Rice leaves Everton to become Chief Football Officer at Wycombe

Dan Rice is leaving his role as Head of Emerging Talent at Everton to become Chief Football Officer at Wycombe Wanderers.

Last week it was announced that Kazakh billionaire Mikheil Lomtadze had acquired a 90% stake in the League One club from Rob Couhig. Lomtadze has vowed to build a “leading high-performance academy” and to “integrate data analytics and technology to elevate the club’s performance to new levels.”

Lomtadze also said he was a “strong believer in youth development” and that this would be “fundamental to the club’s vision.”

Rice will be in charge of the club’s “football functions,” including recruitment, first team, Academy, coaching, sport science and analysis, in a role equivalent to that of a Sporting Director. He was Head of Emerging Talent at Everton from June 2023, leading recruitment in the 17 to 23 age range, and prior to that the Head of Youth Recruitment at Southampton. He has also worked for Arsenal, Fulham and the Football Association.

Rice will join Wycombe’s Board, as will Lomtadze and Eduard Vyshnyakov. Couhig will continue as Chairman of the Board, while Vyshnyakov “will be helping the Board with financial controls and planning.”

Lomtadze is a technology investor and entrepreneur who founded Kaspi.kz, “the leading technology company in Central Asia with a mission to improve people’s lives by developing innovative mobile products and services.”

He said: “Our goal is to achieve long-term success both on and off the pitch whilst building a financially sustainable club. The football world is evolving very fast and our priority will be to integrate data analytics and technology to elevate the Club’s performance to new levels. I am also a strong believer in youth development and it will be fundamental to the Club’s vision.

"We aim to re-open and build a leading high-performance Academy which will become an essential part of our long-term strategy of developing a club that consistently performs at the top level.”