Exciting summer (obvious statement)
it is easier with the ffp rules in L1 to invest now than it is when we go up, so i expect us to be ultra ambitious. Hopefully someone more in the know could confirm, but ways around FFP in L1 could be the new bloke just creates more shares in wycombe then he buys them to get more capital in the cl, therefore helping with get round our low crowds and commercial intake (this is no doubt completely wrong)
Freddie ladapo anyone.....
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In Leagues One and Two owners can just donate as much as they want and that can be spent on fees and wages. No need for shenanigans.
Nope
We are now a target for savy agents who will want to tap into the perceived new cash. Keep the same targets as we had before. We know the gaps. We can target with the right quality.
Although signing Lewis Wing for bants would be funny.
Presumably the problem comes when you get to the championship and then have tonnes of players on huge wages your tiny crowds don't come close to mitigating, even with the extra tv money
I’m not so sure, I’d expect more of a slow burn in the project than chuck a load of money at players in 1x summer.
It’s going to take a long time to get an academy setup, coaches and philosophy all in place from top to bottom and they have said it’s a long term thing too.
The reality is we currently have no idea what the new owners real plans and commitment are. He could intend to make us the next Bournemouth, he could be happy with broad status quo with an academy (which somehow helps out Kazakh raw talent in a not yet clear way) he could turn out to be our very own Dai Yonge or similar. While it would be welcome for ML to hold a Q&A session as Couhig to his credit has done, anybody competent in PR can manage such an event such that it essentially says little more. Only time will start to tell us where this is now going.
Little niggling thought in my mind. Lets ignore planning and green belt constraints here. WWFC currently still feels like an evolution of the Isthmian League club I first supported as a boy. In the most extreme case, would I feel that a Premier League Club playing in a stadium in a bigger leisure development on the side of the A404 somewhere between Handy Cross and Marlow funded by a East European billionaire with source of funds I don't fully understand with an overseas manager and players albeit still playing in the same kit was still "my" Wycombe Wanderers? Or would I feel that "my" Wycombe Wanderers had been consumed and destroyed by some alien corporate play thing that I no longer recognised or connected with? I am genuinely not sure. Perhaps, as I live so far away, it doesn't really matter anyway but it feels like it does some how.
It most certainly does feel that way. Especially for those of us whose earliest memories are of a very successful and highly entertaining Isthmian League side.
For me, the current situation is particularly poignant as I am unlikely to see more than the most immediate and least significant results of Mr Lomtadze’s involvement.
Still exciting though.
To be honest back in Hayes' day it didn't really feel like 'my' Wycombe Wanderers and I did get a little disillusioned and a less frequent visitor to Adams Park (until near relegation out of the league jolted me back into life).
To the Couhig's credit they ran the club in a way that never made me feel that detached, but it is always at the back of my mind that with a change in ownership/ambition we will lose the connection to our roots and values that feel important to me.
I knew somebody who stopped watching Wycombe when they became a professional team as he wasn't happy with them losing their non-league status.
Everybody has their own personal line they won't cross but I think everybody else who supports Wycombe was quite pleased at joining the league. Don't remember anyone moaning about our year in the Championship, either.
As I've said on here before, League One is probably as high as you can go where you have a blend of competitive sport and community centre. If we actually did get to the Premier League I imagine the sheer novelty would keep everybody on board for the first year. But subsequent seasons of hoping to finish 17th might start to hurt. So some might call it a day. On the other hand the 3,000 or so who currently watch the team might all congregate behind the goal at the Kaspi Stadium and become a bit like Crystal Palace, loud and loyal whilst never winning anything at all.
Won't know until 2027 at the earliest!
All a bit meh for me.
My favourite memories of Wycombe are battling against the odds on a small budget with players who weren't here for a payday. We still have that to some extent under the Couhigs but will that change with the new guy. Or will it be a complete disaster ala so many other clubs?
We will have to wait and see.
Yes we don't have any clue what the guy's intentions are just yet. There's been talk of an academy, but we need to hear it's for our benefit first!
There are plenty of teams in the Championship with money and decent squads that can't get out of the league.
There are plenty of teams in League 1 with money that have struggled to get out of the league.
Ipswich, Luton, Bournemouth and Brentford have done it the way that I think we should. Wise recruitment. It would seem we are angling that way with the appointment of Dan Rice.
Out of interest, where does our new owner rank on the "richest football club owners" list? Must be in the top 10 in England?
Bournemouth spent an absolute fortune didn't they?
As did Ipswich to get out of our league
As did Brentford.
They owed Benham around £130M before they got promoted.
The last two seasons before they went up the turnover was £32M and expenses £120m, a loss of £88M before player trading over two seasons.
Dunno! haha. Either way - their model is good.
I believe Forbes have him as one of the 500 richest people in the world (although I have a suspicion that that kind of list is bollocks.)
For me I'd be happy to see us play at the highest level possible, provided we maintain certain principles. For example, that we look after people (including players and staff and home and away fans on matchday), our players and supporters respect one another etc.
So the money at the higher levels and the huge wages wouldn't bother me, nor do I think it's necessarily a barrier to feeling connected to the players.
But if big money started to mess with those principles that would become a problem. For instance, I think there's a sense sometimes at the elite level that players are paid so much it is OK to dish out almost any sort of personal abuse if they don't perform. Personal abuse isn't on, but it seems to be that players are deemed to be fair game once their pay reaches a certain level. Likewise, you get the feeling sometimes that some players are allowed to disrespect the club and it's supporters because the financial investment made in them is so great that poor behaviour is overlooked because the club simply can't afford not to keep them in the side.
I know the season is only just over but it would be good to hear from one of the new directors or from Rob as to what’s going on behind the scenes.
Maybe the revolution will not be televised.
There will be no slow motion or still lifes of Ray Wilkins
Can't we all just get along?
Dispiritingly, the theme tune will also not be written by Jim(my) Webb.
I suspect it will be live streamed on all of the social media platforms