Third elevens-Colts, "A" and Youth teams

Bedford and District and South Midlands Leagues, 1948-1953

Before the Second World War there does not seem to have been a formal third eleven, although the club may well have had friendly understandings with smaller local clubs from time to time that they could have first refusal on promising young players. There was a definite arrangement of this kind with Bedford Queen's Park Rangers between 1929 and 1931 when the Rangers played their home games at The Eyrie and no official reserve team operated. Immediately after the War there was a similar arrangement with Bedford Corinthians, who also played at The Eyrie.

After the war, as the club struggled to compete in the Southern League against richer clubs, there was a move to bring forward more local youngsters and create a level of football to bridge the big gap in standards between Bedford and District League football-essentially played on public parks and village greens-and the London League, where the reserves played. So in 1948/9, the first "Bedford Town Colts" team emerged, playing in the top division of the Bedford and District League to begin with-and the start wasn't exactly a great one, since the opening match was lost 0-12 to Shefford. 

Things improved a little after that and according to the latest table I can find in the local press (which may contain errors) the Colts ended eleventh out of 16 teams. with eight wins in 30 matches. For the following season it was decided to rechristen the team Bedford Town "A" and move to the South Midlands League, where the reserves had played before the War, and this provided more success, as the tables below show, including a league title in 1951/2 by a clear nine point margin. The team started in Divison 2 B, which was effectively a regionalised third division for teams in the south of the county, while Division 2A covered the north. In 1950/1 they were admitted to Divison One (there was a Premier Division above that), which they won the following year, 1951/2, when they were often strengthened by professionals who could not get into the Reserves.  At the end of the 1952/3 season, however, this feature rebounded on the club when the cost of Ronnie Rooke's policy of playing expensively paid professionals in both the first and reserve teams meant that the "A" team was scrapped-though as it turned out, only for a single season.

South Midlands League 

1949/50 

Division 2B

  1. Cranfield United                            20   20    0    0    92    18   40

  2. Harrold United                              20   17    0    3   115    19   34

  3. Bedford North End                      20   11    2    7    52    54   24

  4. Bedford Town 'A'                        20   11    1    8    69    31   23

  5. Wootton Blue Cross Res             20    8    1   11    42    50   17

  6. Queen’s Works Res                      20    6    4   10    39    55   16

  7. Marston Sports                             20    5    5   10    33    70   15

  8.  St. Cuthbert’s Reserves              20    6    2   12    45    61   14

  9. Stewartby Works Res                  20    4    6   10    25    58   14

 10. Marston Shelton Rovers Res   20    4    5   11    33    73   13

 11. St. Neots St. Mary’s Res            20    4    2   14    27    83   10

 1950/1

 Division 1

  1. Luton Kents Athletic                             28   22    3    3   131    29   47

  2. Harrold United                                       28   19    6    3    95    33   44

  3. Waterlows (Dunstable)                        28   17    5    6    73    38   39

  4. Cranfield United                                   28   17    2    9    95    63   36

  5. A.C. Sphinx                                             28   14    7    7    71    49   35

  6. Bedford Corinthians                            28   14    4   10    98    70   32

  7. Histon Institute Reserves                   28   12    6   10    73    65   30

  8. Luton Percival Athletic                        28   11    4   13    53    83   26

  9. Houghton Rangers                              28   10    4   14    77    70   24

 10. Electrolux                                             28    8    7   13    51    64   23

 11. St. Neots St. Mary’s                           28    9    3   16    52    97   21

 12. Bedford Town 'A'                             28    6    7   15    53    68   19

 13. Biggleswade Town Reserves           28    7    3   18    39    82   17

 14. Luton Davis Athletic                         28    5    5   18    39   105   15

 15. Baldock Town Reserves                  28    4    4   20    35   119   12

 1951/2

Division 1

  1. Bedford Town 'A'                             30   23    4    3   124    44   50

  2. Dunstable Town Reserves               30   18    5    7    83    36   41

  3. Biggleswade Town Reserves           30   16    9    5    89    50   41

  4. Cranfield United                                30   18    4    8   105    57   40

  5. Electrolux                                            30   16    8    6    79    46   40

  6. Histon Institute Reserves                30   16    5    9    88    59   37

  7. Waterlows (Dunstable)                    30   16    2   12    75    79   34

  8. Houghton Rangers                            30   14    4   12    91    90   32

  9. Langford                                              30   12    4   14    69    75   28

 10. Vauxhall Motors 'A'                         30   11    6   13    57    66   28

 11. Bletchley Town Reserves               30    8    8   14    51    80   24

 12. Bedford Queen’s Works                30    9    5   16    68    90   23

 13. St. Neots St. Mary’s                        30    9    3   18    51    87   21

 14. Luton Percival Athletic                 30    8    1   21    72   114   17

 15. Luton Davis Athletic                      30    7    1   22    51   106   15

 16. St. Cuthbert’s                                  30    3    3   24    40   114    9

 1952-1953

Premier Division

  1. Arlesey Town                                      30   24    4    2   145    41   52

  2. Shefford Town                                   30   22    3    5   120    37   47

  3. Bedford Town 'A'                             30   18    2   10    97    69   38

  4. Wootton Blue Cross                         30   16    5    9    90    76   37

  5. Luton Kents Athletic                         30   14    7    9    68    48   35

  6. Potton United                                   30   15    4   11    84    71   34

  7. A.C. Delco                                          30   14    6   10    65    60   34

  8. Ampthill Town                                 30   15    4   11    75    74   34

  9. Peartree Old Boys                         30   12    7   11    91    64   31

 10. Baldock Town                               30   14    2   14    69    72   30

 11. Dunstable Town Reserves         30    9    6   15    68    91   24

 12. Bedford Corinthians                  30   10    3   17    62   113   23

 13. Kempston Rovers                       30    9    2   19    57    81   20

 14. Stony Stratford Town                 30    5    7   18    64   121   17

 15. Harrold United                             30    5    5   20    43   106   15

 16. Letchworth Town Reserves       30    4    1   25    48   122    9

United Counties League, 1954-56

When Fred Stansfield became manager towards the end of the 1953/4 season he placed more emphasis on the production of local talent and restarted the "A" team for 1954/5 in the second division of the United Counties League-so they were in the division below the Eaglets, mostly playing reserve teams of those in the higher division. This lasted for two seasons before Tim Kelly, who had succeeded Stansfield in April 1955, decided once again to scrap the team. Like Rooke (only with more success) he had gone for professionals in both the first and reserve teams, and opportunities for youngsters were few and far between. An interesting sidelight on this arose a little later, over Christmas 1957, when Terry Pope, dropped from the first team, turned out for the reserves against Hastings at The Eyrie-not in his usual goalkeeper's jersey but at right half! This produced a very tetchy letter in the local papers, signed "Sportsman", complaining that a local amateur (possibly the writer's son?), had been asked to play for the Eaglets in that match, only to be left out at the last minute to accomodate Pope. Some will have seen this as typical of a short-sighted policy of ignoring local youngsters. Results for these two UCL seasons were modest, as the tables below show.

It can't have been helpful to the "A" team in this period that they had no regular home ground. They were only occasionally able to play at the Eyrie, when there was no first or reserve team home game, or at the start and end of the season when they could play in midweek, or even on Saturdays after the senior fixture, kicking off about 5 p.m. Known grounds where they played include Oakley, Bromham Hospital, and three grounds in Kempston-Howard Park,  Kempston Rovers' old Hill Grounds, and Polo Fields (now vanished beneath the Interchange Retail Park), and they may sometimes have had to play "home" games away.

United Counties League Division Two

 1954-55 

1 BRITISH TIMKEN (DUSTON) RESERVES                                  28 24  3   1   146  38 51 

2 WARBOYS TOWN                                                                      28 19  6   3    76   37 44 

3 ROTHWELL TOWN                                                                    28 19  1   8   121  63 39 

4 WELLINGBOROUGH TOWN RESERVES                                 28 16   5   7     73  51 37 

5 FINEDON TOWN                                                                       28 14   2 12     89 64  30 

6 HUNTINGDON UNITED                                                            28 11   6 11     76 83  28 

7 BEDFORD TOWN "A"                                                               28  12  4 12    76 85  28 

8 BEDFORD AVENUE                                                                    28  12  3 13     62 68  27 

9 EYNESBURY ROVERS RESERVES                                             28   9   6 13     69 63  24 

10 ST NEOTS & DISTRICT RESERVES                                         28  12  0 16     71 87  24 

11 KEMPSTON ROVERS                                                              28  10  3 15     71 89  23 

12 RUSHDEN TOWN RESERVES                                                 28    8 2 18      62 105 18 

13 DESBOROUGH TOWN RESERVES                                         28     5 7 16      49 82   17 

14 RAUNDS TOWN                                                                        28     7 2 19      44 110 16 

15 HIGHAM TOWN                                                                        28     6 2 20       62 122 14 

1955-56 

1 KEMPSTON ROVERS                                                                   32  23  6   3         127 44 52 

2 NORTHAMPTON TOWN "A"                                                      32  23  3   6         127 51 49 

3 ST NEOTS & DISTRICT RESERVES                                              32 20   4    8         84 43 44 

4 WOOTTON BLUE CROSS                                                            32  18   6   8         97 84 42 

5 FINEDON TOWN                                                                          32   17 7    8         93 68 41 

6 HUNTINGDON UNITED                                                              32     16  3  13       82 80 35 

7 BRITISH TIMKEN (DUSTON) RESERVES                                     32  15  4  13         94 80 34 

8 HIGHAM TOWN                                                                           32 13   7  12        91 85 33 

9 DESBOROUGH TOWN RESERVES                                             32 13   6  13        79 104 32 

10 WELLINGBOROUGH TOWN RESERVES                                  32 12   7 13         68 75 31 

11 WARBOYS TOWN                                                                      32 12   6 14         61 69 30 

12 RAUNDS TOWN                                                                         32 12   2 18         61 77 26 

13 BIGGLESWADE TOWN RESERVES                                           32 9    4 19         61 116 22 

14 BEDFORD TOWN "A"                                                              32 7     6 19         53 79 20 

15 EYNESBURY ROVERS RESERVES                                             32 8    4 20          58 89 20 

16 BEDFORD AVENUE                                                                   32 7    5 20          57 101 19 

17 RUSHDEN TOWN RESERVES                                                  32 5    4 23          56 104 14 

Youth Teams, 1964-82

(Thanks to Martin Goatley for substantial contributions to this period)

Few players graduated successfully from the "A" team to a regular first team place in the 40s and early 50s. Apart from lack of opportunity because of so many professionals on the books, the "A" team though consisting mainly of youngsters, competed in adult leagues with no age limit. By the early 60s players like David Skinn, Norman Cooley, Ray Bailey, David Lovell and Steve Miles had come through from local football via the Eaglets under Reg Smith and Basil Hayward, but Hayward realised that there was also a need for a proper youth team competing in under-18 football. With floodlights now installed this team could have a regular midweek slot at the Eyrie, and players could play for their parent clubs, or the Eaglets, on Saturdays.

In 1964 he took the bold step of entering an under-18 team in the Mercia Youth League, which included teams from Ipswich Town and Colchester United, providing a big challenge in standards. Attendances for their games were similar to those for reserve matches, and some decent tussles were seen both in the League and a separate League Cup competition. The young Eagles struggled against the League clubs but everyone agreed the move had been worthwhile and it was extended into 1965/6. Unfortunately however, towards the end of that season it became impossible to field a worthwhile team in away matches because players could not get time off from work early enough to travel, and the club had to withdraw. Tables for 1964/5 (league and cup) and 1965/6 (Cup only) appear below. (4 points for an away win, 3 for a home win, 2 for an away draw and one for a home draw). 

Players who graduated from this team included Trevor Marriott who represented England at youth level, Peter Massey, David Lawson and three who were whisked away to Gillingham by Basil Hayward-Bobby Folds, David Quirke and David Peach. Sadly, of these only Folds, much later, played for the Eagles at senior level, though Quirke had a decent career at Gillingham and Peach went on from there to win an FA Cup winners' medal and England under 23 caps at Southampton.

For the next two seasons there was no competitive youth football although some youth friendlies were played in 1967/8. The club returned to the Mercia League in 1968/9, with fairly mixed success-no league table survives-and also entered the FA Youth Cup for the first time, beating Wellingborough and Rothwell in the preliminary rounds before going out to Dunstable by the only goal in the first round proper. For the next few seasons the FA Youth Cup seems to have been the only competition the club entered at this level, and the furthest they progressed was a 1-5 defeat by Watford in the first round proper in 1971/2. However, by this time the Eaglets team that appeared in the United Counties League (see The Eaglets) consisted mainly of youngsters who no doubt gained valuable experience at that level.

It was not until 1977/8 that the club again entered a youth league, when manager Barry Fry decided to join the Chiltern Premier Youth League, which included teams representing Luton Town and Cambridge United. Bedford finished runners-up to Luton in 1977/8 and third in 1978/9 (tables appear below). In that season they also had a very good run in the FA Youth Cup, beating Hitchin, Histon, Corby and Aylesbury before going down to Luton in the second round proper after a replay.  Progress continued in 1979/80 when the very experienced Frank O'Hagan was brought in by manager Trevor Gould to look after the youngsters, who now played in the Northants Senior Youth League; they finished runners-up to Kettering in both the League and League Cup, and went out of the FA Youth Cup honourably in the second round by the odd goal in three at home to Stoke City, watched by over 600 people, more than the first team were attracting by then.

By now, however, the financial troubles of the club were affecting all levels and after 1979/80 there doesn't seem to have been a regular youth team. On the other hand, with no money now available for expensive signings of the kind that had kept local youngsters out of the team 20 or 30 years before, many such players had now come through the ranks to appear in the first team and the Wallspan team, so in that sense the various youth sides of the latter years had fulfilled their purpose.

Mercia Youth League-1964/5

                                    P   W  D  L  F    A  Pts

Ipswich Town          12   10  2  0  47 19 38

Colchester United  12     8  0  4  35  15  27

Cambridge United  12    6  1  5  46  21  21 

Cambridge City       12    5  3  4  22  23  20

Bedford Town       12    4   2  6  22  33  15

Chelmsford City     12    2   1  9  19  32   8

Romford                 12     1   3  8  14  62   7