Matt Bloomfield leaving, especially in these circumstances, feels like the heart and soul is being ripped out. Matt has represented us with great dignity over a number of years and feels like one of us.
We might spend millions in two weeks and a Great Dane data-driven head coach might lead us to the Championship by Easter.
But the way I feel right now is even such a scenario will not give that same warmth. There will be no manager post-match fist pumps, no direct link with fans, no one to understand what it really means.
Things just feel completely empty and could remain that way.
I’m worried that we now join the treadmill that so many other clubs are now stuck in of appointing from the circuit of head coaches not trusted to have any input on the signing of their own players but then responsible for moulding them into a promotion winning team - and rarely succeeding
Even worse we end up one of those clubs where it is apparent that the head coach doesn’t even have total responsibility for picking the team.
Obviously all just total speculation on my part at this time, but as I said it’s what I fear for our future. The mood music around this whole episode isn’t doing much to allay my fears.
I agree completely. I'm not even sure if I'll be that bothered if we get promoted or not given the way the ownership has handled the situation.
Bloomfield is a legend, and the ideal kind of forward-thinking, successful young manager to spearhead a data-informed revolution at this club. To allow him to leave without a fight when we are second in League 1 is as far as I am concerned mismanagement of the club.
Dan RIce can get fucked. As can the stupid academy project.
Hopefully I will feel more positive when things have settled down but right now I can't see it.
Agree with all of you above. This marks the end of an era that spanned everything GA and MB, and we will now become a completely different type of club. I does feel like the crossing of the Rubicon.
@glasshalfempty@kipper thanks both! Things are moving too quickly for an old fart like me to keep up with… I knew it was down to final interviews but I thought SS had it in the bag. We could do worse…
Thought I'd distract myself from today's rather depressing scenario by reading the new When Saturday Comes but it's just made me even more depressed about the general state of football, from the decline of the FA Cup simply to placate the biggest clubs and the threat to the 3pm blackout and its impact on non league clubs, to the greed-fuelled edging out of season ticket holders in the Premier League. There's more - the state of Swindown Town, the ineffective nature of the rainbow laces campaign (something close to Bloomfield's heart). Just made me feel like football's not worth it all anymore and I'm just a dinosaur on my way to extinction.
Still, a win at Mansfield on Saturday and I'll be my usual chipper self again, right? Right?
Time moves on, football moves even quicker, and new heroes and legends are made, but it just feels a waste of what could've been.
MB taking us to the championship would've been a story to perhaps even topple our first promotion there. If he becomes the manager he's shown the last year, who knows where he could've taken us.
Rob Couhig looked silly in his Stetson and dad trainers, but at least he was at the ground.
We laughed at the Wycombe Way and the Worldwide Wycombe Phenomenon, but at least it was all about Wycombe, and not numbers on a spreadsheet.
It's interesting how many posts like this you see on EFL forums nowadays. I always put it as "I have gone off football, but love Wycombe." But many are disenchanted with the whole thing.
Money does have a way of ruining everything, especially romance.
I think some people are forgetting that if Blooms leaves, it's a choice he's made. Everything else is just speculation.
It's very sad that a club legend hasn't stayed to finish the job - whatever the reasons may be - but a read of just a few posts here would suggest he'd been unceremoniously sacked...
Very well said. Our successes under Ainsworth and Bloomfield have meant that bit more because of the bond built up over years by the respective managers that made us that bit more proud of what the club as a whole had achieved. The impression that Matt Bloomfield (justified or not) has been shuffled towards the exit by the new owners who want their own man in will certainly leave a bit of a sour taste in the mouth in the short term at least.
All the while huge amounts of money that the club doesn't have being chucked on massive gambles on players from Scandinavia feels pretty alien to our club, no wonder it feels so wrong that we're turning into the sort of profligate club we so delighted in doing a number on in the past.
It looks like my final match of this era was away at Shrewsbury, for a resounding 4-1 win, masterminded by the legend Matt Bloomfield, just before Christmas, with my son, and I also got to see and say goodbye to the other legend GA. Perfect.
For all my jesting earlier, this is a very sad day. I notice that right now I don’t care much about our upcoming fixtures or the cup. It is the end of an era and the future feels very uncertain all of a sudden.
I suppose it may yet not come to pass but that is faint hope now.
Good luck to you Matt and family and thank you for being part of something so special.
Come on lads, we don't know who the next manager is yet. Or what players are about to sign. We've still got a squad full of some really good people. Imagine being a Man Utd fan for an idea of what bad really looks like.
I think we have every chance of making the playoffs. For me it is all the visions of it being with Mr. Wycombe at the helm that are a little sad, and knowing that the scintillating style we played with at times is now consigned to the rubbish heap. I really enjoyed Blooms' mix of direct and possession football, but I suspect we are going to lean more to the latter now.
Either way, I am sure we'll all be singing "There's only one Olaf Leif Knudsson-Haarborg" by May, but maybe just because there really is only one Olaf Leif Knudsson-Haaborg.
That might well be the case, but we honestly don't know, and I'm not sure we ever will.
I'm as gutted as anyone that he's leaving, it finally feels like the end of an era that started at Torquay away. The future is definitely uncertain, but it could be extremely exciting too. We're in for a wild ride, either way.
It all boils back to the same point a poster made a few months ago. Bloomfield never made proper money in his playing career. He spent most of it in League 2. Some of it paid by us fans or the trust, but a lot of it injured or on the bench or a bit part player. He had a lengthy career, but not one where he is set for life. He’s almost certainly been offered a salary which doubles his current remuneration, his contract length has doubled too, he’s quintupled his playing budget and more. Luton are one of the best five or six ‘well-run‘ clubs in the Championship. He can take the whole staff room with him because they’re local and of limited size. He was boo’ed off the pitch a year ago by a bunch of our idiots. He knows football fans are thick as mince. It’s a total no brainer. His recent interview suggested it was all about providing for his girls. I wholeheartedly respect him for that. It’s a life changing move for him. I think he’ll do a fantastic job.
My view is to take a few deep breaths and wait to hear from Rice et al in the next few days. I don't expect a full post mortem of what has happened - if anything - to push MB towards the exit, but I'm sure he'll want to celebrate MB's impact at the club and thank him for his tenure. And then reassure about the future and the journey we're on.
Ultimately the posters who are reminding us that this is MB's decision are absolutely correct. He is choosing this; I'm sure for a whole host of good reasons. And after 20 years of wonderful service and memories I don't begrudge him that at all. If he's even a fraction as successful at Luton as he has been here they're in for a hell of a ride.
Thanks for the memories Matt. I doubt I'll see another player commit to our wonderful club like you have again. Oh - and my belief in you wavered in the first half against Fleetwood last January. Please forgive me!
It is painfully obvious now that Blooms is leaving and I am obviously gutted that he is leaving and it is the end of an era. I cannot think of a better man that represented our football club.
BUT, this is going to be the start of a new (although uncertain) era with a new manager. We still have good people at the club. Josh, Grimmer, GMac etc will absolutely not down tools, not for a minute. People behind the scenes like Cecil and Phil will always ensure that the culture and ethos that has been set by Gaz and enhanced by Blooms will be shared the with the new manager. Let's see who this new manager will be and give him the backing that he will deserve. There will be no point harping onto the past as a stick to beat him with.
Managers move on. Matt was always gonna move on. But it’s more than that. It’s the end of over a decade of something very special. From the brink of extinction to the Championship and everything in between.
Being 2nd in the league might not be sustainable but who knows. The next guy might make us 1st or 10th, Matt the same. It just feels this season is unfinished business. And nothing would have given me more pleasure than seeing Mr Wycombe (not a trivial cliche the guy has given us everything) lead us to the next level.
If he was happy with the new world order he would have turned down Real Madrid. I suspect this is not the change he saw for himself and like all humans sees an alternative path for his better and happier self.
Strap in the next part of the journey might be bumpy one and we have no idea who’s driving.
Bloomfield left Colchester for a better job with us. He is now leaving us for what he perceives a better job at Luton. Perhaps he’s just an ambitious young manager and hasn’t been ‘ pushed out’ by Rice. We are an attractive proposition for prospective managers. Excellent training facilities, establishing a ‘world class’ academy, owners with money to spend and let’s be honest a bloody good squad. We could be getting a manager better than Bloomfield. All is not doom and gloom.
Ending the night with confirmation from Pete O'Rourke (who is extremely well connected) that the deal is done. I'd expect an announcement late morning / early afternoon tomorrow, once MB has had the chance to say goodbye to the squad and staff. For Dan Rice, the real work must start now.
Comments
I’m not sure people get this.
Matt Bloomfield leaving, especially in these circumstances, feels like the heart and soul is being ripped out. Matt has represented us with great dignity over a number of years and feels like one of us.
We might spend millions in two weeks and a Great Dane data-driven head coach might lead us to the Championship by Easter.
But the way I feel right now is even such a scenario will not give that same warmth. There will be no manager post-match fist pumps, no direct link with fans, no one to understand what it really means.
Things just feel completely empty and could remain that way.
Is it too early to start a new thread titled "Next Wycombe Manager / Head Coach?"
Yes I also share that concern.
I’m worried that we now join the treadmill that so many other clubs are now stuck in of appointing from the circuit of head coaches not trusted to have any input on the signing of their own players but then responsible for moulding them into a promotion winning team - and rarely succeeding
Even worse we end up one of those clubs where it is apparent that the head coach doesn’t even have total responsibility for picking the team.
Obviously all just total speculation on my part at this time, but as I said it’s what I fear for our future. The mood music around this whole episode isn’t doing much to allay my fears.
I agree completely. I'm not even sure if I'll be that bothered if we get promoted or not given the way the ownership has handled the situation.
Bloomfield is a legend, and the ideal kind of forward-thinking, successful young manager to spearhead a data-informed revolution at this club. To allow him to leave without a fight when we are second in League 1 is as far as I am concerned mismanagement of the club.
Dan RIce can get fucked. As can the stupid academy project.
Hopefully I will feel more positive when things have settled down but right now I can't see it.
Agree with all of you above. This marks the end of an era that spanned everything GA and MB, and we will now become a completely different type of club. I does feel like the crossing of the Rubicon.
Dan RIce can get fucked. As can the stupid academy project.
The next few years might be very difficult for you. Unless Lommy decides he prefers basketball.
Probably not, as long as get a nice poll with it! 😁
@glasshalfempty @kipper thanks both! Things are moving too quickly for an old fart like me to keep up with… I knew it was down to final interviews but I thought SS had it in the bag. We could do worse…
Thought I'd distract myself from today's rather depressing scenario by reading the new When Saturday Comes but it's just made me even more depressed about the general state of football, from the decline of the FA Cup simply to placate the biggest clubs and the threat to the 3pm blackout and its impact on non league clubs, to the greed-fuelled edging out of season ticket holders in the Premier League. There's more - the state of Swindown Town, the ineffective nature of the rainbow laces campaign (something close to Bloomfield's heart). Just made me feel like football's not worth it all anymore and I'm just a dinosaur on my way to extinction.
Still, a win at Mansfield on Saturday and I'll be my usual chipper self again, right? Right?
Nah - and who knows, it might even do a sort of reverse jinx and keep him here
Yes, pretty much this all over.
Time moves on, football moves even quicker, and new heroes and legends are made, but it just feels a waste of what could've been.
MB taking us to the championship would've been a story to perhaps even topple our first promotion there. If he becomes the manager he's shown the last year, who knows where he could've taken us.
Rob Couhig looked silly in his Stetson and dad trainers, but at least he was at the ground.
We laughed at the Wycombe Way and the Worldwide Wycombe Phenomenon, but at least it was all about Wycombe, and not numbers on a spreadsheet.
It's interesting how many posts like this you see on EFL forums nowadays. I always put it as "I have gone off football, but love Wycombe." But many are disenchanted with the whole thing.
Money does have a way of ruining everything, especially romance.
I think some people are forgetting that if Blooms leaves, it's a choice he's made. Everything else is just speculation.
It's very sad that a club legend hasn't stayed to finish the job - whatever the reasons may be - but a read of just a few posts here would suggest he'd been unceremoniously sacked...
Very well said. Our successes under Ainsworth and Bloomfield have meant that bit more because of the bond built up over years by the respective managers that made us that bit more proud of what the club as a whole had achieved. The impression that Matt Bloomfield (justified or not) has been shuffled towards the exit by the new owners who want their own man in will certainly leave a bit of a sour taste in the mouth in the short term at least.
All the while huge amounts of money that the club doesn't have being chucked on massive gambles on players from Scandinavia feels pretty alien to our club, no wonder it feels so wrong that we're turning into the sort of profligate club we so delighted in doing a number on in the past.
It looks like my final match of this era was away at Shrewsbury, for a resounding 4-1 win, masterminded by the legend Matt Bloomfield, just before Christmas, with my son, and I also got to see and say goodbye to the other legend GA. Perfect.
For all my jesting earlier, this is a very sad day. I notice that right now I don’t care much about our upcoming fixtures or the cup. It is the end of an era and the future feels very uncertain all of a sudden.
I suppose it may yet not come to pass but that is faint hope now.
Good luck to you Matt and family and thank you for being part of something so special.
Don't let facts get in the way of a good overreaction
In the final reckoning, we all support laundry.
Come on lads, we don't know who the next manager is yet. Or what players are about to sign. We've still got a squad full of some really good people. Imagine being a Man Utd fan for an idea of what bad really looks like.
I genuinely don’t feel as if Blooms has had much option, which makes things all the more heartbreaking.
I keep refreshing the page desperately hoping this isn’t happening, but it is isn’t it.
It felt written in the stars Mr Wycombe was going to take us to the promised land, rewarding an almost unimaginable patience shown by the last regime.
And Luton? The most non-Bloomfield type fan base in the country. Seems a long time ago I was there watching MB send them out the league.
I think we have every chance of making the playoffs. For me it is all the visions of it being with Mr. Wycombe at the helm that are a little sad, and knowing that the scintillating style we played with at times is now consigned to the rubbish heap. I really enjoyed Blooms' mix of direct and possession football, but I suspect we are going to lean more to the latter now.
Either way, I am sure we'll all be singing "There's only one Olaf Leif Knudsson-Haarborg" by May, but maybe just because there really is only one Olaf Leif Knudsson-Haaborg.
That might well be the case, but we honestly don't know, and I'm not sure we ever will.
I'm as gutted as anyone that he's leaving, it finally feels like the end of an era that started at Torquay away. The future is definitely uncertain, but it could be extremely exciting too. We're in for a wild ride, either way.
Who said money doesn't buy you happiness? They had a good point.
It all boils back to the same point a poster made a few months ago. Bloomfield never made proper money in his playing career. He spent most of it in League 2. Some of it paid by us fans or the trust, but a lot of it injured or on the bench or a bit part player. He had a lengthy career, but not one where he is set for life. He’s almost certainly been offered a salary which doubles his current remuneration, his contract length has doubled too, he’s quintupled his playing budget and more. Luton are one of the best five or six ‘well-run‘ clubs in the Championship. He can take the whole staff room with him because they’re local and of limited size. He was boo’ed off the pitch a year ago by a bunch of our idiots. He knows football fans are thick as mince. It’s a total no brainer. His recent interview suggested it was all about providing for his girls. I wholeheartedly respect him for that. It’s a life changing move for him. I think he’ll do a fantastic job.
My view is to take a few deep breaths and wait to hear from Rice et al in the next few days. I don't expect a full post mortem of what has happened - if anything - to push MB towards the exit, but I'm sure he'll want to celebrate MB's impact at the club and thank him for his tenure. And then reassure about the future and the journey we're on.
Ultimately the posters who are reminding us that this is MB's decision are absolutely correct. He is choosing this; I'm sure for a whole host of good reasons. And after 20 years of wonderful service and memories I don't begrudge him that at all. If he's even a fraction as successful at Luton as he has been here they're in for a hell of a ride.
Thanks for the memories Matt. I doubt I'll see another player commit to our wonderful club like you have again. Oh - and my belief in you wavered in the first half against Fleetwood last January. Please forgive me!
This.
It is painfully obvious now that Blooms is leaving and I am obviously gutted that he is leaving and it is the end of an era. I cannot think of a better man that represented our football club.
BUT, this is going to be the start of a new (although uncertain) era with a new manager. We still have good people at the club. Josh, Grimmer, GMac etc will absolutely not down tools, not for a minute. People behind the scenes like Cecil and Phil will always ensure that the culture and ethos that has been set by Gaz and enhanced by Blooms will be shared the with the new manager. Let's see who this new manager will be and give him the backing that he will deserve. There will be no point harping onto the past as a stick to beat him with.
Managers move on. Matt was always gonna move on. But it’s more than that. It’s the end of over a decade of something very special. From the brink of extinction to the Championship and everything in between.
Being 2nd in the league might not be sustainable but who knows. The next guy might make us 1st or 10th, Matt the same. It just feels this season is unfinished business. And nothing would have given me more pleasure than seeing Mr Wycombe (not a trivial cliche the guy has given us everything) lead us to the next level.
If he was happy with the new world order he would have turned down Real Madrid. I suspect this is not the change he saw for himself and like all humans sees an alternative path for his better and happier self.
Strap in the next part of the journey might be bumpy one and we have no idea who’s driving.
Bloomfield left Colchester for a better job with us. He is now leaving us for what he perceives a better job at Luton. Perhaps he’s just an ambitious young manager and hasn’t been ‘ pushed out’ by Rice. We are an attractive proposition for prospective managers. Excellent training facilities, establishing a ‘world class’ academy, owners with money to spend and let’s be honest a bloody good squad. We could be getting a manager better than Bloomfield. All is not doom and gloom.
Ending the night with confirmation from Pete O'Rourke (who is extremely well connected) that the deal is done. I'd expect an announcement late morning / early afternoon tomorrow, once MB has had the chance to say goodbye to the squad and staff. For Dan Rice, the real work must start now.