1966/7 and earlier
Bedford (stripes) and a Tottenham Hotspur XI (white) pose before their friendly match in October 1920. Played in Bedford Park as part of the Town Carnival celebrations, the match attracted 2,000 spectators and ended in a predictable 5-0 win for the visitors,
This is the eleven that beat Biggleswade 2-0 at The Eyrie on 25 April 1931, leaving themselves on the brink of the club's first Northants League title-which they clinched away to Peterborough Westwoods' Works 48 hours later. Left to right are-(standing) B.Wise (linesman), Bob Baker (secretary), Len Potter, Jack Wicks, Bob Latheron, Tommy Cummings, Charlie Chester (trainer). (Sitting), Dick Jones, Jack Chester, Mrs Mary Spencer (chairman), Bert Rogers (captain), Dickie Gunnell.. (On ground) "Paddy" Watson, Lew Stockwell, Freddy Garratt.
The two Chesters were father and son. Charlie, who had been involved since the club began, was known as "Pop" and his son as "Doughy". (The comedian Charlie Chester-it was a stage name in his case-had not yet been heard of). Mrs Spencer had been elected chairman when her husband was obliged to stand down because the county FA would not accept a bookmaker running a club. At the end of the season Mrs Spencer received a box of chocolates for her efforts at the AGM!
Garratt-whose son Boris played for the club after the War-was a heavily built man who had been signed as a full back but was switched to centre forward in a desperate search for a goalscorer, responding with 49 goals in this season alone, including six in a match against Kettering Reserves.
Bedford's Maurice Carr (centre) heads goalwards in the FA Cup second qualifying round tie against Biggleswade at the Eyrie on 14 October 1933. The Eagles won 4-3, having at one stage been 3-1 up, but went out in the fourth qualifying round at Kettering. Carr, a Flitwick-born centre forward, was playing against his former club, and went on from the Eyrie to Northampton two years later, but he never made it at Football League level. There was a £58 gate for this match, in which the nearest Waders' defender appears to be wearing an odd pair of shorts!
This team is the one that beat Heanor Town 3-0 at home in the FA Cup 4th qualifying round on 10 November 1934, to reach the competition proper for the first time. Standing left to right are: "Paddy" Watson, Freddie Garratt, Bert Rogers, Percy Bowles, Tommy Cummings, Jack Bidgood. Seated: Bert Lawson, Eric Harrison, Maurice Carr, George Watson, Ken Ward. The same eleven went down 2-3 at home to Dartford in the first round, though they had twice been in the lead. They are wearing an unusual strip of black shorts with gold sleeves, although their normal colours at the time were white shirts and navy blue shorts.
Photograph by kind permission of Justin Whitford
This photograph is a bit of a puzzle. It was kindly sent to me by Justin Whitford, whose grandfather, Walter Francis, is the goalkeeper shown. It's clearly an Eagles lineup, but at present I'm not able to identify any of the other players. This particular playing kit was worn in 1939/40 and the first few postwar seasons. Walter Francis worked for the Customs and Excise and spent most of his career with them in the Hull area, but he played for the Eagles both before and after World War 2, mainly in goal but at least once as an outfield player, in the infamous 0-4 defeat by Bedford Avenue in the FA Cup in 1945/6. That was his only known first team appearance after the war so this might be a reserve lineup. Alternatively, since he is known to have played (in goal) in some of the UCL Wartime League and friendly matches in 1939/40, we could be looking at the lineup for one of those. If anyone knows who the other players are I'd be delighted to hear from them.
A scene from the pre-season friendly against a Spurs XI (probably their reserves) in August 1946, with the Eagles on the attack. The Long Shelter on the right hand side is on the way up (its predecessor had blown away the previous winter). Bedford won this match 3-1.
Photograph Copyright English Heritage, from their "Britain from above" website, address as shown in previous aerial photos. Further reproduction forbiddenSeen from the air in spring 1947, the Eyrie is partially flooded following the very heavy snowfalls of late January and February. This view is from the south and the small stand is on the left, with the "Long Shelter", still under construction, on the right. The cover erected at the Ford End Road end in the 1930s seems to have disappeared and the River End is literally that!
This advert encouraging supporters to subscribe for shares in the new limited company appeared in the programme for the SL match v Cheltenham on 6 January 1951. The company did not start trading until the following month. In the summer of 1953 chairman William Hobkirk attacked his fellow-directors for not taking up enough shares themselves-a quarrel which led to his resignation.
I'm grateful to Ian Hands for this little curiosity from 1952/3-"Players' Instructions and Training Rules" issued by the club under Ronnie Rooke's managership. This one belonged to defender Billy Butler and acted as a pass into the dressing rooms as well as a stern reminder of how much training was expected. How many modern clubs would give out the manager's private phone number, however?
Eagles' keeper Larry Gage, seen here in the opening match of 1952/3 at Twerton Park, Bath, goes full length to save from Bath City's Bolton (striped shirt) in the 1-0 win on 23 August 1952. Gage had joined the club from Gillingham the previous year and before that had been a Fulham team mate of player-manager Ronnie Rooke.
Two more photgraphs from the Arsenal cup tie at Highbury. Above, Vic Groves beats Terry Pope for Arsenal's second goal, with Bob Craig looking on. Below, Arsenal keeper Con Sullivan saves in an Eagles attack, with Harry Yates on the ground possibly appealing for a free kick while referee Leo Callaghan waves play on.
A scene from Bedford's 3-4 defeat at home to Peterborough in the East Anglian Cup on 27 September 1956, watched by almost 7,000 on a Thursday evening. Posh goalkeeper Adam Dickson intercepts from George Stobbart (8), watched by Gwyn Hughes (left) and Harry Yates (right). Peterborough, then in the Midland League, were starting the run of success that would take them into the Football League by 1960. Here they won with a late goal from Dennis Emery, later to play for the Eagles, after being 1-3 down at half time.
August 1956, and the first steelwork is going up for the new main stand opened in December that year
Mick Reid heads Bedford's first goal past Kettering keeper Jack Wheeler in a Southern League Cup tie at The Eyrie on 1 November 1956. The Eagles beat the eventual champions
3-2 before a crowd of nearly 3,500 which was a remarkable attendance for a weekday afternoon in pre-floodlit days. Johnny Crichton is in the background
An interesting programme for the Beds v Oxfordshire match in the Southern Counties Amateur Championship at the Eyrie in February 1958-these were all-amateur affairs. The Beds team includes two then current Eagles players, goalkeeper Tony Jones and inside left Bela Olah (misspelled). Jones, from London Road Boys' Club, was a fairly regular keeper for the Eaglets over the next couple of seasons. Olah made several first team appearances that season but the club were unable to sign him as a professional because of his Hungarian nationality and the fact that he was under 18: as soon as he was old enough he was poached by Northampton Town. Also playing are three former Eagles players, Maurice Walby and Roger Simmonds, both of whom won amateur international caps-Walby for England and Simmonds for Wales, and Brian Stapleton, who had played for the "A" team and once for the Eaglets before moving to Kempston. Also playing was Terry King, future manager of the re-founded Bedford Town after 1989. Note several players in the Oxfordshire team from Pegasus, the famous amateur team composed of Oxford and Cambridge "blues". Beds won 2-1, with Simmonds scoring both goals, but only 411 spectators saw the game on a weekday afternoon.
The Beds team is below, left to right: (back) Norman, Whitby, Jones, Walby, Dunlop, King. (front) M Jordan (Hitchin) -who was a late replacement for Murphy- Stapleton, Simmonds, Olah and Horne.
It's December 1963 and three managers meet at the Eyrie, probably the only time all three of them were together-from left to right, manager-designate Basil Hayward, caretaker-manager Tim Kelly, and Reg Smith, about to resign and sail to South Africa. Hayward was still in charge at Yeovil and didn't take over until both his team and the Eagles were out of the FA Cup, allowing Kelly to preside over the remarkable win at Newcastle on 4 January 1964.
Above is a reserve team lineup from 23 January 1965, when they beat Charlton "A" 6-1 in the Metropolitan League. Back row left to right: Joe Campbell (trainer), Gerry Robinson*, Bob Davis, Tony Hawksworth, Bill Goundry, David Lovell, Bobby Anderson. Front: Gerry Kavanagh*, Charlie Rowland, Vernon Avis, George Cleary, Alan Buchanan*. * indicates players who never appeared in the first team. This would be the last season at the club for Hawksworth, the club's longest serving player at the time, and also for Goundry, who, like Anderson, Avis and Lovell, had been members of the team who had beaten Newcastle barely a year before. It was one of the earlier sightings of George Cleary, who would become the highest goalscorer in the club's history and bagged two of the six scored that day.
[Photo by kind permission of Jeff Trice]
Mick Collins (centre) thwarts a Margate attack led by Arthur Blackley (striped shirt) in the match at Hartsdown Park on 26 February 1966, which ended in a 3-1 win for the Eagles. Watching are Ray Bailey (left) and Peter Morgan (2)
This is the Bedford Youth team that played Cambridge United in the Mercia Youth League at The Eyrie on 1 September 1965, losing 1-3. back row, left to right: Vernon Avis (coach), F Brown, Trevor Marriott, Mick Faulkes, M Yawn, B Byrne. Front: David Meaney, Gerry Horseman, Peter Massey, J Donald, R Harper and Bobby Folds. Marriott and Massey both went on to play a number of first team games in later seasons, but not as many as Folds, who followed Basil Hayward to Gillingham at the end of the season and turned professional for them. After later spells with Northampton and Telford he returned to The Eyrie in 1972 and went on to make over 400 appearances between then and 1981. Mick Faulkes is now a professional entertainer in Blackpool and told me how he was told to stand by later that season for a first team debut against Everton in the FA Cup when Alan Collier was doubtful, although in the end he wasn't required.
One of the familiar features of the 50s and 60s was this montage on the back page of the "Pink 'Un", the Saturday evening edition of the Northants Evening FTelegraph. It told supporters at a glance how their team had fared by the expression adopted by their symbolic figure as he hears the telephoned score. From left to right here we see the Cobbler (Northampton), a somewhat battered looking Scottish steelman (Corby), Mr Posh with his topper and monocle (Peterborough), the Friar (Kettering), the Eagle of Bedford, the Fenman (Wisbech), the Tulip (Spalding), the Doughboy in his chef's hat (Wellingborough), the Hatter (Luton), the Tiger (Holbeach) and the fierce looking Russian cossack (Rushden), On this day-29 January 1966-the Eagles had beaten Poole 3-1 at home. Northampton, in their one and only season in the old First Division, had lost 0-2 at home to Everton, who would knock the Eagles out of the FA Cup a fortnight later.
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