1953/4-Rooke's reign turns sour

From a very early stage it was clear that the club would face problems building on its most successful season so far. They started with the retained list, when the directors insisted on economies in the wage bill. A six-hour board meeting in May 1953 produced “sharply divided opinions”, but ended with the release of Butler, Millbank and Summers, who had all been regular first team players at various times, and deferred a decision on Gage, who eventually decided to leave to concentrate on the pub he ran in Essex. It was also decided to scrap the “A” team and even in May, Rooke was telling reporters that the directors were insisting that he reduce the wages of the men retained. The amount he had to spend was, he said, “stupid and ridiculously small”; he needed to strengthen the squad because, in his view, the exhaustion of several players at the end of the previous season, notably Gardiner and Garwood, had cost Bedford the championship.

Such public conflict between the manager and the board hardly gave much encouragement for the new season. Things got worse in July, when Rooke told the AGM that potential signings had “laughed” at the money he was able to offer; Taft and Dubois, like Gage, had already refused terms, Murphy had been forced to return to Ireland because he had been evicted from his Crystal Palace club house and could not afford to rent a house in Bedford, and with a month to go to the start of the season, Rooke had only four professionals on the books. It sounded as if he was daring the board to sack him on the spot, but the directors had troubles of their own.

The meeting, which was attended by 500 shareholders and lasted for four hours, was told that the club had lost money-albeit only £359-in the period from January 1952 to May 1953 despite the playing successes. An enormous £2,500 had been paid in Entertainment Tax, which was levied at up to 25% on the price of admission and was very unpopular with theatres and cinemas as well as sporting organisations (it was not abolished until 1957). The wage bill for 1952/3 had clearly increased, possibly by over 40%, and seems to have been accounting for more than 70% of revenues[1]. But things really livened up when the chairman, William Hobkirk, publicly resigned, claiming that he had been the only director to subscribe to the share issue the previous summer and accusing his colleagues of a lack of support. One of them, Cyril Symes, who ran a motor coach business, replied that Hobkirk seemed to think he was the only director to have bankrolled the club, reminding the meeting that other directors had loans of over £700 outstanding and that his own company had transported the players for the whole previous season free of charge. There was also a clear antipathy between Hobkirk and several other directors whose re-nomination he opposed. The proceedings ended with the election as chairman of Cyril Folkes, aged only 38, who had been secretary when the new company started and had been a wartime colleague of Rooke in the Army PT instructorate.

This seemed to settle the boardroom feuds and, if only temporarily, the quarrel with Rooke, who may well have been on the point of leaving. Enough money was found to persuade the other retained players to re-sign (including Summers, whose release was reversed) and recruit three more: Charlie Bumstead, a goalkeeper and another old Rooke colleague at Crystal Palace, Frank Morrad, a veteran defender from Brentford, and Johnny Jordan, a much-travelled inside forward who holds the distinction of being the only man to play both for the Eagles and Juventus (in the late 1940s). The new board also reversed its predecessor’s decision to increase season tickets from £2 2s to £2 15s (£2.75), or £4 including a stand seat and car parking space. Ground admission was pegged at 1s 9d.