Bedford FC

[Rhodes]

Yes. no difficulties at all for Rob Sinclair's men on Saturday at The Eyrie and a 4-0 victory over Biggleswade FC with goals from Joey Evans, Ben Stevens, Josh Setchell and Tom Hitchcock, see highlights from the live stream, local press coverage and high quality photographs, courtesy of Guy Will Sports Photography:

https://www.bedfordindependent.co.uk/real-bedford-maintain-eighth-tier-league-lead-with-comfortable-win/

https://guywillssportsphotography.smugmug.com/Football/Biggleswade-FC-folder/2024-2025-Season/Vs-Real-Bedford-22-Feb-2025

[Rhodes]

On 21/02/2025 at 16:21, LondonEagle said:

About 8 weeks left until Bedford Town disappear for good.      

LondonEagle - You are always so dramatic, I am probably wrong but still have a feeling, or inkling, that something might still happen to scupper the merger which, I fully agree with you, that the majority of fans aren't in favour of, particularly those of Bedford Town. Anyway here are some more recent comments from another Forum:

Unpaywalled version of this afternoon's Times' "Billionaire Winklevoss twins buy stake in Real Bedford football club" story: https://archive.is/JiMu7

This investment announcement is a bit weird. It's exactly the same announcement as was made last April. But the investment has only happened now, right in the middle of merger discussions, and now the same announcement has been announced again, except this time it's in dollars and not in Bitcoin. It doesn't take nearly 11 months to buy some shares in an 8th-tier football club.

I think yesterday was about ratifying the deal and signing the papers, why it has taken almost a year to do that I don't know but Real Bedford have just shot to the top end of the 'richest owners in English football' list, whether they invest their vast fortune regularly is to be seen. I would say one of the reasons for the takeover, sorry merger, of Bedford Town that was coming from Real Bedford was that it would be too costly to redevelop their current stadium, well they've just got the investment to redevelop so I hope Bedford Town are now asking why they think they need the stadium.

It was announced last April that the deal was done and the twins were part-owners. So that wasn't true, so what can you trust about any of it? Last April Bedford Town were also struggling on the pitch and with issues relating to their pitch itself. Bingo, Real announce huge investment. Town feel pressure to go up to stay ahead on the pitch. Go for broke to get promotion. Splash out in Summer on a 3g pitch to try and generate extra income. All the time RB did not have the money in the bank as everyone believed. Now right in the middle of merger talks the money suddenly appears.

A lot of people criticise the Real Bedford owner but I think they are missing the point of his approach, as we have seen a lot since Donald Trump's first term - these days outspoken people, people who make outrageous comments, even people who tell blatant lies - are an attractive proposition, we have seen other Politicians adopt the same style and also attract more voters etc. Real Bedford will get lots of free publicity with an outspoken owner and when things are not going to plan they will appear to be the hard done by club and one man will be fighting the good fight to pull them through - which will again earn more fans. The people out there who attracted to this kind of person are actually willing to donate their money to such causes because they are made to feel like they are helping, So in my opinion, Real Bedford will be well financed for a good few years. I like seeing new ideas and seeing how they pan out, so yes I'm glad this person has not purchased my team but I'm looking forward to how it all plays out. If in 5 years it has gone sour, at the end of the day if there is any aspect other clubs can learn from it which is beneficial, perhaps fundraising methods or marketing strategies - then that would be a win for the game itself.

If I was a Bedford Town fan I'd just be hoping that the club decides to strip the budget back and live within it's means. Forget promotion, forget even where they finish in the table. Forget the "merger". They'll be overtaken by Real Bedford, that's a given, especially if this new £3.5M investment is fully pumped into the football Club immediately. I'd hope the people in charge of Bedford Town say to the Real people, you have the money you need to develop your ground, so the deal is off. Sure they may well be a step 4 club in a couple of seasons but if they can keep up the 4 figure gates that alone should give them a budget to be competitive at step 3 in the future.

Regards the takeover, sorry merger, it's not looking particularly good from the outside, it looks like a power play to get Real Bedford a ground he doesn't need to spend his own money on and the possibility that they take Bedford Towns league position, which could well be step 2 come the end of the season. His approach as a business model, I don't disagree with you and prior to this blatant power grab I actually quite liked what was going on at Real Bedford but he seems to have got bored already with his club chugging along with a budget that should see them get to step 2 of their own accord. They've managed to alienate a large part of the football going public of Bedford already so hopefully they'll all be willing to part with a considerable amount of their fortunes if they want to finance Real Bedford into the football league. The only bonus for them is if they need some plastic fans to fill out the stadium a bit on matchdays they don't have to travel too far with Milton Keynes up the road.

Just because someone with money comes along and has a few ideas - people should not just jump into bed with it - this happens to much, not just in football but in daily and it often ends in tears. Caution is needed. That said, after Bedford Town got relegated down to the Southern League Division One Central in 2013/14, they spent 6 years hovering between mid table and the play-offs, then in 2020 suddenly started to spend a lot of money, Rene Howe and Craig Mackail-Smith were among the big names signed. So with that not being too long ago, it's likely that there are some people still at the Club who were involved in that ambitious spell would jump at the chance of more success with a merger. If they can stay top of the league a little longer it may also be beneficial during negotiations.

[LondonEagle]

15 minutes ago, Rhodes said:

LondonEagle - You are always so dramatic, I am probably wrong but still have a feeling, or inkling, that something might still happen to scupper the merger which, I fully agree with you, that the majority of fans aren't in favour of, particularly those of Bedford Town. Anyway here are some more recent comments from another Forum:

Unpaywalled version of this afternoon's Times' "Billionaire Winklevoss twins buy stake in Real Bedford football club" story: https://archive.is/JiMu7

This investment announcement is a bit weird. It's exactly the same announcement as was made last April. But the investment has only happened now, right in the middle of merger discussions, and now the same announcement has been announced again, except this time it's in dollars and not in Bitcoin. It doesn't take nearly 11 months to buy some shares in an 8th-tier football club.

I think yesterday was about ratifying the deal and signing the papers, why it has taken almost a year to do that I don't know but Real Bedford have just shot to the top end of the 'richest owners in English football' list, whether they invest their vast fortune regularly is to be seen. I would say one of the reasons for the takeover, sorry merger, of Bedford Town that was coming from Real Bedford was that it would be too costly to redevelop their current stadium, well they've just got the investment to redevelop so I hope Bedford Town are now asking why they think they need the stadium.

It was announced last April that the deal was done and the twins were part-owners. So that wasn't true, so what can you trust about any of it? Last April Bedford Town were also struggling on the pitch and with issues relating to their pitch itself. Bingo, Real announce huge investment. Town feel pressure to go up to stay ahead on the pitch. Go for broke to get promotion. Splash out in Summer on a 3g pitch to try and generate extra income. All the time RB did not have the money in the bank as everyone believed. Now right in the middle of merger talks the money suddenly appears.

A lot of people criticise the Real Bedford owner but I think they are missing the point of his approach, as we have seen a lot since Donald Trump's first term - these days outspoken people, people who make outrageous comments, even people who tell blatant lies - are an attractive proposition, we have seen other Politicians adopt the same style and also attract more voters etc. Real Bedford will get lots of free publicity with an outspoken owner and when things are not going to plan they will appear to be the hard done by club and one man will be fighting the good fight to pull them through - which will again earn more fans. The people out there who attracted to this kind of person are actually willing to donate their money to such causes because they are made to feel like they are helping, So in my opinion, Real Bedford will be well financed for a good few years. I like seeing new ideas and seeing how they pan out, so yes I'm glad this person has not purchased my team but I'm looking forward to how it all plays out. If in 5 years it has gone sour, at the end of the day if there is any aspect other clubs can learn from it which is beneficial, perhaps fundraising methods or marketing strategies - then that would be a win for the game itself.

If I was a Bedford Town fan I'd just be hoping that the club decides to strip the budget back and live within it's means. Forget promotion, forget even where they finish in the table. Forget the "merger". They'll be overtaken by Real Bedford, that's a given, especially if this new £3.5M investment is fully pumped into the football Club immediately. I'd hope the people in charge of Bedford Town say to the Real people, you have the money you need to develop your ground, so the deal is off. Sure they may well be a step 4 club in a couple of seasons but if they can keep up the 4 figure gates that alone should give them a budget to be competitive at step 3 in the future.

Regards the takeover, sorry merger, it's not looking particularly good from the outside, it looks like a power play to get Real Bedford a ground he doesn't need to spend his own money on and the possibility that they take Bedford Towns league position, which could well be step 2 come the end of the season. His approach as a business model, I don't disagree with you and prior to this blatant power grab I actually quite liked what was going on at Real Bedford but he seems to have got bored already with his club chugging along with a budget that should see them get to step 2 of their own accord. They've managed to alienate a large part of the football going public of Bedford already so hopefully they'll all be willing to part with a considerable amount of their fortunes if they want to finance Real Bedford into the football league. The only bonus for them is if they need some plastic fans to fill out the stadium a bit on matchdays they don't have to travel too far with Milton Keynes up the road.

Just because someone with money comes along and has a few ideas - people should not just jump into bed with it - this happens to much, not just in football but in daily and it often ends in tears. Caution is needed. That said, after Bedford Town got relegated down to the Southern League Division One Central in 2013/14, they spent 6 years hovering between mid table and the play-offs, then in 2020 suddenly started to spend a lot of money, Rene Howe and Craig Mackail-Smith were among the big names signed. So with that not being too long ago, it's likely that there are some people still at the Club who were involved in that ambitious spell would jump at the chance of more success with a merger. If they can stay top of the league a little longer it may also be beneficial during negotiations.

 

The merger is a done deal.  Not head anything to suggest the FA are likely to scupper it, other than that it's all over bar the shouting.     

[Rhodes]

There's another quick Southern League Division One Central turnaround with 'sleeping giants' Aylesbury United visiting the Ledger Stadium tomorrow (Tuesday 25 February) evening following the frustrating abandonment on Saturday 21 December due to floodlight failure. Good news that the fixture will be a livestream:

https://www.realbedford.com/real-bedford-v-aylesbury-united2

https://www.realbedford.com/live-stream