Karen Adams - My grandfather would have been dismayed (From Bucks Free Press)

Karen Adams - My grandfather would have been dismayed

9:40am Friday 3rd July 2009 in

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THE man who gave Loakes Park to the people of Wycombe would be dismayed to see the club fall into the hands of one single person – says Frank Adams’ granddaughter Karen Adams.

She spoke out in the week that voting started in the club’s hastily-convened takeover battle which sees the club’s MD Steve Hayes hoping to convert £3m of the £7m he has loaned the club into shares.

She accused Hayes of trying to railroad his plans through by giving the club’s Supporters Trust and shareholders just 16 days to decide whether to hand over their shares to him and give him sole ownership of the club.

She also criticised the ultimatum-like style of the proposal which saw the multi-millionaire businessman saying he would stop funding the club if he doesn’t win – and his allies in the boardroom beefing up the threat by saying that a ‘no vote’ would take the club into administration.

She said: “No-one likes being bullied.

“I think it is clear it could have been handled a lot better. He hasn’t given the Trust a lot of time.”

Adams is the Supporters Trust Honourary President. Her grandfather was player, captain and administrator with the Chairboys before giving Loakes Park to Wanderers in 1947. He held key administrative positions in the club.

After his death in 1981 his son, Karen’s father Jack, played a key role in the negotiations to build the new ground in Sands, which was subsequently called Adams Park – and she says both would be disturbed at the takeover.

She said: “My grandfather Frank gave the ground Loakes Park to the club as a gift on the basis that the club would remain amateur.

“Obviously things have moved on but I think he would be dismayed that his gift would be given to the control of one person.”

She added: “My father had the vision of the new stadium Adams Park and he was very proud of the new stadium and I feel certain that he would also be dismayed.”

And she admitted she had not seen enough evidence to say that the takeover and Hayes’ proposed move to a new 20,000-capacity ground with groundshare tenants London Wasps, would be for the football club’s benefit.

She said: “How many spectators can we get to watch Wycombe Wanderers. We were only getting around 5,000-6,000 under Martin O’Neill in our heyday.

“Unless we are going to make significant new friends in the Asian Community we are not going to get an enormous crowd.”

The Supporters Trust board voted narrowly in favour of recomending Hayes’ £3m bid to their members when they met last week.

But they said they felt bullied into making a decision before they came to their verdict by eight votes to seven, with one abstention.

They made it clear they were only agreeing to it – subject to legal guarantees – because if they didn’t Hayes would withdraw the concessions he has made to them.

Those include Hayes giving them first option on the club’s shares when he comes to sell them in the future and him undertaking to give £1.5m to the Trust to start a new club should he take them into liquidation.

They believe they have secured the ‘best deal of a bad job.’ Trust board member Joe McKenna has resigned over the way it was handled.

He said: “It was nasty and oppressive. The Trust board were bullied into their decision. It was a case of accept it or the terms would be withdrawn.”

It is now down to the shareholders to decide whether to accept the bid.

Voting has already been taking place by proxy and the final votes will be cast on Monday, with the result being announced after that.