Rival Watch

[South Coast Royal]

You have to laugh at Birmingham; they survived easily the season we got relegated and looking good lying in 6th in early October, when the new American owners decided to sack the Manager John Eustace and bring in someone to "instill the winning mentality and positive culture" that the new owners wanted.

Bringing in Wayne Rooney, the rot set in early, and just 15 games later he was sacked but the damage was done; Tony Mowbray came in but had to stop working through illness, and after a total of SIX managers across the season, even a victory in their last game wasn't enough to save them from coming back into the 3rd tier for the first time since 1995 with Plymouth's 1-0 win v Cardiff, and Blackburn's 2-0 victory at Leicester sealing their fate.

Blackburn's manager? John Eustace................

Just imagine the smirk Eustace will have on his face … and for a long time

Not so sure about that, Eustace was born in Solihull and I believe he supported Brum as a kid.

Meanwhile Ox have a 1 goal advantage over Peterborough in their PO Semi with a visit to London Road still to come for them.

Oxford were a bit fortunate last night as Peterborough dominated the second half and did everything but score.
I think we will be playing Oxford again next season-they don't look to have enough attacking flair to beat Peterborough this week or Bolton if they did get through.

Also I expect Brannigan to move to a Championship club and he is far and away their best player so next season might be a struggle for them wherever they find themselves.

[Clyde1998]

Echo IR's sentiment that basic lessons of geography put a cap on what Wycombe can achieve. Relatively small town with London and bigger clubs nearby; I don't keep who they're kidding with all this talk of shooting for the stars. A few years in the Championship is the best they can hope for.

Realistically yeah. I think ourselves, Watford and Oxford all have higher ceilings than Wycombe - all have bigger fanbases; bigger catchment areas; better transport links; etc. That's without considering London clubs.

I imagine Wycombe was simply really cheap in comparison to other clubs in this broad area.

[Sutekh]

Echo IR's sentiment that basic lessons of geography put a cap on what Wycombe can achieve. Relatively small town with London and bigger clubs nearby; I don't keep who they're kidding with all this talk of shooting for the stars. A few years in the Championship is the best they can hope for.

Realistically yeah. I think ourselves, Watford and Oxford all have higher ceilings than Wycombe - all have bigger fanbases; bigger catchment areas; better transport links; etc. That's without considering London clubs.

I imagine Wycombe was simply really cheap in comparison to other clubs in this broad area.

Wonder if he put in a bid for the mighty Royals at some point.

[RoyalBlue]

Echo IR's sentiment that basic lessons of geography put a cap on what Wycombe can achieve. Relatively small town with London and bigger clubs nearby; I don't keep who they're kidding with all this talk of shooting for the stars. A few years in the Championship is the best they can hope for.

Realistically yeah. I think ourselves, Watford and Oxford all have higher ceilings than Wycombe - all have bigger fanbases; bigger catchment areas; better transport links; etc. That's without considering London clubs.

I imagine Wycombe was simply really cheap in comparison to other clubs in this broad area.

Wonder if he put in a bid for the mighty Royals at some point.

I would suspect he was one of those behind Wycombe's failed attempt to buy Bearwood, It would seem unlikely, given typical timescales to buy a club, that he just sailed over the horizon post the training ground deal falling through.

[Snowflake Royal]

Echo IR's sentiment that basic lessons of geography put a cap on what Wycombe can achieve. Relatively small town with London and bigger clubs nearby; I don't keep who they're kidding with all this talk of shooting for the stars. A few years in the Championship is the best they can hope for.

Realistically yeah. I think ourselves, Watford and Oxford all have higher ceilings than Wycombe - all have bigger fanbases; bigger catchment areas; better transport links; etc. That's without considering London clubs.

I imagine Wycombe was simply really cheap in comparison to other clubs in this broad area.

Would perhaps be a different story if we fell even further and Oxford had another L2 stint.

A bit of success at that time could see some growth, and we all know success brings fans. But they've just got such a big mountain to climb.

I appreciate back in the early 90s we were down at about 3/4/5 thousand on average. But we did have history of 6+ too. And when we did hit a successful streak went up to 9k pre-Mad Stad.

So it's possible, but like we'll struggle to match clubs like Ipswich and Derby for support, outside really successful seasons, because we don’t have a long history of attendance to fall back on in the tough times, Wycombe will really struggle to do anything above about 6k without a really substantial sustained good period. And they just couldn’t compete in the Champ.

[Clyde1998]

Echo IR's sentiment that basic lessons of geography put a cap on what Wycombe can achieve. Relatively small town with London and bigger clubs nearby; I don't keep who they're kidding with all this talk of shooting for the stars. A few years in the Championship is the best they can hope for.

Realistically yeah. I think ourselves, Watford and Oxford all have higher ceilings than Wycombe - all have bigger fanbases; bigger catchment areas; better transport links; etc. That's without considering London clubs.

I imagine Wycombe was simply really cheap in comparison to other clubs in this broad area.

Would perhaps be a different story if we fell even further and Oxford had another L2 stint.

A bit of success at that time could see some growth, and we all know success brings fans. But they've just got such a big mountain to climb.

I appreciate back in the early 90s we were down at about 3/4/5 thousand on average. But we did have history of 6+ too. And when we did hit a successful streak went up to 9k pre-Mad Stad.

So it's possible, but like we'll struggle to match clubs like Ipswich and Derby for support, outside really successful seasons, because we don’t have a long history of attendance to fall back on in the tough times, Wycombe will really struggle to do anything above about 6k without a really substantial sustained good period. And they just couldn’t compete in the Champ.

We also had history of getting 20,000 for big matches - I'm thinking big cup matches at Elm Park or finals at Wembley (we had 35k+ for both trips prior to moving to the Madejski). Obviously the size of Elm Park prevented that from being possible in the final few decades, but there was often demand for 20k+.

Wycombe only took 15,400 to Wembley for the EFL Trophy final and about 22,000 for their most recent play-off final (2022) - not indicative of a side which could compete in the Championship for any prolonged period. You're not going to get that for a typical Championship match and you probably need a minimum of 16,000 average to compete in the Championship.

[Sutekh]

Realistically yeah. I think ourselves, Watford and Oxford all have higher ceilings than Wycombe - all have bigger fanbases; bigger catchment areas; better transport links; etc. That's without considering London clubs.

I imagine Wycombe was simply really cheap in comparison to other clubs in this broad area.

Would perhaps be a different story if we fell even further and Oxford had another L2 stint.

A bit of success at that time could see some growth, and we all know success brings fans. But they've just got such a big mountain to climb.

I appreciate back in the early 90s we were down at about 3/4/5 thousand on average. But we did have history of 6+ too. And when we did hit a successful streak went up to 9k pre-Mad Stad.

So it's possible, but like we'll struggle to match clubs like Ipswich and Derby for support, outside really successful seasons, because we don’t have a long history of attendance to fall back on in the tough times, Wycombe will really struggle to do anything above about 6k without a really substantial sustained good period. And they just couldn’t compete in the Champ.

We also had history of getting 20,000 for big matches - I'm thinking big cup matches at Elm Park or finals at Wembley (we had 35k+ for both trips prior to moving to the Madejski). Obviously the size of Elm Park prevented that from being possible in the final few decades, but there was often demand for 20k+.

Wycombe only took 15,400 to Wembley for the EFL Trophy final and about 22,000 for their most recent play-off final (2022) - not indicative of a side which could compete in the Championship for any prolonged period. You're not going to get that for a typical Championship match and you probably need a minimum of 16,000 average to compete in the Championship.

Didn't attendances at Reading dip in the early 1960s when the Ox managed to get elected to the FL?

[Stranded]

I'm surprised anyone is surprised by the announcement of the Wycombe takeover, esp anyone who paid even a passing amount of attention to the training ground fun.

Lomatadze (or however you spell it), was the one financing the deal - he has essentially been finiancing the club for a little while now with the plan always to be for the Couhig's to move on this summer and him take over the reigns - it is the least surprising takeover in years. Hopefully for Wycombe he is a billionaire that wants to do the right thing, not a billionaire who gets bored quickly.

On Brum, they are an example of "be careful what you wish for" owners. We all know that any new owner is better than the pain we are suffering on this one and whils they will save the club there is always the chance that they decide to make their stamp early and make changes that aren't needed i.e. looking to bring in a "name" manager which could lead to more pain on the pitch. So whilst Brum's relegation is objectively hilarious, and also funny to see their fans all assuming they will just bounce right back as L1 is shit, it is also a cautionary tale.

[Snowflake Royal]

I'm surprised anyone is surprised by the announcement of the Wycombe takeover, esp anyone who paid even a passing amount of attention to the training ground fun.

Lomatadze (or however you spell it), was the one financing the deal - he has essentially been finiancing the club for a little while now with the plan always to be for the Couhig's to move on this summer and him take over the reigns - it is the least surprising takeover in years. Hopefully for Wycombe he is a billionaire that wants to do the right thing, not a billionaire who gets bored quickly.

On Brum, they are an example of "be careful what you wish for" owners. We all know that any new owner is better than the pain we are suffering on this one and whils they will save the club there is always the chance that they decide to make their stamp early and make changes that aren't needed i.e. looking to bring in a "name" manager which could lead to more pain on the pitch. So whilst Brum's relegation is objectively hilarious, and also funny to see their fans all assuming they will just bounce right back as L1 is shit, it is also a cautionary tale.

Not surprised the takeover just completed, obviously it's been coming for time.

Surprised that he thinks Wycombe is a good candidate to grow.

[Clyde1998]

Would perhaps be a different story if we fell even further and Oxford had another L2 stint.

A bit of success at that time could see some growth, and we all know success brings fans. But they've just got such a big mountain to climb.

I appreciate back in the early 90s we were down at about 3/4/5 thousand on average. But we did have history of 6+ too. And when we did hit a successful streak went up to 9k pre-Mad Stad.

So it's possible, but like we'll struggle to match clubs like Ipswich and Derby for support, outside really successful seasons, because we don’t have a long history of attendance to fall back on in the tough times, Wycombe will really struggle to do anything above about 6k without a really substantial sustained good period. And they just couldn’t compete in the Champ.

We also had history of getting 20,000 for big matches - I'm thinking big cup matches at Elm Park or finals at Wembley (we had 35k+ for both trips prior to moving to the Madejski). Obviously the size of Elm Park prevented that from being possible in the final few decades, but there was often demand for 20k+.

Wycombe only took 15,400 to Wembley for the EFL Trophy final and about 22,000 for their most recent play-off final (2022) - not indicative of a side which could compete in the Championship for any prolonged period. You're not going to get that for a typical Championship match and you probably need a minimum of 16,000 average to compete in the Championship.

Didn't attendances at Reading dip in the early 1960s when the Ox managed to get elected to the FL?

There was a fall of 28% in average attendances in the five years after Oxford were elected into the league compared to the five years before (as opposed to the 9% drop in average attendance across the Football League). It was 27% and 13% drops over a ten year period. I don't know if any other factors could explain that drop, but the largest factor was likely Oxford being in the league.

Wycombe had no obvious impact on either our or Oxford's attendances once they reached the league. That's probably due to a more established non-league structure and football attendances being on a general upturn.

[The Royal Forester]

If I remember correctly, when Qxf*rd came into the League the number of Tappin's Coaches of Didcot parked up outside Elm Park fell from 3 or 4 for most games to zero. if each coach had 40-45 seats that would have been quite a drop in our attendance figures at the time.

[Sutekh]

If I remember correctly, when Qxf*rd came into the League the number of Tappin's Coaches of Didcot parked up outside Elm Park fell from 3 or 4 for most games to zero. if each coach had 40-45 seats that would have been quite a drop in our attendance figures at the time.

Just out of interest for those that get into the history of local transport, that which was Tappins is now part of the Weavaway travel group.

[The Royal Forester]

If I remember correctly, when Qxf*rd came into the League the number of Tappin's Coaches of Didcot parked up outside Elm Park fell from 3 or 4 for most games to zero. if each coach had 40-45 seats that would have been quite a drop in our attendance figures at the time.

Just out of interest for those that get into the history of local transport, that which was Tappins is now part of the Weavaway travel group.

That takes me back a bit! They look like proper coaches, not like the new ones these days. Weavaway? that souunds more like a knitting group than a coach company.

[MartinRdg]

I'm surprised anyone is surprised by the announcement of the Wycombe takeover, esp anyone who paid even a passing amount of attention to the training ground fun.

Lomatadze (or however you spell it), was the one financing the deal - he has essentially been finiancing the club for a little while now with the plan always to be for the Couhig's to move on this summer and him take over the reigns - it is the least surprising takeover in years. Hopefully for Wycombe he is a billionaire that wants to do the right thing, not a billionaire who gets bored quickly.

On Brum, they are an example of "be careful what you wish for" owners. We all know that any new owner is better than the pain we are suffering on this one and whils they will save the club there is always the chance that they decide to make their stamp early and make changes that aren't needed i.e. looking to bring in a "name" manager which could lead to more pain on the pitch. So whilst Brum's relegation is objectively hilarious, and also funny to see their fans all assuming they will just bounce right back as L1 is shit, it is also a cautionary tale.

And a similar thing could happen to us if new owners bring in a "name" manager.....

[Royals and Racers]

Come on the Posh

[Ascotexgunner]

Come on the Posh

Huffing and puffing. All too easy for Oxford.

[tidus_mi2]

Peterborough look pretty hopeless right now.

[Ascotexgunner]

Balls.

[tidus_mi2]

Come on Bolton, destroy them please.

[Clyde1998]

Peterborough look pretty hopeless right now.

They hardly caused much threat throughout the game and conceded a very soft penalty to get knocked out.

Oxford defended well, but didn’t look all that good. All on Bolton now.