You're a son of a gun and I'm easily led

SMBU Editorial

The news that Wycombe District Council are set to allocate more than £700k towards a new Community Stadium for Wycombe and Wasps has understandably ruffled a few feathers. Fair bit of cash that eh?

Sidestepping the usual debates over the building of such a stadium, and what it means for the future of WWFC, such proposed spending surely signifies a fairly big step forward towards pipe dreams becoming reality. In short, should £200k feasibility studies and £500k strategy reviews signal the time for someone to finally ask Wycombe Wanderers supporters whether they want a new stadium or not?

The people best place to ask that question might well be the Wycombe Wanderers Trust, yet there seems to be little indication that such a poll is on the way. Pigeon-chested cynics might suggest that asking its members that contentious question might threaten the positions of the Trust’s two elected representatives on the football club board, by upsetting those for whom the wrong answer might prove embarrassing. That is conjecture and quite possibly unfair. But silence does that to people; they draw their own conclusions.

What is certainly needed is some sort of clarification from the Trust. Members were told that any decision on supporting a new stadium, for or against, would be delayed until the Trust board had received full details of the plan, and how it would benefit WWFC. By supporting Steve Hayes’ takeover proposals in the summer, the Trust have certainly adapted that stance. One of the most obvious consequences of voting for the takeover was a new stadium, shared with London Wasps (Hayes has said repeatedly that the club cannot break even without one). So, in effect, by advising members to vote Yes, the Trust are supporting the new stadium.

So what we need to know from the Trust is fairly simple: is this it? Is there any other information that the members of the Trust and the rest of the club’s supporters will get to know about? Is there any way that it can be shared with us? There has yet to be any other arguments of how the new stadium will benefit WWFC, so are we saying that the threat of Steve Hayes no longer funding the club is the sole reason we should support leaving Adams Park?

If that is it, then The Trust should poll the members on whether they support the plans we currently know about, using the information we have been given. If that’s not it, then someone needs to start communicating some cogent points of view on how the future of Wycombe Wanderers will be improved by no longer owning its own ground, and no longer receiving rent from Wasps. Because they appear to be a bit thin on the ground at the moment.

Below are two posts from the gasroom, one from January 2010 and one from September 2008, yet both still entirely relevant. They won’t be the last well-written articles regarding this subject. The letters to WDC councillors are already being drafted by fans and non fans alike. The Trust needs to realise that opposition to the new stadium will continue with or without their involvement. If they can educate supporters as to why any of the points made below are unfair, or incorrect, then now, with £700k of public money about to be spent, is probably the time to do so.

September 2008

January 2010

26.01.2010. 15:36

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