It meant I was left with players who really wanted to play for Leeds; before that I had a group who were more worried about money than anything else."
Twelve games into the new campaign Leeds are closing in on an unlikely promotion. They host Millwall - the club Wise led to the 2004 FA Cup final - today, boasting a record of 10 wins and two draws which have seen the manager's local image morph, in the words of one of his coaches, from "Bin Laden into Elvis".
Spiky and feisty, Wise has long been known for not only his refusal to be cowed but a quite possibly magnetic attraction to conflict which, as a player, frequently obscured the intelligence of his passing. This inability to back down has served him well in recent months.
"Last season was a nightmare in every aspect really," he conceded. "People judge you on what they've heard about you, not what you're about but my first six months opened my eyes to a lot of things and has made me a better person. I've tried to stick to my principles but I've learnt a lot about footballers and people in general and the way I deal with situations has changed."
Wise, 41 in December but looking a decade younger, has matured considerably since answering a call from his friend and old Chelsea chairman Ken Bates following Kevin Blackwell's sacking last October.
"I knew the financial side of the club wasn't great and the dressingroom wasn't great," he said. "But Leeds is a massive club and there was my relationship with Ken Bates; we're very close."
Yet if, as for a time seemed likely, Bates had been ousted in the summer, Wise fully anticipated receiving his P45. "If someone else had taken over I knew I was gone," he said. "The perfect situation for a new owner was to get rid of me."
Instead he has survived to welcome Millwall. "I'm looking forward to it. Leeds is a much bigger club than Millwall but I see similarities between the two sets of extremely passionate supporters. They both want to see the same kind of football, they want players to die for them. And they quite enjoy a siege mentality."
A bit like Wise really.
- Guardian Service
