John Frederick Bond (17 December 1932 – 25 September 2012) He also played for Torquay United until 1969. He managed seven different Football League clubs, and was the manager of the Norwich City side which made the 1975 Football League Cup Final and the Manchester City side which made the 1981 FA Cup Final. He is the father of Kevin Bond, a former footballer and coach.
Playing career
Bond was born in Dedham, Essex. He played for North-East Essex Schools and Essex Army cadets before joining West Ham United in March 1950 from Colchester Casuals, his league debut coming two seasons later in a 2–1 away win against Coventry City. Bond had been spotted playing by West Ham assistant-manager Ted Fenton when he was manager with Colchester United. He had convinced manager Charlie Paynter to offer Bond a contract and Bond turned professional in March 1950. In 1959, he was tried as a centre forward, scoring twice in one game against Bolton Wanderers and a hat-trick against Chelsea in February 1960.
By 1963, Bond was in competition for the right-back position with Joe Kirkup, but was picked for the 1964 FA Cup Final win at Wembley towards the end of his Upton Park career, He was awarded a testimonial at West Ham in May 1966, but was unable to play due to a groin injury.
He played 130 league games for the Gulls, scoring 12 goals, and helped Torquay to promotion at the end of his first season. He retired in 1969, having already opened a sweet shop (Bondy's Tuck Shop) in the Torre area of Torquay.
Coaching and managerial career
Bond's coaching career began when he joined the staff at Gillingham (having been turned down on applying for the manager's job at Torquay United), and in May 1970 he replaced Freddie Cox as manager of Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic.
Burnley and beyond
In June 1983, Bond took over at Burnley, newly relegated to Division Three and with high expectations of going straight back up. He brought in some of his previous players from Manchester City, selling players such as Trevor Steven, Lee Dixon and Brian Laws, the previous season's player of the year, who were all destined for greater things. He was not well liked amongst the fans and left in August 1984 after Burnley had finished 12th.
In December 1984 he was appointed manager of Swansea City who were struggling to avoid being relegated from the First to Fourth Divisions in successive seasons. He immediately released some of the younger players (most notably Dean Saunders) to bring in some older heads. They ended the season just one place clear of relegation, but the following season started badly and with the Swans on the brink of bankruptcy, Bond left on 20 December 1985 and Swansea were relegated at the end of the season to complete their demise since the John Toshack era.
On 22 January 1986, Bond was appointed manager of Birmingham City and failed to prevent their relegation from Division One, seven consecutive defeats at the end of the season sealing their fate. The following season, Birmingham struggled again, eventually finishing just one place away from relegation to Division Three. This was not good enough for the Birmingham board and Bond was sacked on 27 May 1987.
He was appointed assistant manager to Asa Hartford at Shrewsbury Town in January 1990, and a year later, in January 1991, was appointed manager after Hartford's dismissal. At the end of the 1990–91 season, Shrewsbury narrowly avoided relegation from the Third Division, but the following season, Bond failed to keep them up, and Shrewsbury were relegated back to the bottom flight (by now renamed Division Three by the Premier League shake-up). When Shrewsbury went to Burnley Bond was advised by the police not to attend. The following season saw Shrewsbury finish ninth, and at the end of July 1993, Bond resigned, along with the Shrewsbury chairman.
After management
He assisted his son Kevin, who was manager at Stafford Rangers, mainly in a scouting capacity. In August 1998, Bond was appointed manager at Witton Albion, whose Manager had been sacked just days before the start of the new season, Bond was appointed first on an interim basis, before talking over for the rest of the season in November 1998 and they eventually finished in a healthy eighth place in the Northern Premier League First Division. In September 1999, Bond, by now nearing his 67th birthday, was brought out of retirement by Wigan Athletic manager John Benson to assist with coaching and scouting in a consultancy position. He left Wigan after less than 12 months following Benson's move to the role of director of football.
In November 2009, he appeared on the Sky Sports programme "Time of Our Lives", where he, along with Ken Brown, Ronnie Boyce and presenter Jeff Stelling looked back on their era at West Ham. This programme was repeated on the day after his death in memory of him.
Bond died on 25 September 2012 aged 79.
Managerial statistics
{| class=wikitable style="text-align: left"
|+ Managerial record by team and tenure
|-
!rowspan=2|Team
!rowspan=2|From
!rowspan=2|To
!colspan=5|Record
|-
!!!!!!!!!
|-
|AFC Bournemouth
|1 May 1970
|27 November 1973
|-
|Norwich City
|27 November 1973
|14 October 1980
|-
|Manchester City
|17 November 1980
|3 February 1983
|-
|Burnley
|14 June 1983
|1 August 1984
|-
|Swansea City
|16 December 1984
|20 December 1985
|-
|Birmingham City
|22 January 1986
|27 May 1987
|-
|Shrewsbury Town
|17 January 1991
|31 July 1993
|-
!colspan=3|Total
|}
Honours
West Ham United
- FA Cup: 1963–64
- FA Charity Shield: 1964
References
General
Specific