Wycombe Wanderers Club Profile

Wycombe Wanderers Football Club was formed in 1884 by a group of young furniture makers.

In 1895 the club moved to Loakes Park, a site near Wycombe Hospital which sported a famous 11ft slope, and the team entered the Southern League Division Two in 1896, winning their first ever trophy, the Berks and Bucks Senior Cup, in 1902.

In 1919 and 1920, Wanderers won the Spartan League in successive seasons, leading to the club joining the Isthmian League in 1921. A decade later they beat Hayes at Highbury to win the FA Amateur Cup in front of a crowd of 32,000.

In 1955 and 1957, Wycombe were crowned Isthmian League champions and that same year they lost the FA Amateur Cup final at Wembley in front of a gate of 90,000.

The club enjoyed a successful few years in the Isthmian League throughout the 1970s, and in the mid-1980s they won promotion to the highest level of non-league football, the Conference, but survived only one season, before their promotion again in 1987.

In 1989, work began on their new ground Adams Park, and the following year the club appointed former Nottingham Forest midfielder Martin O’Neill as the new manager.

A wonderful period of success followed, with Wanderers winning back-to-back FA Trophies and promotion to the Football League in 1993, winning the league by a record 15 points.

O’Neill dramatically turned down the chance to manage his former club Forest the following season, and instead guided Wycombe to another promotion, this time to the Second Division.

A year later, in 1995, O’Neill left to take over at Norwich City and was replaced by former Crystal Palace boss Alan Smith.

A long list of managers have come and gone since then, including John Gregory, Neil Smillie, Lawrie Sanchez and Tony Adams, but ttheir most recent success, promotion from League Two in 2008/09, came under Peter Taylor.