WYCOMBE Wanderers' Adams Park ground will be re-named Causeway Stadium, the Bucks Free Press Midweek can exclusively reveal.

The Blues yesterday signed a six-figure three-year deal with the Loudwater-based company, who will now have the ground named after them.

The sell-off has provoked an outcry from Wanderers fans who have accused the club of selling off their heritage for less than £100,000 a year.

Causeway insisted that the name Adams Park be dropped from the stadium's title because they said if it wasn't, the media and fans would continue to refer to it as Adams Park and dilute their value.

Causeway Technologies Ltd, a four-year-old software manufacturer for the construction industry, confirmed yesterday that the deal has been done.

Chief executive Phil Brown said: "We feel it is an opportunity and a responsibility."

Causeway were the first company to sign up for the Friends of Wycombe Wanderers Trust Fund which was launched last year to buy new players and now they are taking their involvement much further.

Brown is aware that there has been a backlash from fans over the dropping of Adams Park from the ground's name but says they wouldn't have signed the deal otherwise.

He said: "It would have diluted it and people would have continued to call it Adams Park.

"We made it clear to them [Wanderers] that there would have to be no ambiguity about the name. The previous stadium sponsor was Bartercard and no-one has heard of them. For the money we were spending, it was important that our brand came through strongly.

"There is no way people would have called it Causeway Adams Park Stadium. It would have been too much of a mouthful. It would have diluted it and people would have continued to call it Adams Park."

But he added: "We didn't approach them. They approached us and we looked at it. People should realise that we have done this as a commercial opportunity and also out of a sense of responsibility.

"If it is taken as a negative by some people that's fine but Wycombe had to plug the gap left by their previous shirt sponsors.

"I understand the disappointment of fans in having to lose the Adams Park name but the club are retaining and preserving the name in terms of catering and other activities."

Brown is delighted to be involved and, although the deal is only for three years, he is hoping it can be longer term.

He said: "Once you change the name of a football stadium you don't want it to change every other year. We would like to maintain that association for as long as possible."

And he is thrilled with the deal from Causeway's perspective.

He said: "For us being a young innovative company, it will give us a brand value that would be difficult to get in any other medium."

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