Comments on: Wycombe Wanderers: Bullied Out of Supporter Control?

By: Rupert

Rupert — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 17:06:19 +0000

The one huge flaw in this, is that there is no evidence that Wasps could fill a 20,000 stadium in Wycombe. I believe that there average Wycombe league attendance is about 6,000. People who use the figures from the games in London as evidence that they could are deluding themselves. There are clearly plenty of Wasps and general rugby supporters in London who will go to big games in London, but are not willing to travel to Wycombe for games.

By: Astor Court

Astor Court — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:10:05 +0000

How much does Wycombe owe Hayes?

By: norbert

norbert — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:37:54 +0000

Hayes can go to hell! he will not be building near to our village. Why is it that football teams have to be so damn big? How many of the chairboys are locals, like they used to be? The game has been lost to greedy tinkerers who want to fill their boots. Yes, reaching the Premiership was an acheivement, but isn’t the Club itself and the atmosphere more so? The Supporters have lost their club, the future is unclear.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:51:56 +0000

Thanks for the response, Tom. It certainly is a shame that the supporters’ trust has lost any modicum of control – I’m really not a fan of Hayes, from what I can tell in your article and the cited links. My questions were just me trying to get my head around just how much I dislike him: if the loans he’d given were accruing interest, for instance, I’d probably see his erasure of that debt (even if it really is just a conversion of debt on their end into equity for him) as slightly less evil.

Any sources on what Addams Park is worth, by the way? Just looking on Wikipedia, there’s an interesting (and uncited) note that “April 2008 – The stadium land is taken out of the Green Belt by a Government inspector meaning the land value rises from £4,000 per acre to £1,000,000 per acre…”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adams_Park

If that’s true, sure does a lot to explain Hayes’s motivations and his reasoning in spending a few million pounds when he surely can’t be at his all-time best financial position. Just the pitch alone is about 1.5 acres.

That said, the following letter to the editor puts a damper on Wiki’s uncited estimate:

http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/2241692.adams_park_is_still_protected/

Thanks for the heads up on this great story, by the way.

By: Tom

Tom — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 04:52:42 +0000

Daniel,

I’m unclear on the interest situation. It’s a good point and I’ll drop a line to the Trust to see if they can clarify.

As for Hayes and Wycombe, getting control of the present stadium allows him to sell it for millions to raise capital for the new stadium — as well as to get stronger support for the project politically and as a further revenue scheme. It’s possible such a plan could work out in Wycombe’s best interest (we’d need to see what the final proposal turns out to be), but it seems a shame that judgment is no longer in supporters’ hands, a clause removed for unclear motives.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:58:53 +0000

A couple of questions:

a) does the debt owed by Wycombe to Hayes accrue interest, or is this one of those interest-free situations? Do they make consistent payments to Hayes right now?

b) Just to be clear, your assumption is that Hayes is simply bringing Wycombe along in his plans to give himself an extra revenue stream for paying off his new stadium, right?

By: Fake SIgi

Fake SIgi — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:10:44 +0000

Nice work. Informative, if depressing.