[Lord Snooty]

Huddersfield Town v Wycombe Wanderers
Sky Bet League One
Tuesday 8th April - 19:45 ko
at the Kevin Nagle Arena

Huddersfield Town welcome Wycombe Wanderers to the John McAlpharm Stadium on Tuesday evening for a game of football.

A lot has happened since I started writing this nonsense before realising it was going to get postponed due to the international break. There was a possibility that this game could've been a promotion six pointer, but now it's likely to be disappointment all round for both teams. We've dropped right off and now sit outside of the top six. Wycombe have dropped out of the automatic places and are now six points adrift of Wrexham.

If I'm being optimistic, I'd say that Wycombe could well be back here for the Play Offs semi final. But as a realistic proposition, they're more likely to be traveling to Bolton or Reading.

Whatever happens, I won't be there. Not wasting any more time following this club under the current set up. I might go to the Cambridge game. I'll probably go to the Orient game, but then that's me done. Finished. Won't be going to any Play Offs. Won't be back next season.

Been following my club since 1967, but you've finally priced me out, Kevin Nagle.




A brief history of Wycombe Wanderers: formed in 1887, it took them more than a hundred years to get into the Football League. It was a group of furniture makers (hence the nickname Chairboys) that started the club off in the first place and named their club after the famous Wanderers FC, who were the first team to win the FA Cup.

After just playing friendly matches for the first few years, they entered the FA Cup in 1895 and joined the Southern League in 1896. By this time they had moved into Loakes Park, which would be their home for the next 95 years.

Loakes Park in 1982

They didn't stay long in the Southern League, moving to the Great Western Suburban League and then the Spartan League before settling in the Isthmian League, where they stayed until 1985. In that time they won the title seven times, before taking up a place in the Alliance Premier League, the fifth tier of English football now known as the National League. They were relegated in their first season, but won promotion back again when they won their eighth Isthmian League title in 1987.

That was to what was then called the GM Vauxhall Conference League and under the management of Jim Kelman, they finished 4th in 1989. Kelman resigned not long after that, but the club went from strength to strength when they appointed the manager of Shepshed Charterhouse as their new boss in 1990. That new boss was Martin O'Neill.

He had played, alongside George Best, in a friendly match which had been organised to be the last ever match at Loakes Park, as the club were moving to the new Adams Park. The new stadium was named after Frank Adams, a former club captain, who had given Loakes Park to the club.

Success under O'Neill came soon. They won the FA Trophy in his first season, defeating Kidderminster Harriers in the Final, but missed out on promotion to the Football League on goal difference, finishing as runners up to Colchester United, at a time when only one team was promoted.

It didn't affect them though as the following season saw them do the non league double. They beat Runcorn at Wembley to win the FA Triophy and won the Conference title, meaning they would be promoted to the Football League.

Success continued as they made the Play Offs in their first season, after O'Neill had turned down the opportunity to manage the club he'd played for under Brian Clough, Nottingham Forest. In those Play Offs, they beat Carlisle United 4-1 on aggregate to set up a meeting with Preston North End at Wembley and despite going in at half time 2-1 down, with former Town player Paul Raynor scoring the 2nd of PNE's goals, Wycombe came out in the second half determined not to lose out. Simon Garner scored just after the restart, before two goals from club legend David Carroll secured a 4-2 victory and a place in the third tier of English football.

The next season, 1994/95, they finished 6th, just behind 5th placed Huddersfield Town. Due to the FL restructuring, only two teams were promoted that season and so sixth placed Wycombe missed out on a Play Off place Town of course, went on to beat Brentford and Bristol Rovers to win those Play Offs.

O'Neill was tempted away in the summer. Norwich City winning his favour where small fry Forest had failed. Alan Smith (no not that one) replaced him but didn't last long. John Gregory, then Neil Smillie were appointed, before Lawrie Sanchez took over and gave Wycombe some national attention. They beat Harrow Borough, Millwall, Grimsby Town, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Wimbledon to reach the FA Cup quarter finals. They played Premier League Leicester City at Filbert Street in the quarters, pulling off a shock win when Roy Essandoh headed a last minute winner to take them to the semi finals.

They were drawn against Liverpool and played them at Villa Park. The Reds went two-nil up but were never comfy as Keith Ryan made it 2-1, but it was Liverpool who went through.

League form didn't improve though and despite the heroic Cup run, Sanchez was given the elbow in September 2003 to be replaced by Tony Adams. Not the best decison a football club has ever made as the Chairboys were relegated after ten years in the third division.

The Arsenal legend was kept on, but was eventually replaced by John Gorman, who got them to the Play Offs in 2006, which they lost at the semi final stage, beaten by Cheltenham Town.

Paul Lambert replaced Gorman after he was sacked and the Chairboys set off on another Cup run, this time in the League Cup. They beat Swansea City, Fulham, Doncaster Rovers, Notts County and Charlton Athletic to reach the semi finals and a two legged match with Jose Morinho and his all star Chelsea team.

They went 1-0 down but a late equaliser from Jermaine Easter gave them a draw in front of a packed out Adams Park to go into the second leg at Stamford Bridge a fortnight later. However two goals each from Andriy Scevchenko and Frank Lampard ended the Chairboys' dreams, 5-1 on aggregate.

They reached the Play Offs again in the next season, but once again lost in the semis, Stockport County stopping them this time. This disappointment prompted Lambert to resign. Peter Taylor, who had just lost his job as England u21 boss, was the new manager. He got off to a great start, going 18 games unbeaten, but a down turn in form saw them lose the 4th Division title, just scraping through to automatic promotion on goal difference, ahead of Bury.

Taylor was relieved of his duties after a poor start to life in League One and replaced with Gary Waddock, who couldn't stop the them being relegated. They yo-yoed back again though with another 3rd placed automatic promotion.

The yo-yoing continued though and back down they went. Waddock kept his job though and following a take over by supporters led Wycombe Wanderers Trust, he went on a spending spree, signing a load of new players. That didn't work and so with the club hovering over the relegation line, Waddock was sacked. His replacement was former club captain, Gareth Ainsworth.

Success wasn't immediate though. He steered them away from the relegation places but in the next season, they almost dropped back to the Conference. It was a last day win away at Torquay that kept them up, relegating Bristol Rovers instead.

Ainsworth was kept on though and spent the summer of 2014 rebuilding the squad with several players released and new players, including ex Town striker Paul Hayes, coming in. They made it to the Play Offs and after beating Plymouth Argyle, they played Southend United at Wembley. After a goal less 90 minutes, the Chairboys took the lead in extra time after a Joe Jacobsen free kick hit the post and the rebound hit the keeper to go in as an own goal. Southend wouldn't give in though and equalised in added on time to the extra time and went on to win the penalty shoot out 7-6.

Undeterred by the disappointment, they went and won promotion in the next season, alongside Accrington Stanley and Luton Town. Which brings us to 2019/20, the Covid season. Unlike the Premier League and Championship, Leagues One and Two didn't fulfil their fixtures after lockdown and so the league table was decided on a points per game basis from the matches that had been played. This placed Wycombe in 3rd place and so qualified them for the Play Offs, which did take place.

Played behind closed doors, the semi final was never in doubt when Wycombe won 4-1 away at Fleetwood Town in the first leg. They drew the second leg 2-2 to win 6-3 on aggregate and would face Oxford United at an empty Wembley Stadium.

Anthony Stewart headed the Chairs into a 9th minute lead from a Jacobson corner kick. Oxford equalised just before the hour mark, but with ten minutes left on the clock, former Town keeper Simon Eastwood fouled Fred Onyadinma and the ref pointed to the penalty spot. Set piece specialist Jacobson stepped up and slotted it home and Wycombe saw the game out to reach the Championship for the first time.

It was a tough start in the Championship, played behind closed doors still, they struggled badly, losing their first seven games. They were bottom of the league for most of the season, but managed to rally later on. Unfotunately for them, they did go down, but it was only on goal difference behind Derby County.

Ainsworth left after ten years in charge, for Queens Park Rangers in 2023 and his job went to another ex club captain in Matt Bloomfield. They then reached the EFL Trophy Final in the next season, losing 2-1 at Wembley to Peterborough United.

This season, after a poor start, they went on a 19 match unbeaten run and are now firmly entrenched in the automatic promotion places. However, Bloomfield is no longer there. He left for Luton Town in January and Mike Dodds is now in charge of things.

Head to Head



Town lead the head to head with 7 wins to Wycombe's 3, with 3 draws.

The first meeting was a landmark match in the history of Huddersfield Town as it was the opening game at the brand new McAlpine Stadium. Of course, as we all know, we lost 1-0. It was Simon Garner who had the honour of being the first scorer at the new place. That was in August. By the middle of December, they had done the double over us, with Garner scoring again. Ronnie Jepson scored for Town, but the Wycombe winner came from an unusual source, an Andy Booth own goal.

We got promoted at the end of that season though, with the Chairboys just falling short of the Play Offs. So our next meetings came when we had gotten relegated again in 2001. It was our turn to get the double this time. Things started badly though and their visit to our place in September 2001 looked like it was going the same way as their first visit when the Chairboys took an early lead. But a goal from Jon Thorrington and an own goal gave us a 2-1 victory.

This win was backed up in March when we had our first big win at Adams Park. Two goals from Leon Knight and one each for Kevin Gray and Kenny Irons gave us a 4-2 win, although it was actually closer than that. Wycombe had equalised in the 86th minute but Irons and Knight both scored in injury time.

Next season saw us relegated again and the two Wycombe matches were both goal less. So it would be back in League One when we would meet again after that, in 2009/10. Lee Clark had assembled a fine football team for that season and we demolished Wycombe by six goals to nil at the Galpharm Stadium in November. This coming after a 7-1 win against Brighton and a 4-0 win against Exeter, a fine football team indeed.

Peter Clarke scored twice that day, Gary Roberts and Anthony Pilkington were amongst the goals as well. Ex Leeds player Michael Duberry scored an own goal, before the rout was rounded off in the 84th minute when Theo Robinson converted a penalty. Yes, a penalty. We only get awarded them when we're well in front.

Oddly, top scorer Jordan Rhodes didn't score in that one, but he was on target down at Wycombe in April, along with Robinson again as we won 2-1 on our way to the Play Offs. Which ended down at Millwall.

They went down at the end of that season, but bounced straight back up again. We beat them 3-0 at our place and young Jordan didn't score in that one either. Instead it was two goals from Alan Lee and one from Roberts, all in the second half.

It was the Rhodes show when we went down to Adams Park though in the January of 2012. I'm sure we all rememer that he scored five goals for Town that night, the first time a Town player had done that since the 1930s. We won the game 6-0, but Kwik Kwiz; who scored the first Town goal that night? Answer at the end of the thread.....

It would be promotion for us at the end of the season and so after we'd been to the Premier League and then back down to the Championship, our paths would cross again in 2020/21 when Wycombe won promotion to the Championship for the first time. It was lockdown time and we all watched a dull 0-0 draw down at their place on i-player, in November.

We had a more interesting game back at the JSS in February. Two much maligned and under rated players gave us a 2-0 lead by the 41st minute. That was Juninho Bacuna and Isaac Mbenza. I say under rated. They were both crap, but they'd be better than some of the players we have now. Do you share that opinion, dear reader?

Two-nil up and we cocked it up! Just before half time, a momentum changer. Albanian international, Anis Mehmeti pulled one back. Set piece specialist Joe Jacobson scored from the penalty spot just after the hour mark and then to top off a remarkable come back, Josh Knight, on loan from Leicester City bagged the winner to send the away fans wild, if there'd been any there.

And so Wycombe went down, we went down later on and we met up again in League One and Herbie Kane gave us this Goal of the Season contender.......

Wycombe in popular culture: What can I write about Wycombe? I'll not lie. Struggling, I was. Then it just so happens, we were watching an old episode of Gavin and Stacey when all of a sudden, Dave from Dave's Coaches mentions that he's taking a coach party to the Chair Museum at Wycombe.......










Recent form - last 6 matches:

Town 2-1 Mansfield
Lincoln 1-0 Town
Charlton 4-0 Town
Town 5-1 Crawlwy
Bristol R 1-0 Town
Town 0-1 Wrexham

Reading 1-0 Wycombe
Wycombe 0-0 Shrewsbury
Wycombe 1-0 Lincoln
Rotherham 2-3 Wycombe
Wycombe 0-1 Wrexham
Peterborough 1-1 Wycombe

Town are 8th in the League One table with 64 points. Wycombe are 3rd with 75.

Kwik Kwiz answer: Oscar Gobern

[themaclad]

Loakes Park, old school non league ground with a slope

[jjamez]

I think that the Mansfield game was my last, I could make tomorrow, maybe, we'll see. But I got to say my goodbyes to the people I wanted to on Saturday and got their numbers for future contact, so maybe it's time to put a pin in it. For now. They too, aren't renewing, less about the price and more about the total/%increase. They like me want to stay sat where or around where we currently do, I'm not against changing seats but I do like it. So I'm happy for my last game to be a win, regardless of how indifferent the performance was. Leave on a high and all that.

I do envisage me going a few times next season, maybe some away games possibly.

As for tomorrow, we need 12 points really to get a playoff spot plus a one game swing. We lose tomorrow then we can't really lose many/any others. Part of me actually hopes we do, so like me, we can put a pin in this one and focus on a rebuild. The longer it's prolonged and the harder it's going to be.

[jjamez]

Alas I forgot to go on about bacuna and mbenza.

Mbenza had some quality, but like a lot of our signings at that time, he lacked mentality, another footballer who thought the game should revolve around him and wouldn't put the effort required in. I'd take tom Ince over him every day and still maintain that we made a mistake in letting him go, yes it didn't go as well as either party hoped here, but the effort was there, something many thought he would lack, he'd have contributed more in the second season than the three brought in to replace him and he'd have done more in the championship too.

On bacuna, another with ability, and not the effort or mentality. Although he's another that I still persist we played in the wrong position/role. He shouldn't have been in a two man midfield, he should have been further away from our defence and more up with the attack.

One thing he did have was a decent long range shot, something I don't think we've had since. I reckon we can count on our hands the goals we've scored from range since he left.

[WakeyTerrier]

I tell you what, they’ve had some decent names as managers down the years. Whereas we just stumble from one failure to another.

It’s a sad state of affairs when you see long time season card holders not renewing and I don’t blame either of you for making that decision, it shows just how badly the club has got this so so wrong. I don’t even think they know how badly wrong they’ve got it yet either. I’d love to know what the uptake has been so far.

As for the match, apathy has well and truly set in with me. Whilst I applauded the goals at the weekend neither of them could raise me from my seat and I find myself torn between wanting to prolong the hope tomorrow night with a win and at the same time wanting Wycombe to put pressure on Wrexham because I don’t really like Hollywood FC and all the cock and bull that surrounds them.

Will I be there…probably…do I care anymore…not really

[themaclad]

Hadn't realised how cheesed off with your club you folks were, on Saturday will be at Marching All together, it's my 50th game of the season, not been easy doing them all, had a couple of 4.30am hme returns never fun, once the run is broken it will make it easier not to go. Probably lucky think our prices will be the same as last season, also helps being an old gadger.
Sympathy with you, don't forget non league great value, real football as well not this tippy tappy s***e taking 80 passes to get to the halfway line.

As for Hollywood FC, used to have time for Wrexham but the arse licking they get now is thoroughly depressing

[Lord Snooty]

Football used to be fun. That is now well and truly finished.

It's not a cheap day out now either. Like everything else nowadays, it's a rip off.

[themaclad]

And to be honest most of the games you see are devoid of excitement

[theo_luddite]

...... and if I do renew I might be paying about £5 more than my bro pays to watch Halifax Town, if their prices don't go up. It's not that cheap in Non-League.

Meanwhile on the stats front. Wycombe haven't lost to anyone below Town this season. They've only won once against a team above us, and that was at Stockport, back in November.



Good one Snoots by the way.

---

Good to see you managed to get a mortgage arranged for that Bellend Road ticket themaclad.

[theo_luddite]

In other stats, Town went 11 games before getting a 0-0 draw in the 12th game at Wrexham at the start of the season.

We've just gone another 11 games without a draw.

We won 6 of those first 11, we've won 5 of the most recent 11. We're also on a 3x run of lose 2 win 1.