Bedford clubs will not merge ahead of next season

Real Bedford and Bedford Town will remain seperate clubs in 2025-26

Plans for a merger of two Bedford teams with a view to establishing an English Football League club in the town in future years will not go ahead this summer.

Real Bedford FC, owned by bitcoin podcaster Peter McCormack and backed by Gemini founders the Winkelvoss twins, confirmed merger talks with Bedford Town in January.

But they have been unable to meet a 23 April Football Association deadline to finalise the plan and will continue to play as separate entities in 2025-26.

A statement by Real Bedford confirmed that discussions regarding a potential merger "have ended".

The statement continued: "While conversations have been positive, the timeline did not allow enough space to finalise key governance issues and broader details required to complete such a significant move.

"We'd like to thank everyone in the Bedford community who contributed to the process with their input, passion, and support.

"We would also like to express our appreciation to everyone at Bedford Town for their part in the discussions, and we wish them the very best for the remainder of their season."

Real Bedford have won three successive promotions under Peter McCormack's ownership

The decision means that there is still a prospect of the two teams playing each other next season.

Real won promotion from Southern League Division One Central last weekend with a 1-0 victory over Kings Langley.

The game was watched by twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who have invested about £3.6m in the club.

However, Bedford Town, who were originally founded in 1908, are three points clear at the top of Southern League Premier Central with three games to play - and and should they win promotion, they would be in line to enter the National League, the second tier of English non-league football.

Following the announcement that the merger would not go ahead, Town manager Lee Bircham posted on X: "Another chapter to our completely bonkers season. One that will never be forgotten that's for sure.

"Nothing changes for us to be honest and a good job as a group we didn't get too involved in it all. The story continues a bit longer."

The merger proposal envisaged McCormack, who bought the former Bedford FC in 2021, assuming the role of chairman of the newly merged club while Jon Taylor and Ben Banks, of Bedford Town, would be non-executive directors.

But Town said in a statement: "Bedford Town Football Club can confirm we will not be following through with any merger with Real Bedford FC this summer, and will remain as Bedford Town FC for the start of the 2025-26 season.

"We would like to thank the fans and people of Bedford for their contribution to these discussions over the last few months. The club look forward to finishing this season on the highest possible note."

McCormack believes it is possible for a Bedford club to reach the EFL and eventually the Premier League.

And following last week's announcement that the first Universal theme park in the UK is to be built on the site of a former brickworks near the town, he said: "It's just a very cool time to be a Bedfordian."