Wycombe Wanderers have been taken over by Kazakhstan billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze.

His Blue Ocean Partners Ltd company has bought a 90% stake in the club, who finished 10th in League One this season.

The Chairboys have been owned by American businessman Rob Couhig since February 2020.

He will remain chairman during the transition of ownership, which will also see Dan Rice become chief football officer, having previously worked at various Premier League clubs.

"Our goal is to achieve long-term success both on and off the pitch whilst building a financially sustainable club, said Lomtadze, a technology entrepeneur.

"The football world is evolving very fast and our priority will be to integrate data analytics and technology to elevate the club’s performance to new levels.

"I am also a strong believer in youth development and it will be fundamental to the club’s vision. We aim to re-open and build a leading high-performance academy which will become an essential part of our long-term strategy of developing a club that consistently performs at the top level."

The sum involved in the takeover deal has not been disclosed.

Lomtadze was listed 581st on the Forbes list of billionaires this year,, external with an estimated net worth of $5.7bn (£4.5bn).

Wycombe were promoted into the English Football League in 1993 and had a season in the Championship in 2020-21 under former boss Gareth Ainsworth.

They reached the League One play-off final the following season, but lost 2-0 to Sunderland at Wembley.
Wycombe's Adams Park ground was built in 1990 and Wasps rugby club also played there for 12 years until 2014

Ainsworth left after more than a decade in charge in February 2023 to become Queen's Park Rangers head coach and was replaced by Matt Bloomfield.

The Chairboys reached Wembley again this season, only to lose to Peterborough United in the final of the EFL Trophy.

"I am excited for the future of Wycombe Wanderers," said chairman Couhig.

"Last year, I announced that I had begun looking at a possible succession plan for our ownership. Since then, I met with a significant number of well qualified people.

"It was apparent from that first meeting that Mikheil and I shared similar values...I came to understand that his goals for the club were similar to mine."

Eduard Vyshnyakov will also join the Wycombe board and will assume responsibility for financial planning.

Albion v Saints
Canaries v Falling apart again

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Random Badger gives you 2 points

The random badger is used for any random prediction used once in each matchday sequence. For instance, a scorer at a particular match, the number of red cards in the matches or yellow cards or own goals or owt you want really within reason, I do need to be able to check whether it's correct or not. Please don't put stuff like....."Commentator says...."  
The joker   is played for one match in each sequence and if correct you get double points. So if you've predicted 1-0 and it finishes 2-0, you get 4 pts, but if you've predicted 2-0, that's 8 pts. But if you get it wrong, it's minus 2.
Jokers and badgers are optional. You don't have to play one if you don't want.

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. Similarly with the badger, if your random prediction is affected by this, it'll be half the points.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  

End of season Play Offs: The one who finishes top of the league will still be champion, but after the season finishes there will be Play Offs between the top 4, with 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd. This will take in stuff like the EFL Play Offs, FA Cup Final, final day of Prima Donna League, European Finals etc. It will be one matchday for the semis and one for the Final. It will be the individual scores for each matchday against the allotted opponent, with some kind of tie breaker for a drawn match.

The prize for winning will be enormous. Another rep point.

1. St Charles Owl = 364 pts
   
2. Lord Snooty = 349 pts
   
3. themaclad = 340 pts
   
4. jjamez = 330 pts
   
5. Baggiebob(BBB) = 302 pts
   
6. ritchiebaby = 291 pts
   

1. SHEP_HTAFC = 334 pts
   
2. neonfoxinthebox = 323 pts
   
3. Devongone = 319 pts
   
4. theo_luddite = 307 pts
   
5. WakeyTerrier = 253 pts
   
6. Amelia Chaffinch = 235 pts
   

Saturday 11th May:
Premier League:
Fulham v Manchester City (12:30)
AFC Bournemouth v Brentford
Everton v Sheffield United
Newcastle United v Brighton & Hove Albion
Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley
West Ham United v Luton Town
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Crystal Palace
Nottingham Forest v Chelsea (17:30)

Sunday 12th May:
Manchester United v Arsenal (16:30)

Championship Play Offs 1st legs:
Sunday 12th May:
Norwich City v Leeds United (12:00)
West Bromwich Albion v Southampton (14:15)

*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***


Tie breaker:
Total number of corners in the two Sheffield United matches (against Everton away and Spurs at home) = ??

Heres the new thread for the up and coming season of 24|25 where we can discuss all the ins and outs contracts etc etc and hopefully no silly statements from his one and truly disaster of a owner

My personal hopes for next season are 4pts from the pigs a nice little cup run maybe a gready semi final and just to let DR clean the decks and add new better quality players for a top half of the table finish ill take 12th now by the way

i don't expect ! neither do i want ! Chansiri to spend mental amounts of money on wages and transfers but hell have to get something spent and with a plan on developing players and for gods sake selling them on when they are worth something and not letting there contracts run down he has to change his ways or we will just go around in another endless circle even if DR wins us the league ... this club is not being run properly and could go tits up at any moment a CEO is needed first and foremost

anyway ... heres a list of the players who currently reside although i may be incorrect about there current contract status SCO if you could edit please

Players still in contract

Wilks
Johnson - Contract extension exercised
Ihekwe
B Diaby
Paterson - Contract extension exercised
Musaba
Gassama
Cadamarteri
Famweo
Charles
Valentin
Smith

thats pretty piss poor to say the least! maybe 4 first team players at a push and the rest are bench fodder

Players out of contract

Vaulks - Offered new contract
Bernard - Offered new contract
Windass - Offered new contract
Dawson - Offered new contract
Iorfa - Offered new contract
Bannan - Offered new contract
Palmer - Offered new contract

Brennan - Released
Gregory - Released
Delgado - Released
James - Released
Bakinson - Released
Byers - Released

Loans Going Back to Parent Club

Hendricks
M Diaby
Fletcher
Petersen
Beadle
Ugbo
Poveda

Heres the current standings with the predictions thread and match thead points combined



Match thread BML
Imre 23pts
Maddix 22pts
Washington 19pts
Owlskev 13pts
SCO 12pts

Match thread BMPL
Wereham 14 pts
Stateside 6pts
Pieowl 0 pts
Southey 11 minus


Prediction league tables points so far
Maddix 27pts
SCO 25pts
Owlskev 21pts
Stateside 18 pts
Washington 17pts
Imre 17 pts
Wereham 16prs


Reminder from the BML rules that anyone tied on points the prediction league wins the GD as it was


Southey and Pieowl Void .


Table combined BML
Maddix 50pts
Imre 40pts
SCO 37pts
Washington 36pts
Owlskev 34pts





Table Combined BMPL
Wereham 30pts
Stateside 24pts

Pieowl 0 pts
Southey 11 minus

Tied on points the GD goes to the most points from the prediction league .


As it stands Maddix is out infront with a high chance of winning the league and its a battle between SCO, Imre ,Owlskev and Washington to stay up in the BML

Stateside and Wereham are kneck and kneck almost for Promotion with just 2pts in it !!!


Theres still a few results we will wait on FA cup winners Playoff winners Premiership winners and relegation but as Man city is on most peoples Predictions the margin is very small. Ill also update as soon as owlskev gets out the sunderland games results which we are still waiting on ( updated pieowl and Wereham 1pt each )

Ill let Charlie and Owlskev steward the points tally so no silly f@cking questions and piddlyiowl you will be ignored

Important threads please charlie

Hibs face another long trip north to face a Ross County side still desperate for points to lift themselves out of the Play-off spot. The last time Hibs travelled that far north, they dominated the game and were looking good for long spells, but still managed to lose a goal deep into added time to finish 2-2.

Last week against St Johnstone we also lost a late goal after dominating the game, so it's clear where our problems lie. We are easily good enough to get the win, but it is Hibs we're talking about, so you just never know. The likes of Simon Murray will try to run our defence off their feet and Ross Laidlaw at the other end will play an important part too.

Monty on the game
"They’re a team that’s been fighting and scrapping for a number of weeks. You saw their result against Rangers and in their day they’re a good team. They have some strong players, so it’s important we give them respect, but we have to play the way we play. Disappointingly last time against them an incident at the end of the game cost us two points. We have to look at ourselves for that, but we also got an apology after, which doesn’t matter. We have to go back there tomorrow and take all three points."

THE MATCH

SATURDAY 4TH MAY KO 12:30PM

v

LAST MATCH



Just when we needed it the team showed up as we saw off playoff chasing West Brom. Both keepers made an early save each before we took the lead when Musaba pounced on there keepers parry and fired in from close range. The Baggies had a couple of late chances but we went in ahead. Onto the 2nd half and we started on the front foot, Vaulks had a effort cleared then Musaba forged his way into the box and the ball fell for Ugbo who rifled it into the net. It was soon 3-0 when Bannan's shot was parried and Windass put in the rebound. The Baggies made a bunch of changes and did pep up but Beadle saves and poor finishing kept the score 3-0 leaving our destiny in our own hands going into the final game.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

THE MATCH



Last game of the season and we make the journey to the north east to take on Sunderland. Sunderland are safe from relegation but have struggled since the turn of the new year winning just five games. Mike Dodds is the current caretake manager, taking over from Michael Beale who was sacked in February after he took over in December 2023. Dodds has won 2 of the 10 games he has been in charge of. There best player is Jack Clarke, who is also there leading scorer with 15 goals and 4 assists. They also have Jobe Bellingham on there books, brother of Jude Bellingham.

DEJPHON CHANSIRI, GET OUT OF OUR CLUB    

ALL TIME H2H

OWLS 49
SUND 51
DRAWS 29

CURRENT FORM

OWLS              -                                                              

SUND -                                         

EFL STOOGES

DOES IT MATTER THERE ALL CORRUPT  

GAVIN WARD
Lee Vanamore & Andrew Fox
Fourth Official: Tom Nield

THE TEAM

Beadle
Palmer Ihiekwe Bernard Johnson
Musaba M Diaby Vaulks Bannan Gassama
Ugbo

SCORE & SCORER (HOME TEAM SCORE FIRST)

1-2 Ugbo

WEDNESDAYS FIRT GOAL TIME

26

ATTENDANCE

N/A

BML LEAGUE

Imre 23
Maddix 22
Washington 19
Owlkev 13
SCO 12

BMPL

Wereham 13
Stateside 6
Pei -1
Southey -11

OTHER GAMES OF MILD INTEREST

Brentford v Fulham
Sheffield Utd v Notts Forest
Plymouth v Hull
Birmingham v Norwich
Oxford v Peterborough

HAAAD

THE MUPPETT LEAGUE




KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

Ipswich Town v Huddersfield Town
The Sky Bet Championship
Saturday May 4th - 12:30 ko
at Portman Road

Huddersfield Town travel to Ipswich to the Alf Ramsey Arena on Saturday lunchtime for a game of football.

After Tuesday night's victory away at Coventry, the Tractor Boyz only need a point to gain automatic promotion to the land of milk and honey, also know as the Premier League. A bit of a poisoned chalice maybe, but once you've got to this position, you have to give it a go. Remember 2017 and how excited we were? Well, that's what the Ipswich fans are having now. They just don't know what evils lie ahead.

It's been 22 years since they've been there and have more recently been a League One side. They were relegated in 2019 and didn't get back up again until this time last year. They clinched promotion with a 6-0 win over Exeter City.

Six-nil? Hold my beer!

The game is live on Sky Sports and we will be just a footnote in the coverage. We'll be expected to roll over and let them win easily. And that might well be how it pans out, but we must approach the game professionally and do the job for our noisy neighbours.

Yeah right!

Will we even have Andre Breitenreiter in charge after all the speculation this week? Who knows? Who even cares? The season's gone. We've been relegated. Let's get it over with.

Snooty's season review and a look ahead to life in League One:

It's been rubbish, hasn't it?!

Sure has!

It started off well enough. Some massive pre season victories against Bodmin, Liskeard, Stockport and SC Heerenveen gave us all hope of a season of at least mid table comfort with Neil Warnock and Ronnie Jepson steering the good ship Huddersfield Town into calmer waters than of late.

But as soon as the real thing got under way, mistakes started happening. A 3-1 defeat away at Plymouth, in which Warnock said that we had to work hard to lose that one, was a sign of things to come. That was followed by a Cup defeat at home to Boro and then a home loss to champions in waiting, Leicester City. Signs were encouraging despite the three defeats.

The first of the 18 draws of 23/24 came up at Middlesbrough, but that was followed by a comedy of errors at home against Norwich.

It was at this point, after four matches under the leadership of the great manager who had saved us from relegation the season before and was persuaded to stay on by thousands of fans at the last home game of that campaign, that the club's heirarchy decided to let him go. Immediately after a brilliant 2-1 win down at West Brom, Warnock was told of the Board's decision. And despite backing that up with a win over Rotherham and a draw at home to Stoke, they stuck with that decision.

We were in 16th place and rising when Neil and Ronnie left the building. What came next was a disgrace. Neil kept saying that they hadn't told him who he was being replaced with. Must be somebody big. A name that would make people sit up and gasp in amazement that little old Huddersfield Town had managed to acquire the services of.

The way Jake Edwards spoke of the man at the press conference, I genuinely think he thought we had done such a thing. But the name of Darren Moore was announced and nobody, nobody at all, was impressed.

His era started badly, got slightly better with a late equaliser at Coventry, reached a peak on Boxing Day at home to Blackburn, but the inevitable happened shortly after the debacle at Loftus Road, where we failed to hold on to a lead, not for the first time, and ended with a 1-1 draw.

Then the fun began and the real Huddersfield Town finally woke up. Under the leadership of Jon Worthington as caretaker manager, we played with freedom. A 4-0 win at home to the Wednesday moved us 8 points above the Owls. Surely they would never catch us now.

That was followed by the best match of the season, down at Southampton. We lost it obviously, but playing in the true Terrier Spirit, having raced into a 3-1 lead, we just couldn't match the quality of their substitutes and eventually lost 5-3.

Next up came a Wednesday night win at home to Sunderland, completing our only double of the season. And then the only defeat of the Worthy games, a 2-1 defeat at home to Hull. By that time we could say, meet the new boss.

Same as the old boss? Too bloody right.

In came Andre Breitenreiter, slowing the game down again with boring, boring football. Just like Mr Moore, he got lucky in his first game with two late goals from supersub Danny Ward, with other supersub Tom Edwards getting an assist for the winner. A fortunate victory.

He soon lost the dressing room. For whatever reason, the lads just weren't up to the job of playing out of position, playing without strikers or even playing with enough discipline to see out a win without giving away late penalties.

The inevitable happened last week against fellow relegation candidates Birmingham City, but the damage had already been done. Not that hammering at home to Swansea. The damage was done in August and we never recovered.

So where do we go from here? (Is it down to the lake I fear?)

Not quite, but we are going to a few places that we haven't been to for a while. Coming up from League Two will be Stockport, Mansfield and Wrexham, with all their Netflix n chill stuff. Some Town fans won't have seen us play those three, it's been that long. Not played Stockport since a 6-0 win at Edgeley Park in 2010. Wrexham haven't been on our fixture list since 04/05 and apart from a League Cup game in 2006, we haven't played the Stags since that memorable 0-0 draw in Cardiff in 2004.

One of MK Dons, Donny Rovers, Crewe Alexandra and Creepy Crawley Town will also be making the trip to the John Smith's Stadium. If it is Crawley, it'll be our first ever meeting.

There will be a few familiar club crests appearing on the scoreboard, teams we've played in the Championship recently like Wigan, Charlton and Reading and of course Rotherham. Maybe Barnsley if they don't win the Play Offs. And Bolton, their semi final opponents. The other two Play Off players are Oxford United and those posh twats from Peterborough.

Also definitely on our league schedule are Lincoln, Stevenage, Leyton Orient, Exeter, Northampton, Bristol Rovers, Cambridge, Shrewsbury and Burton Albion. Names there that should any of them come away from the McAlpharm with any points at all, will have Town fans gnashing their teeth in anger.

Wycombe Wanderers are still in League One, as are Blackpool. Always gets the young 'uns excited that one.

Which games are you all looking forward to? I fancy a trip to Wrexham to have a gawp at the Leigh Richmond Roose memorial. Amelia fancies Stevenage. I'll let her explain that one.

1. Ponced Berries
   
2. Lorenzo Drug Bag
   
3. Aberdeen Tin Terrier
   
4. Mod Steward
   
5. Yeah Sheryl
   
6. Bile News
   
7. Weak Arsed DJ
   
8. Rear Doormen
   
9. Pesioner Jon
   
10. Geneva Link