Wycombe Wanderers FC
Wycombe Wanderers FC (WWFC) is a professional football club competing in the English Football League. They aspire to reach the Championship, having narrowly missed out last season. Yet their current 2025/26 campaign in League One has begun disappointingly, leaving them in the bottom third of the table, causing an early replacement of the manager.
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Their involvement in this case is all about training grounds.
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Their current training sites are:
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Marlow Road, High Wycombe – This ground lies in the Green Belt and the Chilterns National Landscape. WWFC originally owned it but sold it in 2013 and leased it back. During spring 2025 they modernised the site without planning permission and are now seeking retrospective approval. In their own words, the redevelopment created “some of the best training facilities in the EFL.”, and they are “looking forward to seeing the team settle into their new training ground.” They even name the facility after a fan and club member who passed away. Despite this, they argue the site is no longer viable because the lease has only six years left — but leases can be renewed, and this “problem” is entirely self-inflicted by their earlier sale.
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Harlington Sports Ground, West London – Formerly used by QPR and Chelsea, and now owned by Imperial College London. WWFC agreed in June 2024 to lease Harlington for both its academy and first team. The club has since complained that it was “too small” for their needs, and the first team has moved back to Marlow Road, leaving the academy at Harlington. At the same time their joint press release with the council presents Stoke Poges as the future home for the academy, while other sources suggest it is intended for the first team.
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WWFC’s case does not add up.
Each time they speak, the story changes — sometimes the problem is a lease, sometimes it’s the academy, sometimes it’s the first team. They boast of having “elite” facilities, then dismiss them as inadequate. They even sold their own ground and now complain that the lease is too short. These contradictions matter, because they show that WWFC’s push into Stoke Poges is not about genuine need but about opportunistic expansion.​​
WWFC's not legalised additions to Marlow Road Training Ground on Green Belt land (blue elements).
WWFC's Contradictions at a Glance
Claim
​“Marlow Road lease ends in 6 years, so we need a new site.”
Reality
They owned Marlow Road until 2013 but sold it and leased it back. Any “lease problem” is self-inflicted.
Meaning
The community should not pay the price for WWFC’s poor business choices.
Claim
“We need South Bucks to remain competitive.”
Reality
They already have two sites (Marlow Road + Harlington) and describe one as “elite.”
Meaning
WWFC is not desperate for training space — this is about expansion, not survival.
Claim
“Marlow Road upgrades gave us some of the best facilities in the EFL.”
Reality
They modernised the site without planning permission and only applied retrospectively.
Meaning
If these facilities are really “elite,” why abandon them?
Claim
“Our success will bring economic benefits to Bucks.”
Reality
Promotion is speculative. They were one one point better than the worst team (to whom they just lost) in League One after 8 matches.
Meaning
Gambling protected land on uncertain sporting outcomes is reckless.
Claim
“We need Stoke Poges for the academy.”
Reality
The press says Stoke Poges is for the first team; Wikipedia says Harlington is still used for academy.
Meaning
WWFC shifts its story depending on the audience. Likely they want both teams at Stoke Poges — meaning bigger development.
Claim
“This is all for the community”
Reality
Their first and foremost priority is their football ambitions, community needs come last.
Meaning
Community land should never be sacrificed for private gain — WWFC’s promises are camouflage for their own ambitions.
​This track record reveals two crucial truths:
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WWFC is not in desperate need of training facilities — they already have high-quality options.
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WWFC has shown a willingness to ignore planning law and shift narratives to suit its agenda, making them an unreliable steward of community land.
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No experience with golf or community recreation
Wycombe Wanderers has no history of running golf clubs or providing broad community recreation. Only recently did it hire a supposed “specialist” to front its bid – someone whose public statements on golf and age-discriminatory remarks have already raised doubts about integrity and credibility. Without access to large parts of the golf course land (charity land or the Blue Parcel), it is highly doubtful the club would even have entered the tender process.
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A conundrum of their own making
The club says: “This is mostly for the public.” But the facts speak otherwise:
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There are already 11 football pitches on the charity playing fields.
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Those pitches are running at a loss.
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Adding yet more public football pitches would not solve anything.
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A private academy, however, is not permitted under the charity trust or planning law.
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That is the central contradiction: either Wycombe Wanderers seek privacy – which the Charity’s land cannot lawfully provide – or they build more loss-making public pitches, which makes no sense.
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The conclusion
The South Buckinghamshire Golf Course is not the answer to Wycombe Wanderers’ ambitions. They already have suitable training facilities. If they want to upgrade further, they must look elsewhere. They do not have the background, the mandate, or the legal standing to reshape land that was gifted into trust for the health and recreation of the local community.​