John Bond Passes at 79

Everyone here at Vital norwich was saddened to hear today of the passing of Ex-Norwich City manager, John Bond at the age of 79.

The club released the following statement -

Norwich City Football Club is saddened to learn of the death of former manager John Bond at the age of 79.


Bond remains the Club`s second longest serving manager having taken charge of the Canaries from December 1973 until October 1980 when he joined Manchester City.


As a player Bond was a goal scoring right-back who played over 400 games for West Ham United, winning an FA Cup with them in 1964. After West Ham he moved on to Torquay United where he played a further 130 league games before moving into management.


Bond`s coaching career began at Gillingham, and in May 1970 he was appointed manager of Bournemouth. He led the Cherries to promotion as runners-up in Division Four at the end of his first season, and almost achieved back-to-back promotions as Bournemouth ended the following season third in Division Three.


This success brought him to the attention of the Carrow Road Board who hired him to replace Ron Saunders in 1973. City paid £10,000 in compensation for the acquisition of Bond and his chief coach Ken Brown.


Bond continued his success at Norwich, signing a number of big name players for the Canaries, but his major coup being the signing of England World Cup winner Martin Peters. The end of the 1973-74 season saw Norwich relegated from the First Division, but the following season Bond guided the Club back to the top flight at the first attempt, and also to the League Cup Final, which ended in a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Wembley.


He introduced an exciting brand of attacking football to Carrow Road and managed to keep the Canaries in the top flight, despite the financial constraints he was under, until resigning to take charge of Manchester City in October 1980, taking his coaches John Benson and John Sainty with him to Maine Road but leaving Brown to take up the reigns at Carrow Road.


Everybody at Norwich City Football Club would like to send their sincere condolences to John`s family and friends.


There will be an opportunity for Canary fans to remember John at Carrow Road at tonight`s match with Doncaster Rovers, where his considerable contribution to Norwich City Football Club will be acknowledged prior to kick-off. Both teams will also wear black armbands as a mark of respect.'

As a personal memory, John Bond was the first manager that I can remember as a young Norwich City fan.

My abiding memory of him is as a cigar smoking, sheepskin coat wearing, somewhat flamboyant manager, and I remember being upset when he left the Canaries for Manchester City.

The last time I saw him was at the opening of The Jarrold Stand in (I think) December 2003 with Graham Paddon and Martin Peters.

He spoke to the crowd over the mic and I remember him saying that leaving Norwich City was the worst decision he ever made - he said he thought the grass was greener on the other side and as so often in life, it wasn't.

I felt sad when I heard him say that.
Thank you John, for everything you did for our great club. I know you'll be looking down tonight, smoking a cigar and wearing that coat.

John Bond - a Canary legend.

OTBC