Bedford FC

[LondonEagle]

38 minutes ago, Cruz said:

Many years ago a merger between Bedford Town and Bedford United was proposed and never materialised. I for one hope that this proposal would bite the dust a second time.

I can see why people would be against it Cruz but logically it makes sense. Logistically you could have a National League standard ground at The Eyrie, but probably not at McMullen Park. Bedford Town still have bigger local support but Real Bedford have international support and Peter's podcast listemers and marketing skills.

Most non-league towns where there are 2 clubs at similarlish levels generally end uo merging at some point. Definitely struggle to think of many towns that have 2 non-league clubs playing at a highish level of the pyramid.     

[LondonEagle]

THE EMIRATES FA CUP SEASON 20 2 3 - 2 4 LIST OF 732 CLUBS – ACCEPTED

Including Real Bedford, just below Reading FC.

https://www.thefa.com/news/2023/jun/29/fa-cup-youth-cup-trophy-vase-2023-24-entries-exemptions-prize-funds-20233006

 

 

 

 

[RallyInRaleigh]

On 28/06/2023 at 16:18, LondonEagle said:

Fair enough but using the word defecting implies sropping supporting one team and starter supporting another. Like switching from Arsenal to Spurs, City to United..  or Liverpool to Tottenham!

My Dad has supported Bedford Town for 75 years. He's not suddenly going to change allegiance and defect to Real Bedford, however well they do.  

Bring it on. Will be fun to have a couple of cups to compete in early in the season. 

[LondonEagle]

9 minutes ago, RallyInRaleigh said:

Bring it on. Will be fun to have a couple of cups to compete in early in the season. 

FA Cup is definitely exciting. Chance of a run, maybe also local derby v Bedford Town.

Went to Wembley with Newport Pagnell in the FA Vase last season, I wouldn't say Real Bedford are worse than them as a team. They didn't get promoted to Step 4 though, a Vase run sounds great to Wembley but also means big fixture backlog in the league.

[RallyInRaleigh]

24 minutes ago, LondonEagle said:

FA Cup is definitely exciting. Chance of a run, maybe also local derby v Bedford Town.

Went to Wembley with Newport Pagnell in the FA Vase last season, I wouldn't say Real Bedford are worse than them as a team. They didn't get promoted to Step 4 though, a Vase run sounds great to Wembley but also means big fixture backlog in the league.

I'm telling you fine folks right now, if Real Bedford makes it to Wembley, I'll be there and the first round is on me. 

[Rhodes]

1 hour ago, LondonEagle said:

FA Cup is definitely exciting

I may have mentioned this before but Bedford Town's best FA Cup run was both in 1963/64 and 1965/66 when they reached the Fourth Round proper, they were heady times winning at Newcastle United in 1963/64 and finally losing at home to the eventual winners Everton in 1965/66. The following season, 1966/67, they reached the Third Round proper, that run included three replays against Wycombe Wanderers in the First Round who some years later reached the Third Round proper themselves narrowly losing a replay 1-0 at Middlesbrough's Ayresome Park following a televised 0-0 draw at Loakes Park. There was nothing like the FA Cup back in the day but sadly it's not the same any longer.

[LondonEagle]

If the rest of this summer's signings are of a similar standard to Joe Steele, Real Bedford will piss the SSML Prem next season.       

[RallyInRaleigh]

What's the word on Steele. Hard to know much from my end other than what I read in Bedford's release. Looks like he played for Town in the promotion year before suffering a serious injury? Looks like he could come this way and take on American Football in a pinch!

Awesome memories for Town in the FA cup. Hopefully we can build some new ones in future years. 

[LondonEagle]

Assume Steele has made a full recovery. Know it was a really bad injury he suffered and he's not played for over a year, but if he's anything like the player he was before his injury, he's way too good for that level.  

Edited July 1, 2023 by LondonEagle

[Rhodes]

On 24/06/2023 at 15:22, Rhodes said:

Real Bedford Ladies have five interesting looking pre-season friendlies ahead of the new 2023/24 campaign:

https://www.realbedford.com/ladies-fixtures

Sunday 9 July - Actonians Ladies - Away (Rectory Park) - kick off 2.00pm

I see that Real Bedford Ladies friendly fixture at Actonians Ladies next Sunday (9 July) is previewed in the on-line London Football Guide (TLFG), it should add a few more to the attendance at the plush Rectory Park facility:

http://www.tlfg.uk/

Sunday 9 July

Actonians v Real Bedford @2pm - as it stands, it's all about the A's in London on Sunday. The west London Club enjoyed the best season in their history last season, finishing third in the Women's National League Division 1 South East (fourth tier). However, since then star player Natsumi Kanno has returned to Japan and manager Danny Harrigan has also stepped down after four years in charge. He's been replaced by Harry Berkeley who has Liverpool and Burnley among his coaching credits. With a number of new players attending trials on Thursday, it will be interesting to see how they fare this year. Real Bedford play a level below but only following a reprieve after they finished bottom. This is being played at Rectory Park in Northolt - if that's no good for you then Actonians Reserves have a match against Leatherhead in Gunnersbury Park, near Brentford's ground, too.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Whilst we're still twiddling our thumbs waiting for Saturday's first pre-season fixture with Rushden & Diamonds here is  something for LondonEagle and Cruz, I had forgotten Bobby Gould's brother Trevor played for Bedford Town:

[Cruz]

2 hours ago, Rhodes said:

Whilst we're still twiddling our thumbs waiting for Saturday's first pre-season fixture with Rushden & Diamonds here is  something for LondonEagle and Cruz, I had forgotten Bobby Gould's brother Trevor played for Bedford Town:

As regular supporter of Bedford Town in those days for some reason I cannot recall Norman Dean, any info?

[LondonEagle]

7 hours ago, Cruz said:

As regular supporter of Bedford Town in those days for some reason I cannot recall Norman Dean, any info?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Dean

[Rhodes]

14 hours ago, Cruz said:

As regular supporter of Bedford Town in those days for some reason I cannot recall Norman Dean, any info?

Cruz - I'm surprised you haven't heard of him as he was quite a well known player back in the day prior to joining Bedford Town in 1973, here he is for Southampton with the likes of Martin Chivers, David Webb, Terry Payne and Jimmy Melia: 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Bedford v Crawley Green line ups in a 2008/09 SSML Division One fixture at McMullen Park on Saturday 30 August 2008, Bedford won a thriller 4-3 with goals from Jay Fattorusso, Shaheen Miah and a brace from Mark Reed. Bedford Town Reserves were in the same Division, and for a number of seasons, before leaving the League at the end of the 2010/11 campaign, Bedford had changed their name from Bedford United & Valerio in 2007/08, having gone through a difficult period financially, however the name Bedford remained until Peter McCormack walked through the door and the rest is now history 😉. Lastly the match Officials that day are all very familiar, no doubt Mr Meadows and Mr Brown shared a car:

[Rhodes]

On 26/06/2023 at 15:17, RallyInRaleigh said:

Can you take me to school on the ladies pyramid in England? I intend to follow the scores and the table and assume winning the league means promotion too. However, I have no idea how far down the pyramid they are and how competitive the leagues are. Would love to see Bedford build a winning side there too. Games won't be streamed but I wouldn't be surprised if they threw in one if promotion or a cup run was on the line. 

RallyInRaleigh - Well 'as a starter for ten', you won't know that expression from a tv quiz show over here, here are two separate graphics of the Women's Pyramid system for 2023/24. Firstly Steps, or Tiers, 1-4 in the Women's game and, secondly, Steps, or Tiers, 5 and 6 which includes Real Bedford at Step 5. Real Bedford Ladies will continue to play in the Eastern Region Premier Division under their new name, having fortunately been reprieved from relegation, should they be promoted this coming season, which will be a tough ask, they will presumably go into the National League Division One Midlands at Step/Tier 4 level however lets not count our chickens:

https://www.thefa.com/news/2023/jun/02/womens-football-pyramid-club-allocations-tiers-1-6-2023-24-season-20230206

Edited July 4, 2023 by Rhodes

[RallyInRaleigh]

17 hours ago, Rhodes said:

RallyInRaleigh - Well 'as a starter for ten', you won't know that expression from a tv quiz show over here, here are two separate graphics of the Women's Pyramid system for 2023/24. Firstly Steps, or Tiers, 1-4 in the Women's game and, secondly, Steps, or Tiers, 5 and 6 which includes Real Bedford at Step 5. Real Bedford Ladies will continue to play in the Eastern Region Premier Division under their new name, having fortunately been reprieved from relegation, should they be promoted this coming season, which will be a tough ask, they will presumably go into the National League Division One Midlands at Step/Tier 4 level however lets not count our chickens:

https://www.thefa.com/news/2023/jun/02/womens-football-pyramid-club-allocations-tiers-1-6-2023-24-season-20230206

Thank you and you're right, the expression is lost on me! Though, I can infer the meaning, at least. Looking at last years table, we've got a lot of work to do just to avoid relegation. Still, a fun project to continue to monitor. I get the impression Peter is content to invest in the area locally on the women's side but won't be going out of his way like on the mens side to bring in new guns to push for promotion. Time will tell, I suppose. Looks like it was a fun race for the promotion spot last year. 

[Rhodes]

4 minutes ago, RallyInRaleigh said:

Thank you and you're right, the expression is lost on me! Though, I can infer the meaning, at least. Looking at last years table, we've got a lot of work to do just to avoid relegation. Still, a fun project to continue to monitor. I get the impression Peter is content to invest in the area locally on the women's side but won't be going out of his way like on the mens side to bring in new guns to push for promotion. Time will tell, I suppose. Looks like it was a fun race for the promotion spot last year. 

RallyInRaleigh - What makes you say that, what about Mr McCormack's ambition, or dream, to reach the Premier League by season 2031/32:

[RallyInRaleigh]

28 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

RallyInRaleigh - What makes you say that, what about Mr McCormack's ambition, or dream, to reach the Premier League by season 2031/32:

Fair enough. It is in fact listed on the team slide deck of 23/24 goals to get both teams promoted. I guess he's just pumping the men's team up a lot more on twitter, etc. Daily reveals of new signings, streaming all mens league games, etc. I should hold off a year and see how this season goes under the Bedford name and colors before jumping to any conclusions but the on the field results were starkly different between the mens and womens side last season. Then again, he brought in a new manager and is publicly stating his goals are to get promoted. Hopefully they get the double promotion. Would make for a very fun year. 

My statements mostly come from the way he speaks about the club. When he discusses the men's side, it's about bringing a football league side to the area. When he discusses the women's side, it seems to me like it's much more about giving girls opportunity and building an infrastructure in the city for more kids to have access to the game than it is "we want to rise up and beat Tottenham" type of talk. Both are extremely valid and I think good intentioned, but I've never heard him talk about moving up three years in a row on the women's side like he does with the men. 

[LondonEagle]

The women's team is a charity so he can't pay them more than expenses, unless they change their status.