Bedlington Terriers F.C.

Bedlington Terriers

Full name

Bedlington Terriers Football Club

Nickname(s)

The Terriers

Founded

1949

Ground

Welfare Park, Bedlington

Capacity

3,000 (300 seated)^[1]

Chairman

Ronan Liddane

Manager

Andy Ferrell

League

Northern League Division Two

2015–16

Northern League Division One, 22nd (relegated)

Home colours

Away colours

Bedlington Terriers Football Club is a football club based in Bedlington, England. The club are currently members of the Northern League Division Two and play at Welfare Park.

History

The club was established in 1949 as Bedlington Mechanics and joined the Northern Combination.^[2] They won the Northumberland Minor Cup in 1953–54, and were Northern Combination champions the following season.^[2] They joined the Northern Alliance in 1955,^[3] and entered the FA Cup for the first time in 1959.^[4]

The club disbanded in 1963, but were reformed as Bedlington Colliery Welfare in 1965,^[2] and rejoined the Northern Alliance.^[5] They were league champions and League Cup winners in 1966–67, and were runners-up the following season and again in 1969–70 and 1971–72,^[5] as well as winning the League Cup again in 1969–70.^[2]

After leaving the Northern Alliance at the end of the 1978–79 season,^[6] the club spent the 1979–80 season in the Tyneside Amateur League as Bedlington United,^[2] before rejoining the Northern Alliance was Bedlington Terriers in 1980.^[7] In 1982 they were founder members of the new Division Two of the Northern League.^[8] They finished as runners-up in 1984–85, earning promotion to Division One. After finishing as runners-up in their first season in Division One, the following season saw them finish bottom of the table, resulting in relegation back to Division Two.^[8]

Bedlington won Division Two in 1993–94, earning promotion to Division One.^[8] This started the most successful era in the club's history, as they finished as runners-up in 1995–96, also winning the League Cup and Northumberland Senior Cup. They then won five consecutive league titles between 1997–98 and 2001–02.^[8] They also reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time in 1998–99, and after beating Second Division Colchester United 4–1 in front of a record crowd of 2,400,^[1] they progressed to the second round, where they lost 2–0 at Scunthorpe United.^[8] The same season saw them reach the final of the FA Vase, eventually losing 1–0 to Tiverton Town at Wembley Stadium.^[8] They reached the FA Vase semi-finals again in 2000–01 and 2004–05, but were beaten by Berkhamsted Town and AFC Sudbury respectively.^[8] During this period the club also won the Northumberland Senior Cup again in 1997–98, 2001–02 and 2003–04 and the League Cup in 2000–01.^[8]

Following their run of league titles, Bedlington finished as runners-up in Division One in 2002–03 and 2005–06, but the club then suffered financial difficulties,^[9] finishing third-from-bottom in 2006–07. In 2010 the club received sponsorship from American billionaire Robert E. Rich Jr. after his wife discovered ancestral links to the town and purchased the title Lord Bedlington.^[10] Rich's investment included purchasing a £30,000 electronic scoreboard and laying a new pitch, as well as financing a club tour to the United States,^[10] with a friendly match against FC Buffalo styled as the "Lord Bedlington Cup".^[9] This led to the BBC broadcasting a programme about the story in 2012 under the title Mr Rich and the Terriers.^[11]

In 2015–16 the club finished bottom of Division One and were relegated to Division Two.

Honours

Northern League
- Division One champions 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02
- Division Two champions 1993–94
- League Cup winners 1996–97, 2000–01
Northern Alliance
- Champions 1966–67
- League Cup winners 1966–67, 1969–70
Northern Combination
- Champions 1954–55
Northumberland Senior Cup
- Winners 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2003–04
Northumberland Minor Cup
- Winners 1953–54

Records

Best FA Cup performance: Second round, 1998–99^[8]
Best FA Trophy performance: Third qualifying round, 1986–87^[8]
Best FA Vase performance: Runners-up, 1998–99^[8]
Record attenance: 2,400 vs Colchester United, FA Cup first round, 1998–99^[1]
Most goals: John Milner^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 Mike Williams & Tony Williams (2012) Non-League Club Directory 2013, p740 ISBN 978-1-869833-77-0
1 2 3 4 5 Club History Bedlington Terriers F.C.
↑ Northern Alliance 1919-1960 Non-League Matters
↑ Bedlington Mechanics at the Football Club History Database
1 2 Northern Alliance 1960-1979 Non-League Matters
↑ Bedlington Colliery Welfare at the Football Club History Database
↑ Northern Alliance 1979-1990 Non-League Matters
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Bedlington Terriers at the Football Club History Database
1 2 Football club goes from rags to Rich’ Financial Times, 26 June 2011
1 2 Billionaire Robert Rich to plough part of fortune into Bedlington Terriers The Guardian, 4 November 2010
↑ Bedlington Terriers hit jackpot with sponsor Mr Rich BBC News, 22 March 2012

External links

Northern League

Division One	Ashington Bishop Auckland Chester-le-Street Town Consett Dunston UTS Guisborough Town Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association Marske United Morpeth Town Newcastle Benfield Newton Aycliffe North Shields Penrith Ryhope Colliery Welfare Seaham Red Star Shildon South Shields Sunderland Ryhope Community Association Washington West Allotment Celtic West Auckland Town Whitley Bay

Division Two	Alnwick Town Bedlington Terriers Billingham Synthonia Billingham Town Blyth Town Brandon United Crook Town Darlington Railway Athletic Durham City Easington Colliery Esh Winning Heaton Stannington Hebburn Town Northallerton Town Norton & Stockton Ancients Ryton & Crawcrook Albion Stockton Town Team Northumbria Thornaby Tow Law Town Whickham Willington

Seasons	1889–90 1890–91 1891–92 1892–93 1893–94 1894–95 1895–96 1896–97 1897–98 1898–99 1899–1900 1900–01 1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17

Coordinates: 55°7′49.991″N 1°35′11.281″W / 55.13055306°N 1.58646694°W / 55.13055306; -1.58646694

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.