THE OLD EAGLES

BEDFORD TOWN FC

1908-1982

Welcome to this site which commemorates, in narrative, statistics and photographs, the history of the original Bedford Town Association Football Club, The (Old) Eagles, formed in 1908 and dissolved in 1982.


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70 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

22 April 1954-the Eagles beat a strong Luton side 1-0 at The Eyrie to win the Bedfordshire Invitation Cup for the first time before a crowd of 7,053, with Ian McPherson, a former Arsenal and Brentford player, scoring the only goal.

For more details see 1953/4 -Rooke's reign turns sour and Results and teams, 1950-67 (scroll down to 1953/4)



The site was launched in 2010 and has since been expanded to cover the whole of the club's years in the Southern League from 1945 to 1982. You can read about historic FA Cup performances such as the two matches against Arsenal in 1955/6 and the defeat of Newcastle in 1963/4, as well as the Southern League title in 1958/9, later FA Cup battles against Exeter, Brighton and Everton and the sadder story of the old club's decline.

Further expansions have added an in-depth account of the foundation of the club and its early years from 1908 to 1939,  and also all traceable results and lineups for the two earlier Bedford Town clubs that existed in the late 19th century, from about 1884 to 1899. See First Years, 1884-1939.

Later updates have added many league tables for the club's reserve teams from the 1920s to 1971, and reserve results for the postwar years, as well as coverage of the "A" and Youth teams-see under The Rest.

Please click on the About the site link to see a summary of the contents of the site, which are also shown on the drop-down menu which can be found by clicking the top left hand corner of the page. Wherever you are on the site, you can select another page by simply clicking on the menu.

Alternatively, if you're interested in a particular player or opposing club, enter their name in the "Search" box (top right hand corner) to see all references to that player or club.

Another quick way to find details of a player is to go to the All Years Player Index. This lists all the players (almost 1,000) who are known to have appeared in first team football between 1908 and 1982, and gives a clickable link to any more detailed information known about them.


Many people have helped in various ways to put this site together and detailed acknowledgements appear on the About the site page , but my main debt of gratitude is to the Bedfordshire Times and Citizen Group for permission to reproduce many photographs which originally appeared in the Bedfordshire Times and Bedford Record newspapers. Unless otherwise credited, all photographs on this site, and on its annex (https://sites.google.com/site/oldeaglespics/home) are the copyright of the Bedfordshire Times and Citizen Group and are reproduced by their kind permission.

Please note that this is not an official site of the present Bedford Town FC (formed in 1989), but to see their website go to http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/bedfordtownfootballclub/news/.

Key to photographs above (top to bottom) Team group, 1952/3; the equalising goal v Arsenal at Highbury, 1955/6; team group, 1957/8 ; Bob Craig and the League Championship shield, 1958/9: the 1958/9 championship-winning team; the second goal v Newcastle, 1963/4; and the last FA Cup tie of all, v Wimbledon, 1981/2.

COPYRIGHT DAVID WILLIAMS 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2024

All reasonable care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of this site but where links to external sites are given, no responsibility can be accepted for the content of such sites.