WYCOMBE OWNER ROB COUHIG EXCLUSIVE
I told Gareth to make sure that when April came around I had no reason to be nervous. He didn’t manage that... but for the right reasons
ROB COUHIG may have twice been unsuccessful in mayoral elections in New Orleans – but he would have no problem winning a popularity contest in Wycombe.
The American watched on from his home across the Pond as the Chairboys unseated Oxford United in Monday’s League One play-off final.
He then hopped on the next plane over, as he plans to ensure that Wycombe’s stay in the Championship is a lengthy one.
That they are there at all is something approaching a miracle, given boss Gareth Ainsworth began pre-season with a squad of just nine.
The influence of their Stateside owner though has ensured that this season has gone down in the club’s history for all the right reasons.
“It’s a fairytale, but it’s also an accomplishment that wasn’t put together on gossamer wings,” said Couhig. “If you look at how the team has performed, going back to August, they are a real team and that is exactly why we are where we are.
“They have been absolutely fantastic.”
You can’t argue with that. Under Ainsworth – now the longest-serving manager in English football – Wycombe have gone further than all but the most hardened Adams Park optimist could have imagined.
Not bad for a club that returned from the summer worrying about relegation rather than planning promotion.
“I just told Gareth to make sure that when April came around I had no reason to be nervous,” said Couhig with a laugh.
“Turns out he didn’t manage that – but for all the right reasons.”
Couhig is no stranger to top-level sport, having been involved in baseCbAalPlTION ownership in the US.
But it was thanks to his Liverpool-supporting brother and a chance meeting at the Chelsea Flower Show that he ended up in Buckinghamshire.
“I bought a minor league baseball team 25 years ago,” he explained.
“We moved franchise from Denver to New Orleans and were extremely successful – on and off the pitch.
“About 16 years ago, I sold off those interests and wasn’t going to be involved in sports investments any more.
“Then, three or four years ago, I began to look at English football as a possible place to come in and try and marry some ideas.
“I thought there were ways of making it more economically sustainable and ways of bringing in some more fanfocused ideas.
“I had never been a football man, it was my brother who loved the game and used to travel over to watch Liverpool whenever he could.
“I think he even had a season ticket one year.
“I came over for the Chelsea Flower Show a couple of years ago and used that as a chance to see various teams, one of which, ironically, was Oxford.
“Then I went to look at Yeovil. I thought there was some potential there. We got in deep negotiations and I ended up lending the owners money.
“I thought we had a deal, but they chose not to go forward with it.” Yeovil’s loss was very much Wycombe’s gain. And after offering his services on a try-before-youbuy basis to the supporters’ trust – which has a 25 per cent interest in the club and seats on the board – the rest is history.
Suddenly, from worrying about dropping back down to League Two, Wycombe can look forward to the biggest adventure in the club’s history next season.
For a New Orleans man, who witnessed the destructive power of Hurricane Katrina at first hand, it’s not a prospect that intimidates him.
“With Katrina, we were very fortunate – our home wasn’t destroyed, but we couldn’t get back to it for four months,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine if you didn’t actually see it.
“The folks were very resilient and the city has made a remarkable turnaround, but you can still see the scars.”
Wycombe’s about-turn in fortune can’t match that.
But it’s still remarkable, nonetheless.