John Bond Arrives

On this day (17 October) in 1980 John Bond was officially appointed Manchester City’s manager. The season would end with him guiding the Blues to the FA Cup final.

Back in November 1995 I interviewed John at his home. At the time I was researching my in-depth history of the club called Manchester The Greatest City (later updated as Manchester The City Years).

I met John at his home and spent a good few hours with him chatting about the Blues and his career. I loved doing this interview and was always grateful for the time he gave me. He was quite frank, open and honest – which delighted me because he was a great talker. He was also happy for me to quote everything he said in the interview. I did end up quoting him extensively in the book (and in others I’ve produced).

You can listen to the first 17 minutes of the interview here. He talks about the steps taken by City to appoint him; the interview (and the directors involved in that notorious filmed interview for the City documentary in 1980-81); the signing of Tommy Hutchison, Bobby McDonald and Gerry Gow. As I said earlier, he is quite frank in his comments and that may surprise a few.

This audio recording of the first 17 minutes of the interview is available to subscribers. If you want to listen then please subscribe below. Other sections can be listened to (see below for details).

Of course as this interview was recorded on my old cassette recorder the quality isn’t the best but I’m working on improving that for future pieces.

The other parts of the interview are available here:

John Bond Interview Part Two

John Bond Interview – Part Three

John Bond Interview – Part Four

John Bond Interview – Part 5

John Bond Interview Part 6 (of 7)

John Bond Interview Part 7 (Final Part)

I’ve also posted an obituary I wrote to John here:

Johnny Bond, Johnny Bond, Johnny Bond