I didn’t think Rob would be around for long, but this feels quite sudden. Maybe with the new guys being around this week they’ve decided a clean break is best for all involved.
2 x 2 =? But does the departure of Cian O’Doherty and what Dan Rice has been quoted this evening about data analytics taking player’s performance to a new level mean he was more pushed than jumped?
Looks like we’ve got another statement this evening on how things will be run.
The question is did Rob resign because he didn’t like what was going on or did he get forced to leave, either way being Chairman for 34 days was clearly not part of the plan.
We still have heard next to nothing from our new owner.
While Rob was Chairman for 34 days, its not as if ML has only just been on the scene, is it? It has been a little bit of an open secret for months and apparently been rumbling on long enough that Rob would felt confident enough to want to Look around Readings training ground in November with a view to look at what that level of facility has - presumably as part of the building blocks for getting out own. There was only ever one way that would happen. "someone" with money was already in the background.
How long would Rob need to be in place to hand things over at a club of our size? After a month of formal introductions and holidays, he may simply have found himself in a position of thinking there wasn't anything really left for him to do.
I too and still waiting to hear something of substance from the new owner, but there doesn't necessarily need to be anything nefarious going on.
I see no pluses in an all but silent and absent owner and a Chairman resigning after a month in his role.
I am still excited about the investment in youth and an academy. These are great positives but the above paragraph is clearly not positive, especially the loss of Rob as Chairman.
It's interesting to note Rob saying that he achieved all the goals he set out to during his time as Wycombe Chairman. Despite Rob being a very good owner for Wycombe, I dont see it that way.
The most important responsibility of any owner is to sell us on to the right person who will look after our club and maintain our existence in the Football League. The jury is still very much out on that one - if we go down the toilet then Rob's legacy as owner comes with us.
Let's hope he's done proper due-diligence on these guys and understands their plans - the rest of us are flying blind.
@Last_Quarter - I’ve long maintained that the couhig legacy will be intwined with who they sold us onto. While we may have had some big highs in the 5 years they were here, that’s going to suddenly be looked on in a poorer light if the next owner is a charlatan.
The conversation could end up being:
“Do you remember how the couhigs helped us into the Championship”
”yeah. but…”
Or on a positive note, it could also be:
“Do you remember how the couhigs helped us into the Championship”
”You mean the first time? Yeah that really helped get us on the map and bought ML in. We’ve had some fantastic players come in since”
Dan Rice has had an interesting couple of months. From Head of Emerging Talent at Everton to Interim Chairman of us!! He is obviously highly thought of by our new owners. I can understand fans being concerned and frustrated about the silence. We have seen bland statements about investing in youth and greater use of data and technology. All very fine in principle, but where is the owner or Dan Rice ( his chosen man ) setting out how he’s going to achieve his goals. What can we as fans expect to see over the next few week, months etc. ? I appreciate we’re in the close season but silence is definitely not golden.
I might not have agreed with everything Rob did but I was very fond of his passion and communication. Not long into his reign I did a sniffy tweet about something that had happened. I got a DM. Rob’s personal email. And we had a minor exchange which he concluded with always contact me. Something I know others have experienced too. Not many owners would be so available. You don’t know what you have til it’s gone.
The new guys are treating us as an experiment and have been very open about it. We are a Moneyball experience. Whether this will compromise the fan experience I don’t know. But don’t expect guys who only speak about data to be front and centre pulling pints or diving into a crowd behind the goal.
Different doesn’t mean worse. But different will be less engaged would suggest. I’ll save my first rant for 2025.
So far the new signings haven’t been unusual. A couple of young players and a decent defender.
I would have liked Rob to stay on a bit longer for sake of continuity if nothing else .
So far the new owner has only said good things, who amongst us doesn’t want the return of the academy and he hasn’t started signing crazy price players loading the club with debt..yet , however has this change of direction got my attention and have I taken a look at the worry beads , yup.
Thanks Rob and Missy & Pete, we don't quite know where we are headed now. One thing's for sure, however, without your involvement over the past 5 years we might well have been heading downwards. As things turned out we went from only having about 12 players to playing in the Championship and we'll always have the memories of those years to look back on.
It made very little sense for Rob Couhig to stay on after transferring the shares. They wouldn't be interested in running things the way he did and they sure as hell wouldn't be willing to compromise their vision because Rob wanted to continue to do things his way. I suspect they saw in Rob what I've always seen in Rob - a bullshitting mid-ranking attorney who treated the club as a hobby and preferred being popular with fans than building the business. That style would never work alongside laser-focused billionaires.
Now the question still remains, what do they really want to achieve with Wycombe and why bother with us? Secondary, how much time and money are they really going to spend on this club - and on what basis will they invest. Tertiary, is Dan Rice really qualified to run us?
But all we can now do is sit back and watch. At least if there are to be fireworks, they'll be metaphorical rather than literal.
Several ways to look at Robs ownership, lots of positives and good times, much needed stability when we were skint, not really delivered on getting closer to break even, some of the experience suggestions or the major infrastructure projects that were flagged, but they were always going to be long term and if the new guy has the funds and desire to complete them then great.
Not entirely fair to judge him based on what the new owners do after he leaves either. If you take the examples of Chelsea and Orient does Ken Bates become a genius having redeveloped and almost bankrupted Chelsea because he got a phone call from a dubious billionaire who could take them to another level, and at Orient Barry Hearn put in millions, rebuilt their stadium and got them to the edge of the championship before selling to a multi millionaire with a history of ownership who turned out to be a lunatic and that was held against him by some.
Rob was only staying on for a transitional period so it may not be a bad thing at all if he has completed his handover and Dan Rice is ready to help Blooms take us into next season without having to refer decisions to someone who lives in a different country.
As for them not saying much, did we really benefit from Robs quarterly sermons, let's judge them on what they actually do.
I think people forget we couldn't even print some flyers towards the end of trust ownership because the overdraft needed repaying, we owed money all over town and weren't credit worthy. At a minimum he paid off outstanding debt to banks, suppliers and the wasters that tried to buy the club before him.
They count for as long as, until or If they are beaten. They don’t define the club.
That’s not me being an arse about there ownership but the realities of sport/football. Todays fantastic results mean little if they aren’t backed up tomorrow.
Glad someone said this. It seemed some of the wording was very careful along the lines of "leaving us in a position" to challenge for the championship, when I thought the actual aim was existing and being sustainable in the championship
Not to mention the new road, the Marlow training ground, rebuilding stands etc etc.
None of which was ever going to happen.
The interest level seemed to drop heavily once the club refused to hand over the ground. But maybe that's a harsh perception.
Clearly on the other hand we had a marvellous period on the pitch including what could be our only ever 2nd tier season. Picking us up when things looked a bit bleak and battling relegation might have been our limit.
He invested a few hundred thousand pounds when he took over, yes, but so would've other consortia if the Trust hadn't been so opaque about selling to one bidder. He got very lucky (as did the club) that the curtailment of the season allowed us into the play offs. The subsequent promotion I give credit to Gareth Ainsworth, as much as Pete Couhig might like to claim it for his hollerin' from the empty stands at Wembley. I strongly suspect the Couhigs then recouped their initial investment from the Championship payments and didn't invest another penny of their own money in running the club, but I don't have any evidence for that as the accounts published provided the minimal information legally required. I do know that in the January transfer window Rob Couhig did not purchase a striker, despite Ainsworth publicly calling for one, and we were relegated by one point.
You have no idea if Ainsworth actually identified a suitable striker and that was rejected. Ainsworth for what it's worth was hugely complimentary about the Couhigs on many occasions even long after leaving.
"The South London Press understands that Wycombe Wanderers were keen on Pigott in the January transfer window."
Ah, yes sorry, they understand we were keen..and somehow that is conclusive proof that Ainsworth identified Piggot as the player he wanted, a deal was agreed that suited the selling club and the player and didn't harm our existing wage structure but Rob Couhig swooped down and said no presumably for a laugh. It's all laid out there in black and white. I might as well delete what I wrote.
The home spun ‘mom ‘n pop’ Couhig era was an anachronism in the modern game - as indeed was Trust ownership. Our new custodians are much more in line with how on-field success is now achievable (at whatever unknown cost) as this ‘success’ can of course come with huge off field ramifications - quite how this pans out for the club only time will tell. What is for sure is we aren’t going to ‘enjoy’ cozy fire side like chats with Uncle Rob anymore. The new guys are loaded, distant, ruthless and will be determined to ‘win’ (whatever that means in their terms). The mistake many fan groups continue to make is that there is no mandate that they must engage or communicate their intentions to us. For better or worse ‘it’s their ball’ and they can do what they like with it. Our job (like supporters of most clubs) is now to watch the team in the stand or on tv and experience the ride. We are moving from the kiddies T-Cup to the Big Dipper. Exciting but terrifying. Championship or debt ridden. Doesn’t feel like there will be much of a middle ground.
Comments
It’s feels like we were walking a tight rope with a safety net below us (Rob), now the safety net has been removed.
Hopefully Mr Rice and Co will make a statement soon.
I miss Rob.
So do I
I didn’t think Rob would be around for long, but this feels quite sudden. Maybe with the new guys being around this week they’ve decided a clean break is best for all involved.
2 x 2 =? But does the departure of Cian O’Doherty and what Dan Rice has been quoted this evening about data analytics taking player’s performance to a new level mean he was more pushed than jumped?
Doesn't make sense for him to do that kind of role if he's going to be back in the US tbh
Hope this is @eric_plant / Bayo signing moment but not sure I have the right feeling about these guys tbh
Mr Lomtadze certainly seems to be keeping his distance away from the action, with his son-in-law and Dan Rice running the whole thing.
Looks like we’ve got another statement this evening on how things will be run.
The question is did Rob resign because he didn’t like what was going on or did he get forced to leave, either way being Chairman for 34 days was clearly not part of the plan.
We still have heard next to nothing from our new owner.
Those the only two options?
While Rob was Chairman for 34 days, its not as if ML has only just been on the scene, is it? It has been a little bit of an open secret for months and apparently been rumbling on long enough that Rob would felt confident enough to want to Look around Readings training ground in November with a view to look at what that level of facility has - presumably as part of the building blocks for getting out own. There was only ever one way that would happen. "someone" with money was already in the background.
How long would Rob need to be in place to hand things over at a club of our size? After a month of formal introductions and holidays, he may simply have found himself in a position of thinking there wasn't anything really left for him to do.
I too and still waiting to hear something of substance from the new owner, but there doesn't necessarily need to be anything nefarious going on.
Clearly not.
I see no pluses in an all but silent and absent owner and a Chairman resigning after a month in his role.
I am still excited about the investment in youth and an academy. These are great positives but the above paragraph is clearly not positive, especially the loss of Rob as Chairman.
It's interesting to note Rob saying that he achieved all the goals he set out to during his time as Wycombe Chairman. Despite Rob being a very good owner for Wycombe, I dont see it that way.
The most important responsibility of any owner is to sell us on to the right person who will look after our club and maintain our existence in the Football League. The jury is still very much out on that one - if we go down the toilet then Rob's legacy as owner comes with us.
Let's hope he's done proper due-diligence on these guys and understands their plans - the rest of us are flying blind.
I suspect he is a very busy man with his fingers in a lot of much larger pies.
@Last_Quarter - I’ve long maintained that the couhig legacy will be intwined with who they sold us onto. While we may have had some big highs in the 5 years they were here, that’s going to suddenly be looked on in a poorer light if the next owner is a charlatan.
The conversation could end up being:
“Do you remember how the couhigs helped us into the Championship”
”yeah. but…”
Or on a positive note, it could also be:
“Do you remember how the couhigs helped us into the Championship”
”You mean the first time? Yeah that really helped get us on the map and bought ML in. We’ve had some fantastic players come in since”
Dan Rice has had an interesting couple of months. From Head of Emerging Talent at Everton to Interim Chairman of us!! He is obviously highly thought of by our new owners. I can understand fans being concerned and frustrated about the silence. We have seen bland statements about investing in youth and greater use of data and technology. All very fine in principle, but where is the owner or Dan Rice ( his chosen man ) setting out how he’s going to achieve his goals. What can we as fans expect to see over the next few week, months etc. ? I appreciate we’re in the close season but silence is definitely not golden.
I might not have agreed with everything Rob did but I was very fond of his passion and communication. Not long into his reign I did a sniffy tweet about something that had happened. I got a DM. Rob’s personal email. And we had a minor exchange which he concluded with always contact me. Something I know others have experienced too. Not many owners would be so available. You don’t know what you have til it’s gone.
The new guys are treating us as an experiment and have been very open about it. We are a Moneyball experience. Whether this will compromise the fan experience I don’t know. But don’t expect guys who only speak about data to be front and centre pulling pints or diving into a crowd behind the goal.
Different doesn’t mean worse. But different will be less engaged would suggest. I’ll save my first rant for 2025.
So far the new signings haven’t been unusual. A couple of young players and a decent defender.
I would have liked Rob to stay on a bit longer for sake of continuity if nothing else .
So far the new owner has only said good things, who amongst us doesn’t want the return of the academy and he hasn’t started signing crazy price players loading the club with debt..yet , however has this change of direction got my attention and have I taken a look at the worry beads , yup.
Thanks Rob and Missy & Pete, we don't quite know where we are headed now. One thing's for sure, however, without your involvement over the past 5 years we might well have been heading downwards. As things turned out we went from only having about 12 players to playing in the Championship and we'll always have the memories of those years to look back on.
Onwards to the future, whatever that may hold ...
It made very little sense for Rob Couhig to stay on after transferring the shares. They wouldn't be interested in running things the way he did and they sure as hell wouldn't be willing to compromise their vision because Rob wanted to continue to do things his way. I suspect they saw in Rob what I've always seen in Rob - a bullshitting mid-ranking attorney who treated the club as a hobby and preferred being popular with fans than building the business. That style would never work alongside laser-focused billionaires.
Now the question still remains, what do they really want to achieve with Wycombe and why bother with us? Secondary, how much time and money are they really going to spend on this club - and on what basis will they invest. Tertiary, is Dan Rice really qualified to run us?
But all we can now do is sit back and watch. At least if there are to be fireworks, they'll be metaphorical rather than literal.
Several ways to look at Robs ownership, lots of positives and good times, much needed stability when we were skint, not really delivered on getting closer to break even, some of the experience suggestions or the major infrastructure projects that were flagged, but they were always going to be long term and if the new guy has the funds and desire to complete them then great.
Not entirely fair to judge him based on what the new owners do after he leaves either. If you take the examples of Chelsea and Orient does Ken Bates become a genius having redeveloped and almost bankrupted Chelsea because he got a phone call from a dubious billionaire who could take them to another level, and at Orient Barry Hearn put in millions, rebuilt their stadium and got them to the edge of the championship before selling to a multi millionaire with a history of ownership who turned out to be a lunatic and that was held against him by some.
Rob was only staying on for a transitional period so it may not be a bad thing at all if he has completed his handover and Dan Rice is ready to help Blooms take us into next season without having to refer decisions to someone who lives in a different country.
As for them not saying much, did we really benefit from Robs quarterly sermons, let's judge them on what they actually do.
So under the Couhigs, highest finishes in the league in the club’s history, counts for nothing.
I think people forget we couldn't even print some flyers towards the end of trust ownership because the overdraft needed repaying, we owed money all over town and weren't credit worthy. At a minimum he paid off outstanding debt to banks, suppliers and the wasters that tried to buy the club before him.
They count for as long as, until or If they are beaten. They don’t define the club.
That’s not me being an arse about there ownership but the realities of sport/football. Todays fantastic results mean little if they aren’t backed up tomorrow.
Glad someone said this. It seemed some of the wording was very careful along the lines of "leaving us in a position" to challenge for the championship, when I thought the actual aim was existing and being sustainable in the championship
Not to mention the new road, the Marlow training ground, rebuilding stands etc etc.
None of which was ever going to happen.
The interest level seemed to drop heavily once the club refused to hand over the ground. But maybe that's a harsh perception.
Clearly on the other hand we had a marvellous period on the pitch including what could be our only ever 2nd tier season. Picking us up when things looked a bit bleak and battling relegation might have been our limit.
He invested a few hundred thousand pounds when he took over, yes, but so would've other consortia if the Trust hadn't been so opaque about selling to one bidder. He got very lucky (as did the club) that the curtailment of the season allowed us into the play offs. The subsequent promotion I give credit to Gareth Ainsworth, as much as Pete Couhig might like to claim it for his hollerin' from the empty stands at Wembley. I strongly suspect the Couhigs then recouped their initial investment from the Championship payments and didn't invest another penny of their own money in running the club, but I don't have any evidence for that as the accounts published provided the minimal information legally required. I do know that in the January transfer window Rob Couhig did not purchase a striker, despite Ainsworth publicly calling for one, and we were relegated by one point.
You have no idea if Ainsworth actually identified a suitable striker and that was rejected. Ainsworth for what it's worth was hugely complimentary about the Couhigs on many occasions even long after leaving.
"The South London Press understands that Wycombe Wanderers were keen on Pigott in the January transfer window."
Ah, yes sorry, they understand we were keen..and somehow that is conclusive proof that Ainsworth identified Piggot as the player he wanted, a deal was agreed that suited the selling club and the player and didn't harm our existing wage structure but Rob Couhig swooped down and said no presumably for a laugh. It's all laid out there in black and white. I might as well delete what I wrote.
The home spun ‘mom ‘n pop’ Couhig era was an anachronism in the modern game - as indeed was Trust ownership. Our new custodians are much more in line with how on-field success is now achievable (at whatever unknown cost) as this ‘success’ can of course come with huge off field ramifications - quite how this pans out for the club only time will tell. What is for sure is we aren’t going to ‘enjoy’ cozy fire side like chats with Uncle Rob anymore. The new guys are loaded, distant, ruthless and will be determined to ‘win’ (whatever that means in their terms). The mistake many fan groups continue to make is that there is no mandate that they must engage or communicate their intentions to us. For better or worse ‘it’s their ball’ and they can do what they like with it. Our job (like supporters of most clubs) is now to watch the team in the stand or on tv and experience the ride. We are moving from the kiddies T-Cup to the Big Dipper. Exciting but terrifying. Championship or debt ridden. Doesn’t feel like there will be much of a middle ground.