WISE SPEAKS UP FOR CAGED FOOTBALL PAL Dennis to defence of under-age sex coach

DENNIS Wise has spoken up for a former coach who was jailed for having sex with an under-age girl.

The ex-England star risks a backlash from I’m A Celebrity viewers over his controversial view, which he shared in his autobiography.

The 50-year-old last week admitted he signed up for the ITV series to win over fans.

But in comments that are likely to shock, he defended a pal for making “one mistake”.

During his years playing for

Chelsea he saw his team’s coach

Graham Rix jailed for having sex with a 15-year-old fan and indecently assaulting her six weeks earlier.

Rix was imprisoned for 12 months. He served six of them and was placed on the sex offenders’ register and banned from training youth players.

Dennis wrote in his book: “Despite how it looks and what the facts say, I can assure you all is not how it seemed. “Graham is not an evil man, he just made a mistake. A stupid mistake.”

When Chelsea’s then-chief exec Colin Hutchinson vowed to re-employ Rix after he left jail, there was outrage from some fans.

One dad wrote a letter to Dennis and chairman Ken Bates saying he was appalled by the decision. Recalling it, Dennis said: “He said he had a 15-yearold daughter and found it abhorrent that the club could keep faith with a man who had committed such a crime.

“He explained that he had dumped his season ticket and would not be going back to Chelsea because of the stand they had taken.

“What I would say to him now is this: if he had known the full story then maybe his view might have been different. You shouldn’t lose everything you have worked for in life because of one mistake.”

Rix claimed at the time there were “mitigating circumstances” in the case. When he left jail he rejoined Chelsea, later working for clubs including Portsmouth.