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A brief history of Wycombe Wanderers FC
By Nathan Jackson
August 6 2008
Wycombe Wanderers have spent the majority of their existence in the non-league. They have "enjoyed" a mixed time in the League and that includes a fairly consistent time whilst in League Two, almost always being involved in the playoff shake up, losing out in the semis on two occasions.
The club were founded in 1887 and spent over 100 years in the non-league scene. The first ground to feature football in High Wycombe was at Loakes Park in 1895 and they joined the Southern League. However, they barely got a look in due to the domination of professional teams and they moved to the Great Western Suburban League in 1908. The first World War came and went before they joined and won the Spartan League.

Success was sparse at the club, only an FA Amateur Cup win in 1931 could be considered a success before 1956 saw the first of their eight Isthmian League titles. A promotion to the Gola League (the modern day Blue Square Premier), following by a relegation and subsequent immediate promotion back, was followed in 1990 by the Chairboys leaving their Loakes Park home, settling at Adams Park.

An appointment of Martin O'Neill brought success to the club and the blues won the FA Trophy twice before eventually winning promotion to the Football League in 1993. The Chariboys won promotion in their first season by beating Preston North End in the final before narrowly missing out on the Second Division Playoffs the following season.

O'Neill left the side and the side became one of those sides that finish in the midtable year upon year. However, the 2000/1 season saw Lawrie Sanchez's men progress to the semi finals of the FA Cup, eventually losing to Liverpool at Villa Park. That run also included a win at Leicester City thanks to a striker who was quite literally picked up from teletext.

However, success in the League remained distinctively absent and the club were relegated to the newly renamed League Two in time for the 2004/5 season. Their first season was a mixed affair, going top before a long unbeaten run ruined all realistic chances of promotion. The following season was pretty much the opposite, unbeaten in the first 22 games of the season, Wycombe would eventually collapse from near certain promotion to losing to Cheltenham Town in the Playoffs.

2006/7 was an average affair for the club before a run to the Playoffs in 2007/8. The semi final with Stockport was a tense affair due to the bitter relationship of Wycombe's Paul Lambert and Stockport's Jim "moan a minute" Gannon. Wycombe took the lead in the second half of the first League but Stockport still went through on an aggregate scoreline of 2-1.

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