Mike Dodds gives his first sit down interview on taking the Wycombe head coach job

Mike Dodds gives his first sit down interview on taking the Wycombe head coach job, coming in as permanent replacement to Matt Bloomfield.

The 38 year old has made his first visit to Adams Park since becoming Head Coach, meeting club staff and checking out his new surroundings.

His first game in charge is at Preston North End on Saturday afternoon in the fourth round of the Emirates FA Cup.

💙 Young superfan Holly sent us a welcome message to show to Mike on his first day at Adams Park, and it was greatly appreciated by our new Head Coach.

You’re a star Holly, thank you! pic.twitter.com/lXVRFQGaXq

— Wycombe Wanderers (@wwfcofficial) February 5, 2025

Interviewer: Mike welcome to Wycombe Wanderers, your first time here at Adams Park as the head coach how you feel?

Mike: It’s amazing to be here um it’s been a whirl wind kind of 48 hours for me from obviously my previous employees to to coming down but the the welcome I’ve had has been incredible um everyone’s you know everyone told me before I came here it’s a real family club but I felt that in the first 48 hours so I’m looking forward to tomorrow actually getting on the grass and doing the bits that I enjoy doing um but yeah loads of names loads of faces loads of handshakes and hugs so um yeah it’s been um I couldn’t have wished for anything anything better in terms of welcome

Interviewer: It’s a hugely exciting time for Wycombe Wanderers what excites you about this challenge here at the Chairboys ?

Mike: Well in the short term the team are doing really well I think I’ve obviously got to recognise you know Matt and the job that he’s done you know he’s done an incredible job to not only um leave the team in such a strong position but he clearly evolved where they where they were when he took over and and obviously Gareth before that so I think I’ve got to recognise the work that’s gone previously um you know speaking to the ownership group um we were clearly very aligned you know the kind of three or four conversations we had it started quite slowly but it accelerated really really quickly when we when we discussed the kind of more medium to long-term future of the football club it became really apparent that we’re very very aligned in terms of the direction we want to go in me as a young coach the football club and once once those discussions was finished I was just I was excited to obviously get it finalised and get down here

Interviewer: Tell us a bit about your journey in football, what’s brought you here?

Mike: How long have we got um obviously didn’t play failed footballer I called myself a failed footballer went into coaching very very early so I’ve had almost kind of two decades worth of worth of coaching at various different levels um obviously my previous stint was at Sunderland which is a mammoth football club in terms of size and support and you have to develop a very very thick skin very very quickly if you’re going to if you’re going to um play coach or manage that football club um but yeah my background is coaching my background is I think there’s a narrative around young players which I understand because I spent a period of time working within youth but like I said to some of the senior lads I think the strongest relationships I forged in my time as in the first environment has been more with a senior lad so I see my role in terms of just helping individuals improve I think if you can help individuals improve the byproduct of that is you have a better product on the pitch a better product on the pitch we win more games so yeah that’s me

Interviewer: You’ve met the players and what’s been the key messages that you’ve given them so far

Mike: Not a huge amount if I’m being brutally honest I know everyone wants me to kind of um elaborate on that more but obviously I turned up to the training ground Tuesday I didn’t want to make it about me because they had a training session to concentrate on Gracie’s done an unbelievable job believe me I’ve done that role and it’s a difficult difficult role to kind of step into um step into someone else’s shoes that is clearly very very liked and continue the good work that’s a really difficult role so I think it would be remiss of me not to to recognise that role s I spoke to Sam yesterday and I feel like we’ve already got a very natural connection um so yeah um I didn’t speak to load of the players individually if I’m honest I didn’t want yesterday to be about me unfortunately you guys were there with your cameras and things like that which which made it a little bit more about me but I wanted them to concentrate on training um I didn’t address the group I’ll do that tomorrow um I’ll do a little bit on the grass I think my role and responsibility in the kind of short term here is not to damage all the good work that is happening and I think if I can just add little bits of my personality I’ve got to be authentic to me if I can add little bits of my personality over the next 16 games continue all the good work that’s going on hopefully we’ll have a real successful end of the season

Mike Dodds says farewell to Sunderland as he leaves for head coach role at Wycombe

Interviewer: With your previous coaching experience as well Wycombe have got the academy the new Academy now set up and starting how did you see those things aligning with your position as head coach as well?

Mike: As I said my that that’s very much been my background um over the last kind of I would say probably a decade or so um I want to help and support where I can um I’ve got some really really good experiences of players that I’ve worked with and and brought them through so I think really it’s again I’d like to think that I’m someone that has very little ego um but what I will do is I will be a someone that that those coaches can come and talk to around my experiences um and one thing I always say in football there’s no not a one size fits-all model this is I have to you know make sure this is Wycombe and we’ve got to find an academy system that is fit for Wycombe and it’s it won’t be a copy and paste from places where I’ve been previously, so yeah I see my role is a very much a support role, if they want to come and ask me for help and advice obviously I’ve got a huge amount of experience in that area of kind of development

Interviewer: How would you say your previous roles have shaped your sort of coaching philosophy

Mike: Yeah good question, I’ve been a kind of an assistant assistant coach for you know probably four or five managers at my previous employers and all kind of four were different personalities different characters and what you always try and do is steal the best bits from all four of them and they all worked completely different ways um so all four would have had a real influence in terms of leadership day-to-day planning and all those types of things I think 20 years worth of coaching I’ve you know my craft or my skill set is very much being on the grass with the players so I’ve built that over 20 years of coaching but what what has happened in probably kind of the last four or five years I’ve worked under some amazing people as I said different personalities different characters and what I will be doing is stealing things that I like from all kind of four people I’ve worked under and hopefully like I said we have to develop a Wycombe way, which will take time but in the short term I keep saying this to the people at the training ground and I’ll say this over it’s not damaging what is currently happening and anything that we evolve will be really really small baby steps over a longer period of time

Interviewer: And is that the approach we’re taking now for the running obviously Wycombe fans very excited about the position that the club are in with 16 17 games to go

Mike: Definitely and I think that’s going to be obviously my conversation tomorrow with the players I’ve spoke to the senior senior boys and I can see having spoke to them why the season has gone the way it’s gone up to this point and I’m really excited to to develop a relationship with those lads, but when I address kind of the whole group tomorrow it’s going to be very much that like let’s crack on business as usual there’s not going to be loads of changes. I think what I do over the kind of next two or three games and the game at the weekend is really watch and observe and after that I obviously have a little bit more of a say in terms of the things that I think I can help with but my role and responsibility in the short term is let’s just continue on the path we’re on

Interviewer: Finally the fans every football club will say the same the fans are the heartbeat of the club and the community what’s your message to the Wycombe fans

Mike: It’s an absolute privilege to be here um it’s not lost on me that I’m a very young coach and I’ve been given an unbelievable opportunity at a football club like I said in the last 48 hours. I’ve completely felt that kind of family feeling around the club that’s really important to me I’m a big family person um and I hope to uphold the values and traditions of the football club I’m not going to come in and try and be anything I’m not um and I hope for the next 16 games we can we can achieve what we want to achieve and then from there we can continue as a partnership on and off the pitch evolve the football club in the direction we want to go

Sunderland captain Dan Neil said: “Everyone in the squad is really thankful for everything Doddsy has done since he came to the Club.

“He got introduced into the first-team set up midway through the League One season and his development as a coach has mirrored the development of the football Club over the last few years.

“He’s been through the high and lows. Especially the highs of getting promoted from League one and getting into the Championship play-offs. He was a massive part of that.

“Everyone in the changing room had huge respect for him and he helped massively in every single game. He is going to be a massive miss, not only because he is a really good coach, but also a good person. He got on with everyone off the football pitch.

“It’s a good chance to go and show his capabilities as a Head Coach because we all believe that he can do that, and we’re all looking forward to seeing his progress.”

Twitter users reacted as Mike Dodds gives his first sit down interview on taking the Wycombe head coach job…

@Ben_stenner15: Really good first interview… would be very easy for him to come in and make it all about him and try and stamp in his style straight away. But to realise the good that sam and matt have done this season it’s really encouraging to hear he’s not planning on changing major things

@gbroughton87: How can you not like this guy already. I hope we can kick on and finish the season strong, and that he can lead us back to the second tier where we belong.

@ChrisCooper_22: First impressions are lasting impressions and i really like him.

@readonceagain: A really genuine bloke… didn’t quite work out when he took the reigns at ours but clearly the players respected him as a number 2. You’ve got a coach who can develop young talent and hopefully his experience will serve him well. All the best WW

@GrahamFalk: Top bloke. Good luck, Doddsy.

@KidBi11y: Good luck doddsy, you deserve your chance at being the main man, hope it goes well for ya

@DanClarkPR: Really positive. Glad he’s here to continue with the Wycombe Way! Welcome!

@AmadMackem: Hope it works out for him as a head coach. If it doesn’t, he’ll be welcome back at Sunderland.

@DerryGreen9: Classy interview from Mike and Phil. Very excited for the weekend and the rest of the season now. Welcome to the Wycombe family Mike. Let’s go!! 🩵💙

@saswwfc: Great 1st interview as said already. What I take from it is, it sounds like he has been appointed from within, his values. Due diligence has been done by the board & the appointment feels like a coach that fits the club rather than the reverse. Delighted to have you on board MD.

@matt_wyc: Great first interview. Seems like an excellent character

@ChairboysNoise: Spot on – up the Wycombe 💙🩵

@doctordunlop: An excellent first interview, really encouraging to hear some of these key messages and recognising the good work by all before. Now it’s all about the future – best of luck to you all.

@Sl290495: Absolute love this !! Sticking to what we have known all season !! Watching that for the first 3 games and then feeding things in that he thinks we can improve on love that doddsy 💙🩵

@JayWoodhead01: Good luck Doddsy ❤️🤍

@Templet69197880: Best of luck ❤️🤍

@IanSunlun: Best of luck to Doddsy and the Wanderers.