Wycombe Wanderers’ Chairman Rob Couhig has claimed the club won’t be intimidated by Sunderland ahead of their play-off final meeting.
Couhig believes that Wanderers will be going into the game as the big underdogs.
However, the club’s owner has backed supporters to show up in full voice to overwhelm the Black Cats at Wembley.
Couhig has aimed a dig at Sunderland, calling them “the team that has a Netflix show” and has also claimed that the fans will try to intimidate the Wycombe supporters with their superior numbers.
But the club’s chairman believes that those attempts will fall on deaf ears despite limitations placed on the number of fans that Wanderers can bring to Wembley.
“We know that the last step in this journey will not be easy,” wrote Couhig, via the club’s official website.
“We will again be the underdogs to those who ‘know football’. The supporters of the team that has a Netflix show will try to intimidate us with their superior number of fans.
“But they do not know Wycombe. If they did, they would know that at Sunday’s match - despite the limitations placed on our fans’ attendance - the Wanderers still dominated the stands.
“And we expect to keep pace with them in numbers of supporters in the stands.
“We will do this because our regular fan base is excited and ready to maximize their support.
“I am hearing from groups throughout the UK looking to get their maximum allotment. I am absolutely confident we will sell all the tickets that Wembley makes available to us.”
Wycombe earned the chance to compete at Wembley with a semi-final victory over MK Dons.
The club is looking to bounce back straight into the Championship having been relegated 12 months ago at the first attempt in the second division.
Meanwhile, Sunderland got through Sheffield Wednesday to book their place in the League One play-off final.
The meeting takes place on May 21.
The Verdict
This is certainly one way for a club to look forward to such a huge occasion.
These types of comments will likely fuel much of the build-up with still over a week before kick-off arrives.
It would be an impressive achievement for Wycombe to earn promotion again given the size of the club.
But it appears those involved know the difficulty of competing against a team of the stature of Sunderland, and perhaps comments like these are an attempt to undermine their preparations for such a big clash.