Too many people take second best

SMBU Editorial

Who could have seen this coming? WWFC Plc has today announced that Wycombe’s home fixture against Morecambe will now not be played on 15th December, at 3 o’clock on a Saturday, as we are told by our, admittedly very handy, wallet-sized fixture lists, but instead the night before.


The Saturday afternoon will now see Adams Park reverberating to the sound of 60 studded hooves instead of 40, as thousands of Landrovers converge upon the scene of London Wasps prestigious Heineken Cup fixture with Clermont Auvergne, spilling forth countless arrivistes who until 5 years ago had never heard of rugby, let alone Wasps.

It’s worth remembering at this point what we were told by the then Chief Executive all those years ago when the Wasps ground share was announced, in an article published in the official matchday programme:

“Everyone is talking about the Wasps groundshare and there still seems to be concern over, amongst other things, Wycombe Wanderers losing its identity. Let me assure you, as a former brand manager, that I won’t allow [our] brand to be diminished or diluted”

Or put another way, by Alan Parry, again via the official matchday programme:

“This deal is perfect for us”

Now clearly, being the subjective beasts that we are, everyone’s notion of identity and perfection are going to vary, but as far as I’m concerned, being able to play home games in the ground which we own, at 3 o’clock on a Saturday as we have always done, rather than bend to the will of our tenants is fairly crucial to our identity. Or in other words Mr Parry, playing on a Friday night to suit Wasps is a pretty long way from perfect.

It is neatly coincidental that it is Morecambe who are our opponents for this game. The last time we played them was in an FA Trophy game back in 1993. Remember what it was like to support Wycombe back then? We’d become the best non-league side in the country under a manager who was clearly something special. The atmosphere was one of hope and excitement.

The ‘promised land’ of league football would soon be ours, and there was the tantalising prospect of another trip to Wembley at the end of the season. Morecambe have only very recently completed this very special transition. It would appear as though our regard for our erstwhile amateur opponents is such that we are asking them to travel 225 miles on a Friday night in December because we’re no longer in control of when we play our home games at our own stadium.

The Plc claim that they have consulted supporters groups and gained support for this change of fixture. They are at least half right. Both supporters trusts were consulted, both informed the Plc that they were not in favour of our fixture being moved. The trusts have issued a statement condemning this development in response to the Plc’s announcement, and good on them for that. As for those whom the Plc claim to be in support of the fixture change, maybe they can let us know exactly whom they are talking about, since everyone I have spoken to about it thinks it’s an absolute liberty.

Goodness knows what this means for any future groundshare between ourselves and Wasps, but given how much influence they can bring to bear on a stadium where they are merely tenants it doesn’t take too much imagination to foresee a scenario where they call all the shots and we have to live with the consequences. That would pretty much be our identity completely wiped out, let alone diluted.

Not that any of this is a huge surprise.

Who could have seen this coming? Pretty much everyone I’m afraid.

12.10.2007. 09:35

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