Best Of

Permanent departure after 20 years, which included a brief hiatus at Col U that we now know was always intended as an opportunity for him to learn before replacing Gaz. I think most reasonable people would see that as significant enough to at least merit some meaningful acknowledgement on the club social feeds and website.

Don't blame you for ditching social Twitter/X. Jack Grimmer posted a fairly bland comment (copied below) a full day after the news was confirmed. I don't know Jack but I consider it highly unlikely he'd want to wait so long to make some sort of comment. It seems reasonable to conclude he was in some way 'guided' by the club as to what he could or couldn't say.

Likewise, staff in the clubs media team are friends of Matt, long time supporters of the club and understand what an important figurehead he was for many people. I'd bet every penny I have that they would have wanted to issue some more meaningful communication to supporters.

Even if the ownership felt, for whatever reason, that Matt has mishandled the exit process somehow, it would have done no harm for them to allow him to make a parting statement on the club website.

All the very best Gaffer! 🙌🏼

Has given everything for the Club over 20+ years and will always be a legend 🪑 @wwfcofficial

From his interviews it sounds like making him feel wanted at Wycombe would have been a start

Your facts about Bloomfield are absolutely spot on but you conventionally forgot a number of other facts why he’s gone to Luton. Larger salary, longer contract , higher division , better quality players, most playing in the Premiership last year, bigger crowds, a new 20,000 stadium being built and closer to home. Pretty compelling factors. It was clear from the CEO of Luton interview , they have done extensive research using data ( seems to be a dirty word for some posters) to target Bloomfield. Not certain what we could have done as a club to stop Bloomfield going. The same as we couldn’t stop Ainsworth going. Bloomfield may be Mr. Wycombe but he is a young ambitious manager who wants to secure his family’s future and manage at the highest level. Unfortunately being realistic but we can all dream, he’s not going to achieve that at Wycombe.

Yep. Didn't we introduce the data collection in the undershirt tops under Gaz? Ahead of many other clubs, leading to one rival manager moaning they were dangerous or suchlike?

JJ is such a good interviewee - always thoughtful and eloquent.

We will get a head coach, they’ll have some input into player recruitment but their choices will be dependent upon the data model/ analytics thingy because that’s what the owner wants his game his rules.

But look nobody is the absolute villain in this even if we had all the information.

This old tweet from Danny Bloomfield made me laugh - a different one to the famous deleted one, referencing a generic peppy letter written after the Villa game that didn't actually mention Blooms or the players.

It's only, as far as I recall, happened with this and Fred leaving.

Maybe someone in the media team just really hates Luton. Something we can all surely understand and get behind.

I have been unusually tied up with work these past few days so haven’t really had chance to contribute to the discussions.

Reading back through most of the comments I am reminded what a (generally) respectful community exists on this site as there have been some very strong and real emotions expressed and although these have been occasionally questioned very little has been dismissed completely out of hand.

Of course there will be differences in opinions and theories as to why a popular manager should choose to leave, for a ‘better’ club (that hurts to say but I do get that logic from @flymofrank’s arguments) halfway through a highly successful season.

For some it is easy to see as ‘just football’ and in the absence of any concrete evidence to the contrary I am envious of them. I really wish I could see what they see and just move on.

For those supporters, Wycombe Wanderers FC are fast-forwarding to a place where we can (apparently) pay €1 million euros for a midfielder few of us knew existed a week or so and can realistically dream of playing Championship football in the relatively near future.

It must be incredibly exciting for them to support Wycombe Wanderers FC at this pivotal moment in our 141 year (or 138 if you prefer*) history.

I really, really wish I could feel like that about our club at the moment.

But I can’t.

For me, a lot of things that mattered to me about supporting the club - the values, the culture of the last few years, the community essence of Wycombe Wanderers have seemingly been allowed to dissipate in a very short period and for me that hurts inside.

I do get that with a billionaire owner its pretty inevitable that’s what we are going to get and perhaps the pay off (a successful Championship level - give or take - team and a cracking Academy) will make it feel worthwhile.

But at the moment I feel as detached from what I always considered as ‘my’ club as I have ever done.

When we were under Hayes ownership I felt similar until the shock of Torquay reminded me that the existence of the club itself meant more to me than whoever happened to be paying (or not paying) the bills.

On a counter-argument though I am reminded of the schism that happened within the club in the later Loakes Park years between the more traditional board members who wanted financial stability and steady progression and those who believed now was the time to speculate to propel us forward. The latter won the argument leading to some of our greatest years so perhaps I’m just the wrong side of history.

I hope so.

Regardless, I will be at Mansfield hoping for three points (albeit expecting to lose 2-0).

For those of you who have read this far apologies for taking up your time. Writing it was a little cathartic and my thanks to everyone who makes this site such a safe space that I feel comfortable venting at such length.

*That debate we had on here a week or so ago over whether we formed in 1884 or 1887 now feels like it happened in a different lifetime/timeline.

Is JJ in the know?