On September 25 2012 former City manager and West Ham FA Cup winner John Bond died at the age of 79. Bond followed Malcolm Allison as manager of the Blues in October 1980 and within his first seven months he turned a struggling side into one that reached the FA Cup final and the League Cup semi-final. I wrote an obituary to John in the days that followed.
Here, for the benefit of subscribers to my blog, is that obituary.
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I’ve also posted an audio interview I performed with John back in 1995. For details see: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2021/02/12/the-john-bond-interview/
Gary James' Football Archive 
Did he mention the influence of Ian Niven who was obsessed with Malcolm Allison and really deserved a lot of the blame for the demise of the club which Peter Swales took a lot of stick for. He wanted to bring Mal back when Peter Reid was sacked. He used to wave his Swales Out T. Shirt in his pub during the bad times distancing himself from the errors made.
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Have a listen. John held nothing back.
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I think you’ll enjoy reading my new Peter Barnes biography. There’s a lot of discussion about Niven’s role.
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