Wycombe: Deal to save club from administration

The deal to save Wycombe Wanderers from plunging into administration was brokered by an ardent supporter who was asked to get involved by other fans desperate to ensure the 122 year old club did not fail.

The Founder Members Trust, which represented more than 500 supporters who had bank rolled the club over the years when it had failed to make a profit or even break even, turned to financier Don Woodward after entrepreneur Steve Hayes, the club’s managing director, had demanded 100% ownership of the shares.

Hayes, who had accumulated £7 million worth of investment in the club, told fellow directors that the only alternative would be to place the club in administration.

As a refection of the community spirit surrounding the Wycombe Wanderers, it was agreed when the club became a plc in 2004 that no person could own more than 25%, thereby safeguarding supporters’ interests.

When those interests came under threat the FMT asked for help from Woodward, who runs the change management and business enhancement activities of the Milton Keynes based Precision Corporate Group.

He said: “I am dealing with problems like these every day although when the trust first approached me they were merely aware that I was involved in finance in some form or another.

“I agreed to mediate between them, and Steve Hayes and his team to safeguard the rights of the supporters while acknowledging the contribution to the club that had been made by Mr Hayes and also appreciating the worthiness of the plans he was proposing to take the club forward.”

Woodward says the key to a successful outcome was obtaining the backing of the founder shareholders and Trust members for a plan that had already received the blessing of the rest of the shareholders. The Trust, he said had Enshrined Rights which enabled them to block the proposals enabling them.

“I am pleased to say they have now backed the plans but on the proviso that while they recognise they have lost the right to run their own club; they have retained the right to buy it back,” he says.

“By undertaking negotiations with Steve Hayes on their behalf I secured concessions that they may not have won without me but it did take many weeks to convince previously unconvinced people to accept the proposals for the good of the club."