John Bond Interview Part Two

There’s a lot to interest and perhaps surprise Manchester City fans here. This is the second part of my interview with John Bond from November 1995. When I interviewed him he was frank in his views and at times outspoken – and I loved every minute of our chat!

In this clip John talks about the controversial 1981 League Cup semi-final with Liverpool; the FA Cup final (first game) against Tottenham; the way City’s directors handled the draw with Spurs (this astounded me at the time of our interview); how certain directors treated him; and how he almost resigned in between the FA Cup final and its replay. 

As this was recorded in November 1995 it is important to remember that our comments about the ‘present day’ Manchester City refer to the club as it was at that time. Similarly, when we talk about the takeover we mean the 1993-94 takeover of the club. Listening again to this piece now I’m quite pleased that my own perception was fairly accurate.

There’s also some great comments about Norwich City which will please supporters of that club.

This is about 17 minutes long (the previous piece was a similar length too). So get yourself a brew, relax in your favourite chair and listen along.

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If you would like to listen to the second part of this frank interview and read all the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year, above) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (here). Monthly subscribers access everything posted since 1 October 2022.

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Part three tomorrow.

90 Years Ago Today – John Bond

On this day (17 December) in 1932 John Bond was born. Back in November 1995 I interviewed the former Manchester City manager. 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) but none of the interview has ever been heard by the wider public.

Now, you can hear the opening 17 minutes of the interview (the rest will follow over the next few days). 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 of my blog whether annual or, for the first time, monthly. If you want to hear it then please subscribe below. If subscribers enjoy this piece then please let me know and I’ll post other audio recordings in the future.

Of course as this interview was recorded on my old cassette recorder the quality isn’t the best but I’m sure you’ll appreciate the exclusive nature of this.

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If you would like to listen to this frank interview and read the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. It works out about £1.67 a month if you take out an annual subscription (£20 per year; here) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (below). Annual subscribers access everything posted since December 2020.

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If you would like to listen to this frank interview and read the in-depth articles on this site (including the entire Manchester A Football History book) then please subscribe. An annual subscription (£20 per year; above) or £3 a month if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (here). Monthly subscribers access everything posted since 1 October 2022.

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The second part of the interview will be available tomorrow.

I’ve also posted an obituary I wrote to John here: https://gjfootballarchive.com/2021/02/12/johnny-bond-johnny-bond-johnny-bond/

The Top and Bottom of History

While we look forward to the return of domestic football it’s worth remembering that before the pause for the World Cup there had already been records broken by Manchester City, such as the incredible goalscoring start to the season by Erling Haaland; results like the Manchester Derby 6-3 victory and Rico Lewis becoming the youngest player to score in his first Champions League start. In mid-August there was a flurry of excitement across social media and elsewhere when City were top of the Premier League and United were bottom. People asked when was the last time that had happened. 

It turned out that the two clubs had last been in those positions way back in November 1929 and it seemed to surprise some that it was so long ago. The truth is that no matter how poor United or City may have been in past seasons, it has been extremely rare for either club to occupy the bottom spot over the decades. It has been even rarer for the other ‘Manchester’ club to be top at the same time. 

So for this 1400 word subscriber article I’m going to talk about when one team has been top and the other bottom and then I’ll take a look at 1929 and the years that followed to highlight how the two Manchester clubs fared. Enjoy….

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City Come From Behind To Win 3-1

Today (16 December) in 2001 Manchester City went a goal behind at home to Bradford City before Lucien Mettomo headed a equaliser. Goals from Kevin Horlock and Shaun Wright-Phillips helped the Blues achieve a 3-1 victory before 30,749. You can see the goals here (for those seat counters out there: notice that the empty spaces are surrounding the relatively small number of Bradford fans. The away section held approximately 3,000 at this point, plus segregation):

There are a variety of articles on here about this era, Maine Road and the players. Some are free to read and others are for subscribers. Do a few searches and see what you like. Here’s a search on ‘Bradford’ mentions:

Welcome to Gary James’ Football Archive

Trautmann’s Back

On this day (15 December) back in 1956 was Bert Trautmann’s first League game after his devastating injury in the 1956 FAC final. It was also filmed by the BBC and ended in a 3-2 victory by Wolves.  It wasn’t a great Trautmann performance sadly and the general perception is that he was rushed back too soon. Here’s a match report of the game:

Lots of articles about Bert Trautmann appear on my website. Some are freely available while others are for subscribers only. Take a look at them via the following link and if you’re interested in any that are only available to subscribers then please subscribe. Thanks.

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/bert-trautmann/

The Story of 1974-75

Here’s a review of the 1974-75 season as experienced by Manchester City. That year Manchester City finished 8th with an average attendance of 32,898 (fifth highest in the top flight). The following explains how Denis Law played on into the 1974-75 season, even scoring in one game (this is often ignored by those who incorrectly claim Law retired after the 1974 Manchester derby – he did not and played club football in 1974-75 for City!).

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This 1500 word article is available to subscribers. It costs £3 per month (here) or £20 a year (above) to subscribe. Why not subscribe for a month and see what you think? Monthly subscribers get access to everything posted since 1 October 2022.

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MANCHESTER CITY – HALL OF FAME: Eric Brook

“There have been many, many great names associated with Manchester City Football Club.  Some of them are deservedly being honoured tonight, but sixty five years on Eric Brook remains the record goalscorer of all time for the Blues.  In addition, he was the only goalscorer in the cup game with Stoke when the attendance record of eight-four and a half thousand was set.  It’s a great honour for me to collect this award on behalf of such a wonderful player.” Kevin Parker from the Official Supporters Club, collecting the Hall of Fame award in January 2004

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Pardoe’s Derby Injury!

Glyn Pardoe came close to having his leg amputated on this day (12 December) in 1970 following a foul by George Best in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford. I interviewed Pardoe about his career in 2004 and here for subscribers are his views of the tackle and subsequent injury, together with a few contemporary articles from 1970. It became one of the most controversial derby moments of all time and arguments raged for years on whether it had been a deliberate act or not. You can be the judge by reading Pardoe’s views and the contemporary media.

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You can read more about the game itself here:

A Derby Hat-trick

A Derby Hat-trick

On this day (12 December) in 1970 a hat-trick from Francis Lee (this was City’s last hat-trick in a derby until Haaland and Foden in 2022!), together with a goal from Mike Doyle, gave Manchester City a comfortable 4-1 victory over Manchester United before an Old Trafford crowd of 52,636.  That victory meant City had won 5 and only dropped 4 points in 8 consecutive League derby meetings with the Reds. There was also a devastating injury to Glyn Pardoe (more on that in another post!). Here is the background, report and verdict of that game…

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