Billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze purchases Wycombe Wanderers

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Ron

Ron

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Jan 25, 2011
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A technology investor and entrepreneur is now the official owner of Wycombe Wanderers, the club have confirmed


In the evening of Saturday, May 4, one week after the league season ended, the Adams Park side released an official statement confirming that Mikheil Lomtadze’s company, Blue Ocean Partners, owns 90 per cent of the club

The Georgian joins the club’s board alongside Eduard Vyshnyakov and Dan Rice.

Wanderers’ previous owners, the Couhig family, had been with the Buckinghamshire-based team since 2019 before officially taking over in February 2020


In that time, they helped Wycombe reach three Wembley finals, secure a season in the Championship, and provide a development system which was produced names such as Anis Mehmeti, Chris Forino and Ali Al-Hamadi

The club is delighted to announce that Mikheil Lomtadze, Eduard Vyshnyakov and Dan Rice have joined the Board of Directors. Ownership of Feliciana EFL Ltd – which owns 90% of the club - has been transferred to Blue Ocean Partners II Limited, owned by Mikheil Lomtadze
 
You get owners like this now, with what happened to the results when Bloomfield took over as manager & the results at the beginning of this season he would have probably been gone.
 
I don't think so we still have FFP in league 1 you can only spend what's coming in, if it operates like the Premier League where it could help is ground improvements & academy which don't count towards FFP. What we do know he owns the football side & nothing else he doesn't own the ground. Which could be a good thing.
 
The Trust still owns Adams Park. They bought Couhig's 90%

That's not to say that at some stage they couldn't have us over a barrel and demand the other 10%. In that scenario I would hope the Trust would say **** off, we'll keep our ground and go into administration
 
Who is Wycombe's new owner?
Mikheil Lomtadze is a technology investor and entrepreneur, who founded Kaspi.kz, the leading technology company in Central Asia with a mission to improve people’s lives by developing innovative mobile products and services.

He currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and is an executive director of the company.

The 48-year-olds holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School, and is a member of Harvard Business School’s Middle East & North Africa Advisory Board.
 
Everton: Wycombe to appoint Dan Rice with Goodison Park notice given

Jonathan Burnett
Tue 23 April 2024 11:10, UK

Dan Rice is set for a surprise move to Wycombe Wanderers after handing in his notice at Everton recently, according to Alan Nixon.

The emerging talent scout only arrived at Goodison Park from his previous role at Southampton last year but is moving on to the ambitious League One club already.
 
New owner statement extract

“To the Wycombe fans, I do not and will not take lightly the responsibility for the Club in front of its fans, staff and players.

“Our goal is to achieve long-term success both on and off the pitch whilst building a financially sustainable club.

“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.

“We are looking forward to working with the Wycombe Wanderers Supporters’ Trust as we together take the club into its next chapter.

“I’m excited to get started and I look forward to seeing everyone down at Adams Park for the start of the 2024/25 season.”
 
mowgli1960 said:
It all seems to be good for our new owner but we thought the same about the t*sser Steve Hayes who left us with £6M of debt. <grr><grr>
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My recollection of Steve Hayes was that most, if not all, of us did not trust him one inch
 
He is saying the right things, I will wait and see before making judgement. Some owners seem to get bored when they don’t get success immediately.
 
Steve Hayes was bad news and I was always concerned about what he was doing, especially when I saw the feasibility report and cost of the feasibilty study re placement of a new stadium. What a joke. What that study contained could have been done on the back of an envelope with a bit of common sense and a few enquiries, in a few days. Can't remember how long it took but they somehow justified spending £0.25M on consultants to produce a christ knows how many page report which was clearly a pre-produced report with variables filled in. Hayes had us over a barrel

Then came the 2 money grabbing yanks who had investment interests all over the place and the Trust nearly sold us down the river behind the scenes. Obviously some backhanders about there. As I said on this forum, I could smell the stink from here

Then came the Couhigs. I had a nice feeling about this and wasn't disappointed

Now a Russian billionaire. Hmm. I think I trust Rob Couhig to only hand us over to someone with good intentions and the money to invest. So, unless the new owner has fooled Rob (which I doubt), we could be in for exciting times. I would like to see what plans they come with to see if they are realistic (as opposed to the Hayes pie in the sky project)

Maybe they will put in place plans for a new stadium and use Adams Park as the training ground and venue for events (and maybe the home ground for the youth squad). Any plans for a new stadium will need to be realistic (ie taking account of our current attendaces) whilst allowing for expansion if the long term plans are fulfilled and attendances improve significantly. Such a plan would give the new owners full ownership of the club (including new stadium) whilst leavingb Adams Park owned by the Trust
 
Guywanderer said:
Any comparison with Hayes is totally off the mark this bloke has money to burn Hayes only had credit notes after all he ran Loans.co.uk who disappeared into MBNA
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I hope you aren't reading my post as comparing him to Hayes. I'm excited by the news. But I'll still be interested to see how he copes with our low attendaances
 
Just read your posts above and have to say this guy sounds like our man Simon Hallett. Self sustaining, analytics, youth accademy being invested in etc etc. Being owned by a billionaire does not mean they will spend their cash though but it should mean that as long as he sticks around you won't go bust. Have to add though that if they want to inject cash into the playing side of the club there are sure to be ways of getting around fair play finances.
 
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philhythe said:
I came across a report this morning from a Reading supporter about Rob Couhig might be involved in buying Reading
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Correct
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"Beggars can't be choosers" - Reading FC takeover claim made as ex-Wycombe owner Rob Couhig eyes deal Football League World 7h
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Explained: Potential new Reading owner Rob Couhig The Tilehurst End 5h
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Ex-Wycombe Wanderers owner targeting Reading FC takeover Football League World 2d
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Former Wycombe Wanderers chief 'leads the way' in Reading takeover saga Reading Chronicle 2d
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Dan outlines vision and strategy in first interview Wycombe Wanderers FC - Official Site 3d
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Ex-Wycombe owner Rob Couhig 'leads the way' to purchase Reading Bucks Free Press 1d
 
Must admit I thought it was a load of Bull****, that's one way of sh*****G on what he acheived at Wycombe suddenly gone down in my eyes. The other way to look at it why would a billonaire buy us, when twenty miles away there is a club all set up just off the M4 20,000 capacity decent training ground & all ready to go. Whereas with our ground & capacity we are even with the best will in the world, probably no more than a mid table Championship side.
 
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