Wycombe Wanderers have confirmed that Mikheil Lomtadze, Eduard Vyshnyakov and Dan Rice have joined the Board of Directors of Wycombe Wanderers, and have completed a takeover for Feliciana EFL LTD’s 90% stake of the club, with 10% remaining with the Trust. This follows the termination of appointment of Pete Couhig and Missy Couhig as board members in February, and Pete’s subsequent resignation as Sporting Director just last month.
Rob Couhig will continue in his Chairman role during the transiton of ownership, whilst Mikheil Lomtadze has commented on his plans for the club, promisingly stating that “our priority will be to integrate data analytics and technology to elevate the Club’s performance to new levels”, whilst also reaffirming a commitment to youth development. This could see the continued support of the development team project created by Sam Grace and Pete Couhig, as well as the re-introduction of a youth academy, which ceased operations in 2012.
Whilst the Couhig family deserve, and will get, their own article on their time at the club, which oversaw some of Wycombe’s highest moments including its maiden Championship season and an EFL Trophy Final this year, this article will go through each member of the trio added to the board in more detail, and what each three will bring to the club in the future.
Mikheil Lomtadze:
The new owner of Wycombe Wanderers, Mikheil Lomtadze is estimated to have a mouthwatering 5.7 billion USD net worth.
The CEO of Kazakhstani Bank Kaspi.kz which provides a number of services in the Central Asia region including the use of data analytics and state of the art technology to “drive customer engagement”, and Kaspi recently went public on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange, being valued at 17.5 billion USD. He also met recently met with Kazakhstani President Jomart Tokayev, following this successful listing. He is also a partner at Baring Vostok Capital Partners, an investment fund focusing on investments in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. The Leave Russia institute have noted the intention of the company to leave the Russian market following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Information on the Georgian is otherwise thin on the ground, but has not past in football or sports in general, which may cause some concern. But the addition of another partner with a long career in football, and both his past and added commitment to the use of data and analytics in the sport and creation of a “financially sustainable club” should help ease concerns over the new owner.
Dan Rice:
The footballing input into the board, Dan Rice has a long and storied past in football, starting with Fulham and becoming an Academy Player Recruitment Manager, he spent time with Arsenal and even the FA as a youth recruitment manager, before becoming Head of Youth Recruitment at Southampton. He spent an ill-fated season with Everton as Head of Emerging Talent, where his own talents, and the clubs ability to operate in the market didn’t mix well.
Rice will operate as Chief Football Officer covering a wide range of areas including “recruitment, first team, academy, coaching, sport science and analysis”, and considering the resignation of Pete Couhig, this may well include wide scale recruitments including a Director of Football, Sporting Director, Head of Academy and more. His expertise and contacts in football will be a necessary and welcome addition, given Lomtadze’s relative lack in the area.
Eduard Vyshnyakov:
The lesser known of the three men, Vyshnyakov has joined the board and will help “financial controls and planning of the club” as a board member.
Notably, he has been well involved in the green industry, being involved with the World Biogas Expo in 2023, and working as a market co-ordinator and business analyst for the Anaerobic Digestion and Bioresources Association, a group aiming to reduce emissions in a multitude of industries including farming and waste management. He was previously a database administrator for the same group, suggesting a background in data which would be useful given Lomtadze’s planned overhaul with the use of data.
