McGhee signs new Den deal

Millwall manager Mark McGhee has signed a new contract tying him to the club until the summer of 2004.

His initial deal at The Den was due to expire at the end of this season but he has been rewarded for guiding the team to the Division Two title last year and overseeing their rise up the First Division table since August.

McGhee's side could go second in the table if they beat Birmingham at home tomorrow night and if he serves the full term of his new contract his four years in charge of Millwall will be longer than he has spent as manager of any other club.

The deal represents a significant step forward for the Scot who spent nearly two years out of football before Lions chairman Theo Paphitis offered him a job 17 months ago.

McGhee, who replaced Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary at Millwall, was sacked from his previous managerial post at Wolves for failing to take them into the Premiership.

Before going to Molineux, he was in charge at Leicester for 12 months and Reading for three years but left in acrimonious circumstances each time as he pursued what he considered to be better opportunities.

While McGhee was out of football after leaving Wolves in he filled his time by running his own business and working as a television pundit.

But his rehabilitation within the game appears to be almost complete today as he is beginning to be associated more with the success he is achieving at Millwall rather than his short-sighted ambition of the past.

McGhee said: "I am enjoying myself and doing quite well but I don't want to be a First Division manager, I want to be a Premier League manager and I have given myself another two years at Millwall to achieve that.

"My situation has moved on but I still want to prove myself here whether it is over three years or five years. I am happy being a manager of Millwall and as long as they are happy with me that will continue to be the case."

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