2021/22 season review

after two curtailed seasons declared null and void, gary setchell wanted to give the eagles fans something to shout about for the 2021/22 season. here’s some of what gary had to say, looking back at a championship winning season at Bedford town fc.

We went into the season with hopes of getting a promotion, whether that be the playoffs or winning the league. We felt that there were seven/eight teams genuinely who could probably compete for the title and finish in the playoff spots. We got off to the best start possible, 5-0 up at halftime at Waltham Abbey and winning 5-2. Then we had one or two injuries and suspensions which affected us against Dunstable, Hertford who we only just beat and then probably the worst night of the season against Ware, losing 3-2. I knew then, that things needed to change. We needed the missing link. Losing two of your first five when you’re going for promotion isn’t ideal. We found that missing link through Rory McAuley. We brought him in and his first game was a bit of a crossroads game away at FC Romania. If we win, we’ve won two in four which is a reasonable start. Whereas if we lose, we’ve won three and lost three, which is a very average start. Away from home and pouring down with rain we picked up a magnificent TBC 1-0 win through a Callum Donnelly goal and that literally was the turning point. Then we went on a great run where our only other league loss all season was away at Berkhamsted. From then on, we were playing cup football. We were relentless but so were Berko. They just kept winning.

By Christmas it became clear that it was a three or four horse race for the title. We knew we had a tough January and that was going to be ‘sink or swim’. We had some real tough games, beating Ware away on that famous day when we scored two in injury time. We then beat Berko at home in front of 1,200 people. Then we had some kind fixtures leading up to the Welwyn and Dunstable games, which we knew were going to be tough. Beating those two with Berko slipping up at Harlow and the rest is history. Brilliant season.

c O ntinued 2021/22 season review

I was always hopeful we could win the title but the real moment in the season I knew it was after January. I knew that we could turn the screw. We had a lot of fixtures against teams further down the league. I genuinely felt we could go through February and March without dropping many points. Obviously, the big game was Berko as that put us in the box seat and we never looked back, only dropping points against a strong North Leigh side. We were relentless. And to finish the season on a 25-game unbeaten run is pretty phenomenal. To only lose one game from September in the league is also phenomenal and these players stepped up in every which way but loose. They just kept getting better and better week-by-week. And the longer the season went on, the better we were getting. That was a real credit to the players.

The consistency of the team and camaraderie within the squad has been strong throughout. I’ve never been one for wholesale changes because I try and back my judgement in the summer and you’ll always get one or two that don’t work out and move on but we only used 21 players in the league this season which is quite a low number. Sometimes I was going to games with just two players on the bench. I didn’t want to just bring new players in, because when you get your players back you’ve got to stick people in the stands again.

Next season we’ll definitely keep that small squad mentality. There’s a lot of established step 3 teams in the league but we’re not going to go to just make the numbers up. Yes, we’re not an established step three side yet. We’ve got to try and build that up over the next year or two. We’ve got a lot of momentum and togetherness and we can play as well, so there’s no reason why if we get a good start next season, we can’t continue with that momentum. There’s going to be some tough afternoons of course, but there’s going to be some brilliant afternoons as well.

everyone at the club has done a great job last season.

from the director at the top, right down to the bar staff. everybody in between has been tremendous. there’s too many to mention but there was no weak link in the whole club last year. everyone carried out their job to a high standard and enabled my job and the players’ job easier. i’m looking forward to welcoming the fans back for step 3 football and pushing the club further up the non-league football pyramid.

the team

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