A tweet that’s just appeared on the Kaspi.kz Twitter feed:
After receiving consent from the English Football League, Mikhail Lomtadze (@m_lomtadze) became a member of the board of directors and partner of the English football club Wycombe Wanderers, on the basis of which a world-class football academy with branches in Kazakhstan and England will be established within 3 years. The total amount of investments in Kazakhstan will be more than 10 billion tenge.
Mikhail commented:
"It is my personal dream to create a professional world-class children's football academy in Kazakhstan and England, where the best and most talented young football players and future stars can be brought up. Training at the academy will be completely free, and young athletes will have the opportunity to study with the best coaches of our country and the homeland of football - England.
Football is the most popular and spectacular sport with great potential for improving sportsmanship, and is a source of pride in many countries. I am sure that our football can be raised to a new level using my experience in creating an innovative business, using the most modern technologies and artificial intelligence capabilities. I hope that we will be able to bring up world-class stars for Kazakhstani football.
For students of any football academy, the dream is to be able to play in the main team of the football club. And that's why the academy without a football club has no chance of success. In simple language - you train and improve at the academy, and there is no opportunity to play in the main team of the club. I plan to change it, because the club will be aimed at creating opportunities for our graduates and will become a window to big football for them.
Actually reading that, this is the first time I actually feel quite excited by the new owner.
If the aim is to link us to a ‘world class academy’ presumably that means the sustainability plan would be to develop and create our own Freddie Potts, get a couple of years out of them and then sell them on.
I think there will be a corresponding need for WWFC to be a buoyant, attractive club so I would expect some infrastructure and ground improvements.
I can’t see that there will be a need for us to be a Premier league outfit to fulfil his “dream” so I don’t expect him to throw that much more money into the current playing budget.
I completely agree. I've actually felt quite worried by this change of ownership, but if Wycombe are going to be more focused on youth development than some Premier League pipe dream, I feel reassured.
Not really inexplicable. He wants to improve Kazakhstan football and thinks having a training academy in England is the way forward. He's found a relatively cheap team just outside London who are happy to do business with him.
He's using us. Just like your girlfriend was using you, Buddy!
If he wants to build a world class academy the first thing he needs is a first class training centre. If Bearwood is no longer available, then he has to find a site and start constructing it pretty damn quick.
I have a feeling if he makes Yongge an inflated bid it could be back on, subject to being able to get round the planning issues.
I’m sure he has a minion reading this so here’s my feedback.
Use that football fortune to sign or loan players to fill the current gaps who have both talent and the right attitude for WWFC. Get Dobbo involved in your academy and use his wisdom and skill in attitude assessment.
Spend enough to keep us competitive in league one without going nuts. If we make the championship in the next season or so, spend enough to keep us there.
Build that multinational academy. Focus on development of talent and just as importantly focus on development of character. Improve young people’s lives. Hence Dobbo and Dobbo 2.0 will be needed.
Improve the ground and facilities to make the match day experience as attractive as possible. Work hard with the local community to increase numbers. Get into schools across the county, market us as Buckinghamshire’s football league side not just Wycombe’s. That will take time, keep at it.
Invest in the women’s team. Work to have them playing at AP and offer a match day experience to go with it. See paragraph above.
Having seen the academy plan I’m somewhat gutted we didn’t get Bearwood but hey ho. I do like the vision Mikhail has here. Developing Kazakstan football could see his name go down in history and suggests he is in it for the long haul not just playing Championship Manager.
Colour me excited and my prediction is that the access road is a done deal as part of ground improvements phase 1. I’ll wager a pint that plans for the expansion of the home end are drawn up will be good to go soon enough.
Oh and Linda may have retired from the grill but will be announced as head of catering within a month. Onions on that bacon egg and cheese burger? Don’t mind if I do!
The Trust are still a significant if minor stakeholder in all this. I would like to know whether they have been engaged at all or have they been sidelined? What are their views and objectives for this new relationship?
Bearwood had the advantage of being ready to go and of very high quality but also probably had a load of disadvantages, mostly the (historically) larger club who are embedded in the catchment area and would either have been tennants or likely start another facility nearby. If the funding is there we can have something convenient and purpose built away from them and their moaning.
I agree up to a point, but to find a site, negotiate the purchase price, apply for and get planning consent, get an architect etc to design Centre and time to construct. For example, pitches cannot be layed on virgin ground overnight.
Just like a true sugar daddys little plaything.... he can use us as long as he wants..... but we want something in return. We want money, infrastructure, the high life... and most importantly.... long term stability and protection.
I'm happy for us to be a billionaires play thing.... but its got to be good for him.....and also good for us!
Personally I'm quietly optimistic about all of this.
Rob and Co. Came in and many of us were sceptical.... an American millionaire.... Full of pomp and mouth.....
But.... here we are 5 years or so on.
Sure Rob came in with all the talk and of course fireworks! At the end of the day, they turned out to be fantastic (imo) custodians of our club. We have had the most successful period of our existence under their ownership and guidance.
Sometimes Rob over talked our likely progression.... but he is an ambitious man and although his ideas were a little bit pie in the sky or unachievable in the time frame he wanted/expected.... I fully believe that Rob and his family fully believed what they said and always had nothing but good intentions for wwfc.
His final promise was that he wanted to leave us in a better position than when he took us on. I believe he has easily achieved that. He also said he wanted to find the right buyer to take us forward to the next level after his tenure. We have no reason to disbelieve that he feels he has done that.
I hope he is as good a judge of character as he thinks he is. Obviously only time will tell.... but there isn't much we can do but hold on tight and hope and pray that we have exciting times ahead.
I am going to try to remain excited and optimistic.
As I said in a previous thread, the appointment of Dan Rice indicates the focus on a new academy. His background is in academy recruitment, he has no first team experience. I’m not sure why people are seeing his appointment as such a major coup.
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Basic shopping list:
GK
LB
Number 10 creative fulcrum
Decent back ups for any remaining holes (at least CB, LB, CM and possibly winger depending on GMac).
Big signing = Nigel Lonwijk
A tweet that’s just appeared on the Kaspi.kz Twitter feed:
After receiving consent from the English Football League, Mikhail Lomtadze (@m_lomtadze) became a member of the board of directors and partner of the English football club Wycombe Wanderers, on the basis of which a world-class football academy with branches in Kazakhstan and England will be established within 3 years. The total amount of investments in Kazakhstan will be more than 10 billion tenge.
Mikhail commented:
"It is my personal dream to create a professional world-class children's football academy in Kazakhstan and England, where the best and most talented young football players and future stars can be brought up. Training at the academy will be completely free, and young athletes will have the opportunity to study with the best coaches of our country and the homeland of football - England.
Football is the most popular and spectacular sport with great potential for improving sportsmanship, and is a source of pride in many countries. I am sure that our football can be raised to a new level using my experience in creating an innovative business, using the most modern technologies and artificial intelligence capabilities. I hope that we will be able to bring up world-class stars for Kazakhstani football.
For students of any football academy, the dream is to be able to play in the main team of the football club. And that's why the academy without a football club has no chance of success. In simple language - you train and improve at the academy, and there is no opportunity to play in the main team of the club. I plan to change it, because the club will be aimed at creating opportunities for our graduates and will become a window to big football for them.
Wow so we’d have an academy in both Kazakhstan and here. Brilliant idea a whole untapped country of talent and local lads as well.
We are going to have to work on our Kazakh pronunciation.
So.....we are now going to be a place where Kazakhstan can improve their footballers using AI.
Future histories of WWFC will call this chapter "The 2020's: The time when it all went mental"
We are entering a new era in the game of which we old timers have little or know comprehension. It’s going to be quite a ride.
Friendlies with FC Astana every year.
Free fermented horse milk in midweek games in an attempt to boost the crowds.
WWFC's Bandy team become the best in the UK mostly by being the only Bandy team in the UK.
Cancel Netflix, looks like we're going to be one of those 'gentle comedies' the BBC likes making.
Kazakhstan is the ancestral home of the apple, which is nice.
He says... "The total amount of investments in Kazakhstan will be more than 10 billion tenge."
10 Billion tenge is about 18 million pounds!
Did you translate this Vincey or have you something on your phone that translates into English?
Actually reading that, this is the first time I actually feel quite excited by the new owner.
If the aim is to link us to a ‘world class academy’ presumably that means the sustainability plan would be to develop and create our own Freddie Potts, get a couple of years out of them and then sell them on.
I think there will be a corresponding need for WWFC to be a buoyant, attractive club so I would expect some infrastructure and ground improvements.
I can’t see that there will be a need for us to be a Premier league outfit to fulfil his “dream” so I don’t expect him to throw that much more money into the current playing budget.
Genuinely optimistic.
I completely agree. I've actually felt quite worried by this change of ownership, but if Wycombe are going to be more focused on youth development than some Premier League pipe dream, I feel reassured.
Ha unfortunately not, my phone did it.
Yep, you can add me to this list of slightly reassured fans as well
I once had a really attractive girlfriend who fell in love with me. And I could never quite figure out why…..
His love for Wycombe is similarly inexplicable.
……It didn’t last.
Not really inexplicable. He wants to improve Kazakhstan football and thinks having a training academy in England is the way forward. He's found a relatively cheap team just outside London who are happy to do business with him.
He's using us. Just like your girlfriend was using you, Buddy!
If he wants to build a world class academy the first thing he needs is a first class training centre. If Bearwood is no longer available, then he has to find a site and start constructing it pretty damn quick.
I have a feeling if he makes Yongge an inflated bid it could be back on, subject to being able to get round the planning issues.
I’m sure he has a minion reading this so here’s my feedback.
Use that football fortune to sign or loan players to fill the current gaps who have both talent and the right attitude for WWFC. Get Dobbo involved in your academy and use his wisdom and skill in attitude assessment.
Spend enough to keep us competitive in league one without going nuts. If we make the championship in the next season or so, spend enough to keep us there.
Build that multinational academy. Focus on development of talent and just as importantly focus on development of character. Improve young people’s lives. Hence Dobbo and Dobbo 2.0 will be needed.
Improve the ground and facilities to make the match day experience as attractive as possible. Work hard with the local community to increase numbers. Get into schools across the county, market us as Buckinghamshire’s football league side not just Wycombe’s. That will take time, keep at it.
Invest in the women’s team. Work to have them playing at AP and offer a match day experience to go with it. See paragraph above.
Having seen the academy plan I’m somewhat gutted we didn’t get Bearwood but hey ho. I do like the vision Mikhail has here. Developing Kazakstan football could see his name go down in history and suggests he is in it for the long haul not just playing Championship Manager.
Colour me excited and my prediction is that the access road is a done deal as part of ground improvements phase 1. I’ll wager a pint that plans for the expansion of the home end are drawn up will be good to go soon enough.
Oh and Linda may have retired from the grill but will be announced as head of catering within a month. Onions on that bacon egg and cheese burger? Don’t mind if I do!
Macaulay Langstaff would do nicely...
He's using us. Just like your girlfriend was using you, Buddy!
The least empathetic post of the week.
The Trust are still a significant if minor stakeholder in all this. I would like to know whether they have been engaged at all or have they been sidelined? What are their views and objectives for this new relationship?
Bearwood had the advantage of being ready to go and of very high quality but also probably had a load of disadvantages, mostly the (historically) larger club who are embedded in the catchment area and would either have been tennants or likely start another facility nearby. If the funding is there we can have something convenient and purpose built away from them and their moaning.
No confidence that a Kazakh academy will help Wycombe Wanderers. Any promising players will struggle to gain a work permit to play in England.
I agree up to a point, but to find a site, negotiate the purchase price, apply for and get planning consent, get an architect etc to design Centre and time to construct. For example, pitches cannot be layed on virgin ground overnight.
Just like a true sugar daddys little plaything.... he can use us as long as he wants..... but we want something in return. We want money, infrastructure, the high life... and most importantly.... long term stability and protection.
I'm happy for us to be a billionaires play thing.... but its got to be good for him.....and also good for us!
Ooh I’m a Billionaire’s plaything. That sounds a bit naughty and I like it!
Personally I'm quietly optimistic about all of this.
Rob and Co. Came in and many of us were sceptical.... an American millionaire.... Full of pomp and mouth.....
But.... here we are 5 years or so on.
Sure Rob came in with all the talk and of course fireworks! At the end of the day, they turned out to be fantastic (imo) custodians of our club. We have had the most successful period of our existence under their ownership and guidance.
Sometimes Rob over talked our likely progression.... but he is an ambitious man and although his ideas were a little bit pie in the sky or unachievable in the time frame he wanted/expected.... I fully believe that Rob and his family fully believed what they said and always had nothing but good intentions for wwfc.
His final promise was that he wanted to leave us in a better position than when he took us on. I believe he has easily achieved that. He also said he wanted to find the right buyer to take us forward to the next level after his tenure. We have no reason to disbelieve that he feels he has done that.
I hope he is as good a judge of character as he thinks he is. Obviously only time will tell.... but there isn't much we can do but hold on tight and hope and pray that we have exciting times ahead.
I am going to try to remain excited and optimistic.
COME ON YOU BLUES!!!!!
Completely different role. Was only a scout at everton and hadn't been at us for long.
On the board of directors already, an exciting new project and closer to where he lives, seems a no brainer really.
As I said in a previous thread, the appointment of Dan Rice indicates the focus on a new academy. His background is in academy recruitment, he has no first team experience. I’m not sure why people are seeing his appointment as such a major coup.
Sir Keir likes his football and what political party doesn’t like a Billionaire for a friend.