Unfortunately the quality of this photograph, reproduced from a nostalgic article published in the mid-80s, is poor but I’ve had to use it because the British Newspaper Library’s paper copy of the Bedfordshire Times for 1959 is damaged and cannot be copied. However, I couldn’t let the only Bedford team to win the Southern League go unrecorded. This is the line-up that won the play-off at Hereford, although the picture was taken at the friendly against Aston Villa the previous week. Hence the only trophy on view at that stage was the runners-up shield that was still held from the previous season.
Back row: Tim Kelly (manager), Andy Easton, Terry Murray, Ron Smith, Tony Hawksworth, Colin Brittan, Alan Thompson, Dougie Gardiner (trainer-coach)
Front row: Micky Bull, Ted Ashdown (chairman), Len Duquemin, Bob Craig, Harry Cosford (vice-chairman), Jimmy Clugston, Maurice Robinson.
All these players can also be seen in the better photograph of the staff at the start of the 1959/60 season (see 1959/60-Rooke returns to mediocrity )
This may not have been Bedford’s best ever team in terms of quality; at their respective best, Pope was probably a better goalkeeper than Hawksworth, and Staroscik a better left-winger than Robinson, but it was certainly very much better than anything that came after it for the next few years. Craig was a rock in the middle of the defence, Brittan and Murray controlled the midfield, and Bull’s pace and trickery kept the forwards well supplied. Duquemin’s power and ability to convert chances were far too good, even in his mid-thirties, for most opponents. The team averaged nearly three goals a game in the league, and the inside trio of Easton, Duquemin and Clugston, another goal-poacher, hit 93 between them in all competitions, with Robinson adding another 22. The average age of the team that clinched the title at Hereford was still fairly high (just over 28), but this was still a couple of years less than Rooke's most succesful side in 1952/3 and Kelly's own team for the Arsenal matches three years earlier.
The only disappointments at the end were that the title had not been won at home, and the further sharp decline in gates; the average attendance was 4,086, down more than 20% on the year before. With TV and private car ownership increasing, gates were slumping nationally and the shortage of meaningful fixtures in the reduced competition was also a factor, but the club needed more to justify its investment in the new stand and bolster further applications for Football League membership.
As the local newspaper group proudly displayed the large Southern League Championship shield in its office windows during the summer, Tim Kelly decided to release two of his old stalwarts, Quinn and Garwood (who had played under three managers), as well as Morhen and Frost who had started the season in the first team; Winter had moved to Cambridge United soon after Duquemin’s arrival. Kelly had been no keener than Rooke or Stansfield to play local players from the amateur ranks and had been content to keep some very experienced players permanently in the reserves; two centre-halves, for instance, Phil Nolan (1955-7) and Mick Nagy (1958/9) had both failed to dislodge Bob Craig, and the manager was always looking to refresh what would now be called his squad. Perhaps he was just a little luckier than Rooke had been with his choices, or perhaps the cup successes of his first two years had given the directors more confidence and spare cash with which to back his judgements.
Whatever the truth, however, they received a shock during the summer[2]. Hastings United tempted Kelly with, presumably, a better offer, and having perhaps achieved everything he felt was achievable, he left in the last week of June. And, despite the presence on the board of several of the directors who had sacked him less than six years before, his successor was none other than Ronnie Rooke. It was déjà vu all over again.
To continue the story go to 1959/60-Rooke returns to mediocrity
For full results and teams go to Results and teams, 1950-67
LEAGUE TABLES 1958-1959
South Eastern zone
1. Bedford Town 32 21 6 5 90 41 48
2. Gravesend & Northfleet 32 21 2 9 79 54 44
3. Dartford 32 20 3 9 77 41 43
4. Yeovil Town 32 17 8 7 60 41 42
5. Weymouth 32 13 11 8 61 43 37
6. Chelmsford City 32 12 12 8 74 53 36
7. King’s Lynn 32 14 5 13 70 63 33
8. Poole Town 32 12 8 12 60 66 32
9. Cambridge City 32 12 7 13 61 54 31
10. Hastings United 32 13 5 14 60 59 31
11. Tonbridge 32 14 3 15 51 59 31
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. Cambridge United 32 11 8 13 55 77 30
13. Trowbridge Town 32 12 4 16 53 75 28
14. Exeter City Reserves 32 7 12 13 47 71 26
15. Guildford City 32 7 6 19 45 67 20
16. Clacton Town 32 6 7 19 44 81 19
17. Yiewsley 32 3 7 22 36 78 13
North Western zone
1. Hereford United 34 22 5 7 80 37 49
2. Kettering Town 34 20 7 7 83 63 47
3. Boston United 34 18 8 8 73 47 44
4. Cheltenham Town 34 20 4 10 65 47 44
5. Worcester City 34 19 4 11 74 47 42
6. Bath City 34 17 5 12 89 62 39
7. Wellington Town 34 15 9 10 74 58 39
8. Nuneaton Borough 34 17 5 12 76 66 39
9. Wisbech Town 34 16 5 13 77 54 37
10. Headington United 34 16 3 15 76 61 35
11. Barry Town 34 15 5 14 64 67 35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. Merthyr Tydfil 34 16 3 15 54 59 35
13. Gloucester City 34 12 6 16 50 65 30
14. Corby Town 34 10 8 16 59 79 28
15. Lovells Athletic 34 10 3 21 51 70 23
16. Rugby Town 34 7 6 21 45 93 20
17. Kidderminster Harriers 34 7 3 24 42 94 17
18. Burton Albion 34 3 3 28 41 104 9
Bedford Town were champions by virtue of beating Hereford United 2-1 in the play-off.
The top eleven clubs in each section formed the Premier Division for 1959/60.
The remainder formed the First Division, along with the following newly elected clubs: Ashford Town, Bexleyheath and Welling, Dover, Folkestone Town, Margate, Ramsgate Athletic, Sittingbourne and Tunbridge Wells United (all from the Kent League), Hinckley Athletic (Birmingham League) and Romford (who turned professional from the Isthmian League).
Lovells Athletic resigned at the end of the season and joined the Welsh League.
[1] Thanks to Mike Crisp for this bizarre sequence.
[2] The exact timing and circumstances of Kelly’s departure can’t be followed in the local press because a national printing strike meant that for much of the summer of 1959 only very short typescript editions were produced.
