Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth, says there’s 'nothing to lose' in their League One play-off final clash on Monday night.
The Chairboys will face Oxford United in the M40 Derby at Wembley Stadium for a place in the Championship, with Wycombe aiming to play in the second tier of English football for the first time in their history.
This is just six years after the club were almost relegated to the National League in 2014, and Ainsworth still believes the final game of the season 2013/14 season against Torquay is still to date, the most important game in his career.
READ MORE: Gareth Ainsworth on his lucky charm as Wycombe go to Wembley
The manager said: “It's nothing to lose because Torquay away in 2014, we had with everything to lose.
“I had to hang on to something.
"I had to hang on to Wycombe Wanderers' league history.
“When people say the biggest game of my career, I don't think I can ever get bigger than standing on the touchline at Torquay when we almost went out of the Football League and I was the manager.”
Ainsworth opened up on his preparations in playing in an empty stadium as well as playing as the underdogs.
Ainsworth said: “It’s a very strict lockdown at Wembley.
READ MORE: Wycombe's Wembley history - how have the Chairboys played at the home of English football
“It's going to be eerily quiet and the players have got to be ready for this and be aware of this.
“We do plenty of visualisation at the club, we do plenty of development days and things away from football.
“Richard Dobson works really hard on the psychology of players and we'll get that spot on.
“It's the legs.
"It's the fitness.
"It's the tactics now that we need to make sure we've got every stone unturned.
“Twenty third was the prediction for many people.
"We're still the underdogs
“Oxford is still the huge favourite at Wembley but it's something we're used to.
"It's probably something we thrive off.
“Hopefully we're rewriting the history books because it's the first time Wycombe would ever be in any sort of level like this and be a proud moment for me to lead them there.”
The manager also admitted that the club only had nine players turn up to pre-season last season.
Ainsworth continued: “We had a huge budget cut the year before.
READ MORE: The history of the M40 Derby: Wycombe Wanderers vs Oxford United
“We survived in League one and that was that was the end of our five year plan.
“We had this five year plan to survive.
"We made it.
"But it really came at a cost.
“It was not sustainable for us to continue at the levels we were and the easiest thing to cope was the playing budget.
“We took probably 30 or 40 per cent off the playing budget, which probably put us in the bottom five of League Two, never mind League One.
“I had to release a lot of players that hence that's why we had nine turn up.
“But then luckily in that summer, I met an American businessman and lawyer called Rob Couhig, and he came in with his nephew, Peter Couhig and his wife, Missy, and they took the club over.”
Since the club have had an incredible season finishing in their highest league position in the club’s history to qualify for the play-offs.
The biggest game in Wycombe Wanderers' history will kick-off at 7.30pm on Monday, July 13.
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