'Supply teacher' Dodds steps up for promotion test

Mike Dodds has urged Wycombe Wanderers to "finish the job" and win promotion this season after taking over as head coach.

The former Sunderland assistant boss was appointed by The Chairboys following Matt Bloomfield's switch to Championship club Luton Town.

They are second in League One, four points behind Birmingham City and four ahead of Wrexham, but will be in FA Cup action this weekend with a fourth round tie at Preston North End.

"My responsibility now is to continue all the fantastic work that's happened previously," Dodds told BBC Three Counties Radio.

"We'll give it our best shot, we'll need a little bit of luck at times, we'll need results elsewhere to go our way at times but they've given themselves an unbelievable opportunity."

Wycombe reached the Championship under Gareth Ainsworth in 2020, but only lasted a single season in the second tier.

The club was taken over by Kazakhstan billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze's Blue Ocean Partners company in May last year and have moved forward on the pitch this season, winning 17 of their 29 leagues games so far and losing only four.

Dodds served as academy manager at Birmingham before moving to Sunderland where he had three spells as interim boss, most recently from February 2024 to the end of last season.

He is undaunted by the pressure of maintaining Wycombe's current form and indicated that he would have been concerned had the owners taken the view that "we're second in the league but don't worry about it".

The 38-year-old added: "I've always said I wanted to be a head coach. Did I think it would come this early? Probably not, if I'm being frank and honest.

"I do think the interim role and being permanent is very different. It's like being a supply teacher (as interim boss), the kids know you're not the real teacher, that's the easiest context I can give it.

"Being a head coach, you live and die by your decisions and when you're an interim head coach, you're always thinking 'can I do this?' and 'I shouldn't really do that' because of the next person coming in."

'I want to get even more out of senior pros'

Mike Dodds (right) with chief football officer Dan Rice

Dodds said when he spoke to the owners and chief football officer Dan Rice, there was a real "alignment" in their view of the how to move the club forwards and further develop their players.

"I want to work with the more senior players here and try and get an extra 5, 10, 15 per cent out of them - a Josh Scowen, a Luke Leahy, a Garath McCleary, they are really important for the short and medium term future of this club," he said.

"I'm a developer and I think people naturally go 'he just works with young people' and that's not the case, my strongest relationships at my previous club have been with the senior players and I think they feel I've helped them progress in certain areas."

Wycombe signed nine players during the winter transfer window and also brought back Caleb Taylor from West Bromwich Albion for a second loan spell.

They may need time to gel under a new boss, and Dodds insisted he would not be fazed by taking tough decisions when necessary.

He added: "When you sit in my position, you're not always going to be liked because you have to make the best decision for the team.

"Players only care about themselves, to a point, because it's their careers and their careers are so short, and I'm comfortable with that understanding."

Forward Beryly Lubala said the players were delighted by the energy brought in by Dodds "from minute one".

He added: "He's very well-liked. You can see by his record at Sunderland, how well he's done there, and the reception he got from the players, even when he's left, all the messages, it just speaks for itself.

"Definitely we can expect a dedicated coach, who's very detailed, and I think we're going to thrive with him."