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(London) W**ps

The parasites have finally hit the buffers.


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  • Does anyone still admit to believing Booker was a good idea?

    I'm certain some still do quietly.

  • Proves you can’t move a British club miles from its original home and expect it to work. Let’s hope MK are not far behind.

    Could Coventry City buy the Ricoh back and kick Wasps out. The administrators will listen to offers for sure.

    Wasps should move back to North London where they originated and play at The Hive which has plans in place to expand to 8500 and beyond.

    Can you imagine the mess we would be in at Booker and not owning anything

  • We had a very close call with this lot. Thankfully just enough supporters didn’t get sucked in by the claims that Wasps’ arrival would bring nothing but benefits.

  • I know one particular Sky Sports employee who may do.

  • Never ever sell your ground whatever the money offered.

  • Administration? That has to sting.

  • By coincidence I finally managed to get rid of a wasps nest in my garden yesterday!

  • Was the worst thing to happen to our club when they moved in. They diluted the identity of WWFC in Wycombe and ruined our pitch.

    Never forgot how the local council used to fawn over them as well. They always seemed to be promoted as the No 1 sports club in Wycombe.

  • Don't worry about the money.

    Wasps are a financial benefit to the club and area.


    Roll on a few years.

    The money was in fact a worry

    Wasps impact was declared "financially neutral".


    Brilliant.

  • Isn’t Wasps going into administration more a sign of another sport massively overspending? Worcester are in a similar boat and others close. The franchise nature of Wasps must make them more vulnerable as they can’t really have a fanbase

  • The money spent at the time wasn't in fact a worry,Malone. The inability of the club to fund itself immediately after Hayes ceased funding it was. It maybe an inconvenient fact but fact nonetheless that there must be a significant doubt whether WWFC would still be a league club without the money Hayes put in (and with the finances in the Conference at the time, even still a Conference level club) .

    Wasps initially were a contributor to the club but towards the end of Hayes's time the finances of the two entities became effectively merged with Hayes funding both from his resources. As such whether Wasps were here or not only made a financial difference to Hayes pocket.

    Looks like Wasps get average gates of around 10,000 at Coventry. Rugby needs more players than football and TV audiences (and hence deals) are not great so it is hard to see how professional club rugby can ever be financially sustainable without central funding

  • Did you manage to write that 2nd sentence immediately following that 1st sentence with a straight face?

  • The money was implied to be an act of benefactor kindness, but was actually just racking up a debt, a debt that some would say was purposely racked up to then put the club in a no win position of having to be signed over to Hayes.


    Who can forget that dreadful summer, one that should have been one of celebration post promotion, where the dilemma of "giz me the club or enjoy administration" meant we were fishing around in the bottom end of the market, and utterly ruined our next season, as well as obviously longer term issues.

  • A very close call indeed. Hard to believe it's close to 12 years since the campaign to stop the move to Booker was started, I dread to think where we'd be now if it hadn't succeeded.

  • It's quite the assertion that WWFC would have been relegated to the Conference without Hayes running up debts to himself in the club's behalf during the period of his reign. A citation may be required for that one.

    The problems the club had financing itself immediately after Hayes left were well documented by WWST at the time, the reputation of the club at financial institutions was in the gutter after his reign finished, resulting in the perennial working capital shortfalls that hamstrung the club for many years afterwards.

  • Oh no! Who left the @DevC door open? His Steve Hayes/Wasps commentary gets let in every year or so and never changes.

  • I liked ‘rugby needs more players than football’. Like hearing a greatest hits album

    There are more than twice as many professional footballers in the UK compared to rugby players.

    It is fact though. You are correct sir

  • My apologies if you didn't understand the point I was making @Right_in_the_Middle . I perhaps could have worded it better. Rugby clubs need more players than equivalent sized football clubs by nature of the game - more players on field at any one time, more substitutions, more injuries. This obviously impacts on funding professional rugby clubs. I have no reason to doubt that there are more professional (and semi - professional) football teams than rugby teams and hence more professional football players overall. Not sure that is overly relevant however.

    As is already the case with this thread, any discussion of Hayes does tend to stray fairly quickly into personal abuse. For what it is worth given the state of football finances at the time in the lower two divisions of the league and especially the Conference, I think there would have been very little prospect of WWFC remaining in the football league without financing from Hayes or another party and probably not in the Conference ether. Other views are available.

  • I feel this is a double edged sword.

    I completely understand everyone's view over the de-valueing, distraction & damage that Wasps did to our foundation as a club. I think that Steve Hayes' miss-management of both clubs caused the very quick downward trend, which thankfully we have bounced back (after some worrying times) whereas Wasps have ignored prior warnings and kept going as they think they should.

    Wasps were able to attract the crowds because of the previous success from England's World Cup win and the fact that most of those players would visit at least twice a year and that was a massive draw.

    However, I think the local community has missed their presence. I remember being at many school, sports and community events where their mascot and players often attended and there was an interested in having them around. They added to the occasion and actively improved their presence the longer they stayed and when they upped and left, it did leave a big void that I don't think has been filled.

  • edited September 2022

    Thank you @DevC for mansplaining that rugby teams have 15 players and football team 11 players. I feel suitably enriched.

  • I thought it was a fairly obvious and uncontroversial point too @Right_in_the_Middle so I was a little surprised you challenged it (unless of course you were seeking confrontation). So we agree on the below statement (with the words in capitals being amendments to clarify the apparent misunderstanding?)

    Looks like Wasps get average gates of around 10,000 at Coventry. Rugby CLUBS needs more players than football CLUBS and TV audiences (and hence deals) are not great so it is hard to see how professional club rugby can ever be financially sustainable without central funding

  • Sorry but no. It all depends on how much players earn and how much funding is coming in to the game. The numbers of players is totally irrelevant.

    All sports clubs need to balance this. If you spend more on players (whether two superstars or a massive squad) you need the income to support it.

  • But they shouldn't have been in HW in the first place, let alone been elevated by the council to the status of Wycombe's top sports club (even if only implicitly).

  • edited September 2022

    Some have suggested Dev takes the opposite view in every situation as a very subtle form of trolling.

    Outrageous accusation I'd say.

  • edited September 2022

    Although not our direct concern But we are all part of the footballing family, I wonder if this impacts at all on Coventry City ?

    heaven knows that club has been messed about enough over the last few years

    If wasps go into administration or worse will that once again affect the viability of playing sport at the Ricoh Arena ?

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