Wycombe is owned by a Louisiana baw. Bergkamp, Larsson, Kuyt and Koeman wanted to buy it

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The 70-year-old lawyer, who has twice unsuccessfully ran to be mayor of New Orleans, is joined on stage by Wanderers chairman Trevor Stroud and manager Gareth Ainsworth. These are the final hustings, a last chance to lobby the electorate before the ballot begins and a pivotal moment in Wycombe’s history is underway. “I’ll tell you now, if we don’t get the vote I think we could be in serious trouble,” says Ainsworth, a steely glare replacing his usual radiant smile. “I’ll say it bluntly — it could be very, very tough. “People have kept this club alive and it comes a time when you think, ‘This really needs to change’. For me, this is that time. I believe in Rob and what he could do for this club.”

A gentleman from the floor asks what will happen if the 75 per cent threshold is not met. “The honest answer is, I don’t know,” concedes Stroud, chair of the Trust which took control of Wycombe in 2012 and two years later saw them only avoid dropping out of the Football League — and potentially into oblivion — on goal difference before a gradual climb under the guidance of Ainsworth. “We’ll be back in the mire, of that I’m sure. I guess we’ll be back to the choice we had before: we can either stare down the barrels — and the barrels are getting bigger all the time — or we can look up and go for some investment. So I can’t say what will happen if the answer is ‘no’. “We are thinking about it, talking about it, talking to people in the background. But at this point in time I can’t sit here and say, ‘We have a wonderful alternative.’ And that would be mad anyway, because I think the right choice is sitting on my left (Couhig).”

Accounts filed to Companies House show Wycombe made a loss of £667,258 for the year to June 30 2018 and, in the absence of significant player sales, a similar figure is expected for 2019. They must repay a £500,000 loan that was secured against the stadium by the Americans Bill Luby and Jim Collis — whose own bid for Wanderers collapsed in April — and are additionally in line to owe Couhig two payments of £300,000. This deal was granted on a handshake in the summer to reverse a budget cut and is unsecured. Should Couhig’s offer fall short, the Louisiana native candidly tells the crowd “it means I’m not wanted, I’ve got other places to go” and Wycombe will seemingly have lost their only hope. The thing is, there was somebody else.

The Athletic can exclusively reveal that a group made up of Dennis Bergkamp, Henrik Larsson, Dirk Kuyt, another high-profile former Dutch international, plus Ronald Koeman as an advisor, had made a bid for the club with a view to “catapulting Wycombe into stardom”.

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