Bedford FC

[Rhodes]

19 hours ago, RallyInRaleigh said:

It's going to be damn close, isn't it?! I haven't voted for the Donald either of the last two times and I'm not particularly enthused that he's the leader of the conservative party still. That said, he did get my vote this time around. Kamala just being installed after the democratic party pretended Biden was mentally competent until it was inconvenient for them to keep up the charade really bothers me. Americans don't agree on much but I HIGHLY value the ability to choose and I can't support that move. All that's left now is to drink and watch the tv talking heads paint maps all night!

Oh, really, I'm surprised to hear that, I thought 'the Donald' is going to win hands down, and with his eyes closed, there are a lot of similarities with him and Mr McCormack aren't there, they're both 'Maverick's', for want of a better word, and get the job done, come hell or high water, they both put their money where their mouth is. The US economy was never better under Trump's stewardship was it, Americans never had it so good, and, again, it's the same with Mr McCormack at Real Bedford and what he is doing for the town of Bedford.

Edited November 6 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

On 05/11/2024 at 14:02, LondonEagle said:

Rally, i think the original reporter was confused.

You only have to get ground up-to-speed the March FOLLOWING PROMOTION. This coming March it has got to get a Step 4 grading (the league they are currently in) and the following March (2026), it would have to get a Step 3 grading and so on - if they are promoted each year, that is.

If it isn't ready by March (I'm sure it will be in RB's case,) not only would a club be denied any promotion I believe, but would be relegated to the league below. I doubt there is any chance of this happening in RB's caxe, just explaining the rules.

LondonEagle - That's really helpful, thanks for the clarification. I think the ruling about a Club not only being denied promotion, if they fail to meet the necessary criteria, but would be relegated to the League, or Step, below is etremely harsh. I wonder what happened to 'Wader' who used to post on this Forum and was on the Board at Biggleswade Town, he built their new and impressive Carlsberg Stadium with his bare hands following their move from the 'inadequate' Fairfield Road ground in 2006 which they shared with the cricket Club next door to Biggleswade United's Second Meadow, 'Wader' always offered to visit a Forum member's Club, or others, to help them to meet the ground grading deadline. 

Edited November 7 by Rhodes

[LondonEagle]

3 hours ago, Rhodes said:

LondonEagle - That's really helpful, thanks for the clarification. I think the ruling about a Club not only being denied promotion, if they fail to meet the necessary criteria, but would be relegated to the League, or Step, below is etremely harsh. I wonder what happened to Wader who used to post on this Forum and was on the Board at Biggleswade Town, he built their new and impressive Carlsberg Stadium with his bare hands following their move from the 'inadequate' Fairfield Road ground in 2006 which they shared with the cricket Club next door to Biggleswade United's Second Meadow, Wader always offered to visit a Forum member's Club, or others, to help them to meet the ground grading deadline. 

I think they are more flexible than in past though, Rhodes. Basically McMullen Park doesn't currently have a Step 4 grading, but they have until March to get it up to scratch for the league they are currently in, but they are likely to also win promotion again, so March 2026 it will have to be up to Step 3 standard, and so on, big issue is for Step 2 and 1 there are big leaps in what is required, so they will have to decide quickly whether to try and aim long-term to get McMullen Park up to those standards or put a planning application in for a new ground elsewhere.  

Edited November 6 by LondonEagle

[LondonEagle]

Last 8 sides left in the Beds Senior Cup 2025, top 2 ranked in terms of current league position are the 2 Bedford clubs:

Barton Rovers Bedford Town Real Bedford Crawley Green Stotfold AFC Dunstable Leighton Town Biggleswade FC

[Rhodes]

A little premature but let's get ready to rumble for Saturday's Southern League Division One Central fixture with near neighbours Biggleswade FC at the Ledger Stadium:

Edited November 11 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

Congratulation to goalkeeper Tyler McGregor who has chalked up 100 senior appearances for the Club, the first player to do so. Tyler joined Real Bedford at the start of the 2022/23 season from Milton Keynes College Football Academy when, I believe, still a teenager at 19, and played a huge part in promotion to the Spartan South Midlands League Premier Division and then promotion to the Southern League the following 2023/24 campaign.

Edited November 11 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

'The Cold End' features Real Bedford on his popular Blog this week, he knows his onions and it's a good article, acknowledging Peter McCormack's huge impact at the Club since he took the reins from previous owner Lui La Mura at the end of 2021:

REAL BEDFORD ON THE UP AND UP

Real Bedford are sitting top of The Pitching In Isthmian Premier Division and in a great position for a third successive promotion in as many seasons. It's been up and up since Bitcoin podcaster and businessman Peter McCormack took over the club in 2022 with the rebranding of the club for the 22/23 season. 

In 2024 American cyrptocurrency investor's Cameron and Tyler Winkevoss invested $4.5 million into the club. 

So far in the league they have won ten, drawn one and lost one of their league games played. 

Lots of people have criticised McCormack on social media but you only have to look at how he has transformed the club from top to bottom and also supported youth teams and women's team to see how positive his investment has been. 

Real Bedford LFC are currently playing in the FA Women's National League Division One South-East which is Step Four of the women's pyramid. 

CROWDS ON THE UP! 

Bedford FC averaged 51 for their four league Spartan South Midlands League Division One games played in the abandoned 20/21 season. For the six league games played so far this season they've averaged 251. 

 

Their next two games come at home against Biggleswade FC on Saturday and Leighton Town on Tuesday.

 

https://thecoldend.blogspot.com/2024/11/real-bedford-on-up-and-up.html

[Rhodes]

Let's get ready to rumble for Real Bedford Ladies FA Women's National League Division One South East fixture with London Seaward Ladies on Sunday (10 November), the Ladies have enjoyed a week's 'sabbatical' since their last fixture, the 12-2 drubbing of Chesham United Ladies at the Ledger Stadium, so should be as fresh as daisies for the visit to East London and Redbridge FC's Oakside Stadium. The Ladies could well find themselves top of the FA Women's National League Division One South East table on goal difference on Sunday evening should they, as anticipated, win at struggling London Seaward Ladies and Norwich City Ladies and Actonians Ladies draw their meeting of the current top two sides:

Edited November 7 by Rhodes

[RallyInRaleigh]

3 more points for the men and the women this weekend and the bitcoin treasury is now up well over a million euros. Slowly, then all at once...

[Rhodes]

18 hours ago, RallyInRaleigh said:

3 more points for the men and the women this weekend and the bitcoin treasury is now up well over a million euros. Slowly, then all at once...

RallyInRaleigh - Yes, indeed and thirteen goals scored, here's a report from the Men's 6-2 victory over Biggleswade FC and local press coverage, the incredible 28 page match programme and highlights from the live stream:

https://www.realbedford.com/news/real-bedford-win-6-2-in-local-derby-against-biggleswade-fc

https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/real-bedford-continue-goal-scoring-form-with-rout-over-biggleswade-fc/

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/619758344d16e93725c39d0a/t/6731c7f7f8f01e619901dcef/1731315720834/%2356+v+Biggleswade+FC-compressed.pdf

Edited November 11 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

On 06/11/2024 at 13:10, LondonEagle said:

Last 8 sides left in the Beds Senior Cup 2025, top 2 ranked in terms of current league position are the 2 Bedford clubs:

Barton Rovers Bedford Town Real Bedford Crawley Green Stotfold AFC Dunstable Leighton Town Biggleswade FC

LondonEagle - Yes, the draw has been made now for the Quarter Finals of the Bedfordshire FA Senior Cup, the Leighton Town v Real Bedford tie is scheduled for Tuesday 10 December with Bedford Town's simple looking tie at Barton Rovers a week later, talk about the luck of the draw:

AFC Dunstable v Stotfold
Crawley Green v Biggleswade FC
Leighton Town v Real Bedford 
Barton Rovers v Bedford Town

Edited Monday at 09:58 by Rhodes

[Rhodes]

The Club literally think of everything don't they, I wonder how many Non League Club's put poppies on their shirts for Saturday's fixtures to commemorate Remembrance weekend, the Ladies had them too for their FA Women's National League Division One South East fixture yesterday at London Seaward Ladies:

[Rhodes]

Let's get ready to rumble, good news that tomorrow's Southern League Division One Central fixture with Leighton Town at the Ledger Stadium will be live streamed:

https://www.realbedford.com/real-bedford-v-leighton-town

Edited November 12 by Rhodes

[LondonEagle]

On 11/11/2024 at 13:45, Rhodes said:

LondonEagle - Yes, the draw has been made now for the Quarter Finals of the Bedfordshire FA Senior Cup, the Leighton Town v Real Bedford tie is scheduled for Tuesday 10 December with Bedford Town's simple looking tie at Barton Rovers a week later, talk about the luck of the draw:

AFC Dunstable v Stotfold
Crawley Green v Biggleswade FC
Leighton Town v Real Bedford 
Barton Rovers v Bedford Town

Barton are 7th and Leighton 14th, so Real Bedford have the easier draw. Aside from drawing Real Bedford, it's the toughest draw The Eagles could have had.

[Rhodes]

On 07/11/2024 at 21:04, Rhodes said:

Let's get ready to rumble for Real Bedford Ladies FA Women's National League Division One South East fixture with London Seaward Ladies on Sunday (10 November), the Ladies have enjoyed a week's 'sabbatical' since their last fixture, the 12-2 drubbing of Chesham United Ladies at the Ledger Stadium, so should be as fresh as daisies for the visit to East London and Redbridge FC's Oakside Stadium. The Ladies could well find themselves top of the FA Women's National League Division One South East table on goal difference on Sunday evening should they, as anticipated, win at struggling London Seaward Ladies and Norwich City Ladies and Actonians Ladies draw their meeting of the current top two sides

Another emphatic win for Real Bedford Ladies on Sunday, 7-1 at London Seaward Ladies, and also with Actonians Ladies doing a huge favour by surprisingly winning 2-1 at Norwich City Ladies who are, or were, arguably the biggest dangers to Real Bedford Ladies Championship and promotion aspirations. See a match report and the current League table, it's a sight for sore eyes isn't it:

https://www.realbedford.com/news/real-bedfords-seven-goals-seal-dominant-win-over-london-seaward

FAWNL South East Division One 2024/25 

Pos	Team	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Actonians Ladies	9	6	2	1	23	9	14	20
2	Real Bedford Women	8	5	3	0	28	6	22	18
3	Chatham Town Women	8	5	2	1	17	5	12	17
4	Norwich City Women	9	4	1	1	23	10	13	16
5	London Bees	10	4	4	2	25	17	8	16
6	QPR FC Women	10	4	4	4	14	13	1	15
7	AFC Sudbury Women	8	4	3	1	14	14	0	15
8	Dulwich Hamlet Women	9	4	1	4	18	11	7	13
9	Cambridge United WFC	9	3	1	5	16	15	1	10
10	Chesham United Women	9	1	1	7	13	38	-25	4
11	London Seaward FC	9	1	0	8	6	30	-24	3
12	Ashford Town (Middlesex) Women	10	1	0	9	13	42	-29	3

[Rhodes]

Leighton Town's graphic for this evening's exciting fixture at the Ledger Stadium which will be live streamed:

[Rhodes]

Did we see this excellent video folks, a summary of the 2023/24 Real Bedford Ladies campaign where they achieved the 'unprecedented' treble:

The 2023/2024 season was a pivotal time for Real Bedford Women as they set their sights on securing promotion. Throughout the campaign, the team faced numerous challenges, moments of doubt, and fierce competition. Yet, it was their unbreakable teamwork and the unwavering support of their community that carried them to success. This documentary takes you beyond the match results, offering a glimpse into how these women united in pursuit of a greater purpose. This is the inspiring journey of Real Bedford Women.

[Rhodes]

A disappointing scoreline last night at the Ledger Stadium against a 'dogged' Leighton Town side and a late penalty miss by Tom Hitchcock, see local press coverage:

https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/real-bedford-miss-last-minute-penalty-in-leighton-town-deadlock/

Edited November 13 by Rhodes

[RallyInRaleigh]

Bedford has a history of the late penalty and a failure to capitalize. Still, a point in the bag and on we go. No major injuries and a lead at the top. Long season but definitely felt like they left 2 points on the field last night. 

[LondonEagle]

33 minutes ago, RallyInRaleigh said:

Bedford has a history of the late penalty and a failure to capitalize. Still, a point in the bag and on we go. No major injuries and a lead at the top. Long season but definitely felt like they left 2 points on the field last night. 

Was a really good game, great advert for non-league football. watched the stream.