RIP Dave Finch
A Wanderers supporter for as long as I can remember, and co-author of the superb history of the club with @Steve_Peart .
Condolences to his family and friends.
11
A Wanderers supporter for as long as I can remember, and co-author of the superb history of the club with @Steve_Peart .
Condolences to his family and friends.
Comments
Very sad news. RIP Dave
Dreadful news.
Condolences to his friends and family.
A great loss to the Wycombe community
Lovely man, great supporter. He’ll be sadly missed.
Very sad. A true giant among Wycombe supporters.
Sincere condolences to his family and friends.
Very sad news indeed. The book you mention is a fantastic chronicling of WWFC's history, Dave also wrote many articles in the match day programme for many years with accounts of matches from days gone by that I remember fondly. RIP Dave
That’s very sad news. Dave and Lynden have been totally committed supporters of the football club for as long as I can remember. A truly devoted and lovely couple .
Our paths have only crossed briefly in recent years but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the beautiful photographs on Facebook taken on their regular walks during that time.
My sincere condolences to Lynden and all her family and friends.
I’ve known Dave and Lynden since the early 60s in Loudwater. It was always a highlight of away matches when they would come up north and we had a few minutes to get together. Dave’s knowledge of the blues history since the 60s is unparalleled.
Lynden , I will miss catching up with you and Dave, hopefully we will be able to catch up again soon.
What terribly sad news.
Very sad news, condolences to Lynden and the rest of the family. RIP Dave.
That’s really sad news... 🥺
A massive loss to the club and community. RIP
Damn, that's terrible news.
The untimely passing of Dave is a huge loss to his wife Lynden, his children Sarah and David, and his grandchildren, and my condolences go to them.
I first got to know Dave in the late 80s/early 90s when, along with Adrian Wood and Rob Cairney, we produced the matchday programme. When we were promoted to the Football League, we realised that we did not have a fully documented history of the club with line-ups, so we decided it was time to publish one. For the next two years we would spend a lot of time on the microfiche machines at Wycombe library, Dave more so then me, poring over the Bucks Free Press reports and news. Dave was responsible for all of the stats.
Dave, as the club's official statistician, was a stickler for accuracy. I remember when we had beaten Bournemouth 3-2 away in 95-96, and two goals were credited to John Williams. Dave knew that Williams had not touched the ball for the first, it was an own goal, confirmed on video. Dave was quite certain it should go down as an own goal in the programme but manager Alan Smith was having none of it. Williams was having a lean spell in front of goal and Smith wanted to boost his confidence, so Dave reluctantly had to give way. Once Smith had departed, Dave made sure the goal was recorded as an own goal.
I always looked forward to conversations with Dave, he told it as it was, strong opinions, no mincing of words, and with a great sense of humour. He liked his football team to be on the front foot, attackers taking on defenders, not passing sideways and backwards. That led to a spell when his attention wandered to football away from Adams Park, but he was always a Chairboy through and through, ever since his first game in 1964. He was a a well travelled football groundhopper, in all four home nations, and also for cricket and speedway. For many years Dave was a member of Surrey CCC and Bucks CCC, and I will always have the memory of our trip to see Bucks play Suffolk at Copdock a few weeks ago. Lovely weather, beautiful ground, excellent company, Bucks lost but still made it to the final. Dave wanted to go to West Bromwich for the final but circumstances didn't allow. He was so pleased that Bucks won the championship.
Dave was someone I looked up to and admired, as a great historian of the club and as a person. I will sorely miss him.
I didn't know Dave but i'd love to read the book where can i get it??
Lovely tribute, sorry for your loss, and condolences to friends and family
Sad news, a really great guy. My first regular seat on a season ticket for the 1992/93 season was in front of him by the players' tunnel.
Always said a friendly hello whenever we met, be it at Wycombe or another local team.
@Robin, Wycombe library had a copy, hopefully still do. They come up for sale occasionally on eBay. There are some currently for sale on second hand sites if you search. Amazon has a used one for £15.99 - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wycombe-Wanderers-1887-1996-Official-History/dp/1874427763
Oh no my deepest condolences.
Very sad news indeed
Unless my wife has thrown it out while I wasn't looking, I have a copy which I would be happy to lend you. PM me.
This is really sad news, he was such a genuine, warm person. Condolences to his family.
Very sad news to take in. Dave was a diehard fan but also a “proper Chairboy”. Although now retired, Dave line of work was real Wycombe - he was an upholsterer and worked for several local firms & was well known in the trade.
Particularly at cricket in the summer we’d swap stories of groundhopping adventures & he’d always have the answer as to how to get to the most obscure grounds - be they in England, Scotland or Wales. His knowledge of WW was enormous & I shall miss our conversations be they at cricket or football. My condolences to Dave’s family, a very sad day.
Very sad news. I shall miss our post match conversations. To steal @Steve_Peart’s words; ‘he told it as it was, strong opinions, no mincing of words, and with a great sense of humour.’
Deepest condolences to all that knew and loved him
To be honest I am still struggling to comprehend this incredibly sad news. I don't think it's sunk in yet.
Dave and I share a real passion for Wycombe Wanderers and football and despite being from different generations, bonded as two statto's together. We discussed and debated current matches and aspects of our history several times, often passionately and thinking back to those times now I am reminded just how fun it was.
Both Lynden and Dave have showed such great kindness to me over the years. Lynden and I have both had our battles with Cancer and every time we meet she greets me with such a warm smile.
Dave, completely off his own bat, posted every single Wycombe Wanderers line-up from 1887-1990 to me, whilst I was living in Workington. I might have been living 300 miles away but every time I came home to find another envelope waiting for me, it felt like I was back in the Chair Metropolis, at Adams Park. A few years later his generosity shone again when he gifted me a significant number of Wycombe Wanderers programmes to add to my collection. I cherish them and they mean even more to me now.
Dave is THE Wycombe Wanderers statto. He leaves such a huge legacy, especially with the wonderfully crafted history book co-written with @Steve_Peart, published in 1996. I can remember the day I bought the book and it is by far the one I've read the most. It brings the history of the club alive, vividly sharing all of the stories over a century and more. Some once lost to history, they are now our history.
I'd like to send my heartfelt condolences to Lynden, Sarah and David, his family and all of his many friends.
Rest in Peace Dave. I will miss you.
Lovely words mate
Tough times right now, but hope I bump into you soon.
Welcome to the Gasroom Lynden, and the biggest of condolences for your loss. If there's anything the Wycombe fan community can do to help then do let us know.