Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary, Millwall
Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary were appointed at Millwall with sentiment firmly attached. Both had strong connections to the club as former players, and Theo Paphitis clearly hoped they could transfer that bond into a successful management structure.
Stevens was initially manager with McLeary as assistant, before McLeary was elevated to co-manager. There were enough encouraging signs to keep the idea alive. Millwall reached the Auto Windscreens Shield final at Wembley, losing 1-0 to Wigan Athletic, and then finished fifth in the league the following season.
The play-offs brought more frustration. Wigan beat them again, this time over two legs in the semi-final, and the sense grew that Millwall were close but not quite close enough. A poor start to the 2000/01 campaign brought the end for Stevens and McLeary, with Mark McGhee appointed in their place.
What followed made the previous regime look weaker. McGhee quickly turned Millwall into the division’s strongest side, and they won the title with room to spare. That does not mean Stevens and McLeary were failures in every sense, because they had taken the club to Wembley and into the play-offs, but football is brutal when the next man finishes the job immediately.