http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19727962# John Bond has died. Met him a few times when he was manager at Bournemouth, back then I lived in Christchurch. He brought the players including Boyer, MacDougal and a young chap called Redknapp to play in a charity match. He was a top bloke. RIP John!
I too met him a couple of times when he was a much younger man. Which was towards the end of his playing career. An extremely interesting guy to talk to.....RIP John
Never met him, but a character it would seem. There was a thread on here recently about managers, and I wished I'd tipped this guy. If I recall he was manager of Norwich when, as a then very good First Division side, they conspired to lose a home 5th round Cup Tie to Bradford City of the 4th Division. Lawrie Mac was watching as Saints were drawn to play the winner in the next round. Lawrie was quoted as saying that the stress Bond was under he wouldn't have wished on a dog. There was never a golden era for managers. John Bond always seemed to have a dignity about him. From memory the guy was unlucky enough to manage the Man City team that should have won the FA Cup in '81 and handled that event with equanimity. On a Saints level, anyone who had a hand in the development of Phil Boyer is OK in my book. One of the best players to have ever pulled on a Saints shirt.
Yeah, a good manager. Not one of those who hit the headlines regularly, but well respected among his peers. Talking about Phil Boyer, I believe Bond had Ted MacDougall at the same time, and the goalscoring pair followed him from Bournemouth to Norwich. Lawrie was smart enough to realise they'd be good as a pair for Saints, too.
Very sad. I remember him mainly from being City manager at the cup final in 1981. Again, he found Phil Boyer... so got to like him.
hear hear to all comments above. Who could forget the 81 FA Cup Final replay on the wednesday night, some game. Never met him either but John Bond seemed a good man. RIP John.
Sad loss to the game ! Shame his experience was not used for a longer period of time! I think he may well have lived local to Southampton as I had seen I'm in chandlers ford a few times!
Like with so many people on this thread, John Bond was one of those footballing names from my youth when I would avidly college Panini stickers and buy "Shoot" comic. It always felt that he went from being a hero at Norwich to a bit of a villain at Man City who were always a bit of a joke around the late 70's and early 80's. That said, John Bond was always one of the most respected managers in the league at a time where foreign managers were unheard of. I was a bit surprised to find out how old he was. Nice too read about Ted MacDougall and Phil Boyer. When I started to watch Saints, they were a magical combination for me and probably captured my imagination as a Southampton supporter between winning the cup in 1976 and the arrival of King Kev. I always amazed that they never quite managed to cement a reputation in the hearts of most other Saints fans in the way that they did with mine. They were my heroes when I was small.
Andy Williams has died, not the footballer that played for us in the late 1990's or the one that currently plays for Swindon, but the singist of Moon River fame! RIP
A great manager, the Lawrie Mac of Norwich. He signed my godfather to Norwich, Although I am Saints through & through, Saints v Canaries is the match I blank out, whatever the result. A real Hero of my youth RIP.
Your probably too young to remember; however he was Norwich's defender with a rocket shot, John Ryan.
