If London Wasps were seeking a lift in a season when their status as Guinness Premiership champions has been belied by a string of poor results, they received it yesterday. The club have a new owner who wants to nail down the contracts of their young and talented playing assets and a board of directors revitalised by the appointment of two distinguished former players, Lawrence Dallaglio and Mark Rigby.

Steve Hayes, the managing director of Wycombe Wanderers, the Football League club, whose ground at Adams Park is shared by Wasps, met the players and coaching staff in the morning after buying out Chris Wright and taking over ownership. He has already promised improved facilities at their Acton training base and does not expect any move from Adams Park “for the foreseeable future”.

It will give the struggling champions, ninth in the table, fresh impetus going into tomorrow’s vital Heineken Cup game with Edinburgh at Murrayfield and when they renew their Premiership campaign on December 20.

“It was not a difficult decision to become owner, I can see what needs to happen here,” Hayes said. “There are world-class people at Wasps and we need to get the best out of them.”

Wright’s association with Wasps lasted ten years, in which time they won 11 trophies, including two Heineken Cups, and his loyalty is rewarded by the title of life president.

Though they never had the reputation during that decade as the best-paid or largest playing squad, they won respect throughout the northern hemisphere as overachievers and it is the successful environment established at the club that Dallaglio emphasised yesterday.

The former England captain, who retired last season after 18 years as a player at Wasps, acknowledged that lucrative offers were on the table for promising young players such as Danny Cipriani and James Haskell. “You have to decide on your priorities and if they are driven purely by money, other places will offer more than Wasps,” Dallaglio said. “We will pay a player what we believe his value is, but the player has to think about where he can get his best rugby education, the best place to be seen playing, the input and empowerment he will have, the best place to win trophies and preparation for international rugby. He also has to know where he will be happy, where his family will be happy. After that comes the financial consideration.”

Dallaglio will be involved in contract talks, which, Hayes said, would take place over the next few weeks, having been delayed only because of the boardroom changes taking place. “We believe we can grow the support to rival that of Leicester and Northampton,” Hayes said. “The relationship between Wasps and Wycombe Wanderers is the best of all the clubs who share grounds and when we played in the Premiership final in May, we estimate there were some 35-40,000 Wasps supporters at Twickenham.

“But we need them to come regularly to Adams Park. Our community programme is moving in the right direction and we’re looking at the possibility of building at Adams Park but we need to be sure people will come. There’s no point building a new stand and not being able to fill it.”

Wasps have been accustomed to packed houses for Twickenham finals but stage their own away day there on January 17 when they play Leinster in a Heineken Cup pool game — marketed as the “battle of the capitals” — for which sales have passed 12,000 with a stated aim of a 30,000 crowd. Their poor Premiership showing this season has been attributable partly to the provision of nine players to England.

“We are clearly England’s international side,” Hayes said, but he will be advised by Dallaglio and by Ian McGeechan, the director of rugby, whether the squad size should be changed. Wasps have spent to the limit of the salary cap (£4 million) in the past two seasons but international calls and injuries have stripped the squad to the bone in recent weeks.

McGeechan admits that tomorrow’s game at Murrayfield is critical if Wasps are to fly this season. “If we lose to Edinburgh, our chances of qualifying for the knockout stage will be very slim,” he said. “Having our England boys back brings a freshness to the club and they know they need to perform for us if they are to be part of the Six Nations squad.”

Loan arranger

- Steve Hayes, reported this year to be worth £55 million, made his fortune from loans.co.uk, the finance broking firm, which he established in 1997 and sold to MBNA three years ago for in excess of £100 million.

- Hayes took a 25 per cent share in Wycombe Wanderers in 2004 and became managing director of the football club, also joining the board of business directory service Football League Interactive. Last year he bought shares in London Wasps Holdings and became a club director.