'He's here without being here' - Wycombe chairman on owner

Billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze took over Wycombe Wanderers in May 2024

Wycombe Wanderers chairman Dan Rice said owner Mikheil Lomtadze may not visit the club this season.

The Kazakhstani billionaire took over at Adams Park in May 2024, but is yet to be seen by fans at any of the matches.

Chairman Dan Rice told BBC 3CR: "I'm not going to say he's going to be here next week, or this season. He's a super-busy guy and he's here without being here, if that makes sense?

"I think in his own time he will be at the football club."

He added: "I'm very confident that hopefully fans feel that what you see day-to-day and the growth of the football club is driven by him (Lomtadze)."

Following Lomtadze's takeover in 2024, the technology entrepeneur said: "Our goal is to achieve long-term success both on and off the pitch whilst building a financially sustainable club.

"The football world is evolving very fast and our priority will be to integrate data analytics and technology to elevate the club's performance to new levels."

He took over from American businessman Rob Couhig who had a more visible presence at the club. Couhig attended games and mingled with fans in bars around the stadium on matchdays.

Wycombe chairman Dan Rice was speaking to BBC 3CR's Sam Avery

Rice said Lomtadze was in regular contact. "We speak daily, whether that's an update on something football related or non-football related," he said.

"We have a purposeful meeting every week, without fail.

"That is headline parts from the week particularly at the moment with the transfer window."

In 2024-25, the Chairboys lost in the League One play-off semi-final to Charlton Athletic over two legs after finishing fifth in the table.

Top scorer Richard Kone has been the subject of interest from Championship club Preston North End, but Rice said the club would do all they could to keep their young stars.

"Ultimately we want to keep our best assets, we want them to come with us on the journey," he said.

"There's bigger fish out there, so there will be a point when clubs come in for our players.

"It's a really good indicator that we are doing a good job with our pathways."

The highest Wycombe have been in the EFL was a season in the Championship in 2020-21, but Rice said the long-term target was to get the club to the Premier League.

"We are super-aspirational but also realistic. We have a saying at the club, 'why not?' and there's so many examples out there of similar models that have got to that status of a Premier League club," he said.

"We've got to learn and develop as we go and there will be patience needed from everyone. We want to build gradually and build into a Championship organisation.

"We see this as a long-term project."

Wycombe begin their League One campaign at Bradford City on Saturday (15:00 BST).

You can listen to the full interview with chairman Dan Rice on BBC Sounds here.