 | |||
| Full name | Bedlington Terriers Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | The Terriers | ||
| Founded | 1949 | ||
| Dissolved | 2025 | ||
| Ground | Welfare Park,Bedlington | ||
| Capacity | 3,000 (300 seated)[1] | ||
| Chairman | David Perry | ||
| Manager | Darren Loughlen | ||
| League | Northern Alliance Premier Division | ||
| 2024–25 | Northern League Division Two, 20th of 22 (relegated) | ||
Bedlington Terriers Football Club was afootball club based inBedlington, England. Established in 1949, the club played at Welfare Park until folding in 2025.
The club was established in 1949 asBedlington Mechanics. They joined the Northumberland Miners Welfare League, and were champions of the North Section in 1951–52.[2] The club subsequently transferred to the Northern Combination, and won the Northumberland Minor Cup in 1953–54. They were Northern Combination champions the following season.[3] They joined theNorthern Alliance in 1955,[4] and entered theFA Cup for the first time in 1959.[5]
The club disbanded in 1963, but were reformed asBedlington Colliery Welfare in 1965,[3] and rejoined the Northern Alliance.[6] 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,[6] as well as winning the League Cup again in 1969–70.[3]
After leaving the Northern Alliance at the end of the 1978–79 season,[7] the club spent the 1979–80 season in theTyneside Amateur League as Bedlington United,[3] before rejoining the Northern Alliance asBedlington Terriers in 1980.[8] In 1982 they were founder members of the new Division Two of theNorthern League.[9] They finished as runners-up in1984–85, earning promotion to Division One. After finishing as runners-up in theirfirst season in Division One, thefollowing season saw them finish bottom of the table, resulting in relegation back to Division Two.[9]
Bedlington won Division Two in1993–94, earning promotion to Division One.[9] This started the most successful era in the club's history, as they finished as runners-up in1995–96, also winning the League Cup andNorthumberland Senior Cup. They then won five consecutive league titles between1997–98 and2001–02.[9] They also reached the first round of theFA Cup for the first time in1998–99, and after beating Second DivisionColchester United 4–1 in front of a record crowd of 2,400,[1] they progressed to the second round, where they lost 2–0 atScunthorpe United.[9] The same season saw them reach the final of theFA Vase, eventually losing 1–0 toTiverton Town atWembley Stadium.[9] They reached the FA Vase semi-finals again in 2000–01 and 2004–05, but were beaten byBerkhamsted Town andAFC Sudbury respectively.[9] 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.[9]
Following their run of league titles, Bedlington finished as runners-up in Division One in2002–03 and2005–06, but the club then suffered financial difficulties,[10] finishing third-from-bottom in2006–07. In 2010 the club received sponsorship from American billionaireRobert E. Rich Jr. after his wife discovered ancestral links to the town and purchased the title Lord of Bedlington.[11] 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,[11] with a friendly match againstFC Buffalo styled as the "Lord Bedlington Cup".[10] This led to theBBC broadcasting a programme about the story in 2012 under the title Mr Rich and the Terriers.[12]
In2015–16 Bedlington finished bottom of Division One and were relegated to Division Two. They finished third in Division Two in2022–23, qualifying for the promotion play-offs, going on to lose on penalties toBillingham Town in the semi-finals. The club finished fourth thefollowing season before being beaten 4–0 byEasington Colliery in the play-off semi-finals. At the end of thefollowing season the club were demoted to the Premier Division of the Northern Alliance for failing ground grading requirements.
In July 2025Northumberland County Council recovered ownership of the team's facility, Dr Pit Park Welfare Ground, and effectively locked out the club, stating that the club did not have a lease in place. The adult club subsequently folded in December 2025, with their first team taken over byWest Allotment Celtic to act as a new reserve team. The junior Terriers continues to operate, using school pitches.[13][14]
55°7′49.991″N1°35′11.281″W / 55.13055306°N 1.58646694°W /55.13055306; -1.58646694
