A Season Beyond Our Wildest Dream – The Story Of The Couhig Era – Part 1

It was announced on Saturday evening that the 90% stake ownership belonging to the Couhig family is being transferred to Blue Ocean Partners II Limited, which is owned by Georgian Billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze. This will bring to an end five years of success under the Louisiana based family which saw Wycombe go from a League 1 relegation contender, to the lofty heights of the Championship for the first time in the history of the club. Over the next five days, take a trip back over the highs and lows of the eventful last five years as we thank the Couhig’s for the magnificent work they’ve done for our football club, by retelling the full story of their tenure as owners over a five part series of articles. 

The Dream First Season:

At the end of the 2018/19 season, Wycombe managed to defy the odds once again to beat the drop in League 1 by finishing 17th. However, what was an excellent achievement was overshadowed with concern for the coming season. Manager Gareth Ainsworth turned up to the first day of pre-season with just a handful of players and the club was tipped to be relegated back to the fourth tier by many pundits.

At the time, the club was fan owned but the supporters trust had been seeking external investment for a number of years. There had been ongoing negotiations between American businessmen Jim Collis and Bill Luby which had started 2 years prior. Sadly it was announced in early April 2019 that Collis and Luby had withdrawn their offer which sent the Trust back to square one in the quest to secure an external investor and secure the club’s future.

To combat this, Wycombe had to turn to the fans to raise money for the playing budget. The ‘500 club’ scheme was developed so fans could donate money and receive some extra benefits whilst the money donated would go towards bringing in new players. Alex Pattison was the first signing of the summer who joined from Middlesbrough on a free transfer, the money raised from the 500 club going towards the players wage.

However just a week before the arrival of Pattison, the club put out a statement that fans had been hoping would come. A deal in principle had been agreed for American lawyer and former New Orleans Zephyrs owner Rob Couhig to become a shareholder, with trust legacy members gathering for a meeting on 11th July to discuss the potential of the American joining the board.

Rob’s takeover wouldn’t happen until later in the year however his investment was successful. This would see the playing budget be restored to similar to what it had been the season prior, allowing Wycombe to strengthen the playing squad significantly. This was further aided by the departure of Jason McCarthy to Millwall, paving the way for fan favourite Fred Onyedinma to return to HP12 for the third time in his career but for the first time, he signed a permanent deal.

Other high profile players at League 1 level such as Jack Grimmer, David Wheeler and Rolando Aarons arrived with the Blues really raising eyebrows after they secure the loan signing of former Newcastle regular Aarons. This meant the Chairboys had gone from looking at a potential relegation dogfight to what could be the highest finish in the club’s history.

With Wycombe making an electric start to the season, thanks to Rob’s investment and the strengthened playing squad, the vote for trust legacy members was to be held on 16th October 2019. To be successful in his acquisition of a majority stake in Wycombe Wanderers, Couhig would need to gather 75% or greater of votes in favour of his bid.

A week later on October 23rd, the club revealed that Couhig had reached the 75% threshold he required for approval of his proposed takeover. Feliciana EFL LTD would become 75% owners of Wycombe Wanderers FC and invest £2.2 million to settle the club’s outstanding debts and made an extra £1 million available for working capital with the stadium and club memorabilia will remain 100% owned by Wycombe Wanderers Trust’s subsidiary company, Frank Adams Legacy Limited. A new 15 year lease with FALL would also be agreed, with the club paying £150,000 yearly rent to use Adams Park.

In the end, 94.98% of all legacy members who voted were in favour of Couhig’s takeover, smashing the required 75%. Rob would be introduced to the fans on 2nd November 2019 ahead of a league fixture against Shrewsbury Town. Rob’s reign would get off to a winning start as the Blues defeated the Shrews 1-0, thanks to a Rolando Aarons goal. This saw the Chairboys climb to the top of the league table, where they would remain for the rest of 2019.

Joining Rob on the board of directors would be his wife Missy, nephew Pete and Mark Palmer as we as two trust nominated directors. Straight away the Couhig’s would hone in on getting local businesses involved with the club. Rebellion beer would come on as the clubs primary beer supplier on matchdays as well as local based food outlets such as Beyond BBQ would become a regular fixture in the Chairboys Village.

At the turn of the year, Wanderers sat top of the table. The whole club wanted to continue the excellent run of form especially when one Ipswich fan famously referred to the Chairboys as “an elephant at the top of a tree”. The analogy being “Nobody knows how it got there but everyone knows it’ll fall”. This would later be revealed as a huge source of motivation which ended up spurring the squad on rather than bring them down.

A difficult couple of month meant the Blues didn’t keep up the rich vein of form which propelled them to the summit but enough points were secured to keep them in and around the Play-Off places. The season was eventually curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, at this point Wycombe had played a game less than their rivals around them which would ultimately prove crucial. The EFL held a vote on how to end the season and the table would be decided on a points-per-game system, which would shoot Wycombe up from 8th place to 3rd and most importantly, inside the play-offs.

No matter what happened, Couhig had secured the highest ever finish in the clubs history just 5 months into his tenure. Of course, we all remember what happened in the play-offs as Wycombe comfortably dispatched Fleetwood 6-3 on aggregate to book a place at Wembley against local rivals Oxford United.

July 13th 2020 was the biggest day in the club’s history, as Wycombe were just a step away from making it to the Championship for the first time ever. Due to the pandemic, there was no crowd at Wembley to roar either side on but Rob and Pete Couhig were both present as Gareth Ainsworth led his heroes out to battle under the arch. Wycombe took the lead after 9 minutes with legendary left back Joe Jacobson firing in a corner that was met by the head of Anthony Stewart at the far post.

Stewart’s performance was heroic, as the man who’d graduated the Wanderers academy made tackle after tackle to see Wycombe into half-time with a 1-0 advantage. Oxford would score 10 minutes after the break when Mark Sykes mishit a cross which baffled Ryan Allsop and dipped in over the keeper’s head. A couple of massive saves from Allsop and questionable decision making from Oxford’s James Henry denied the U’s of taking the lead of the match.

Then, Fred Onyedinma pounced as a long punt forward was misread by Oxford’s defenders which set Fred through on goal. Simon Eastwood had to come off his line to try and deny the Nigerian but he clattered the winger instead and the referee awarded Wycombe a penalty. The ever reliable Jacobson smashed the penalty straight down the middle to restore Wycombe’s advantage with just 15 minutes remaining.

Unlike the previous outing under the arch, there would be no late drama and Wycombe held on to win 2-1 and reach the Championship for the first time in 133 years. Couhig initially outlined his ambitions to get Wanderers into the second tier but to do it in his first season at the helm would’ve certainly exceeded his expectations.

Tomorrow we tell the story of how Wycombe’s first season in the Championship unfolded and the challenges Rob faced during a global pandemic.