Tag Archives: John Bond

John Bond Becomes MCFC Manager

On this day (17 October) in 1980 John Bond officially became the Manchester City manager. 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.

You can hear the interview I did that day. In this first section he talks about the steps taken by City to appoint him; the interview (and the directors involved in that notorious filmed job 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 monthly. If you want to hear it then please subscribe below.

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 (see 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. A monthly subscription is £3 a month (cancel anytime) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time (here). Monthly subscribers access everything posted since 1 October 2022. Why not join up for a month and see what you think?

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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

Another £1m MCFC Player

On this day (4 September) in 1981 Manchester City signed Trevor Francis from Nottingham Forest. The transfer meant that the Blues were the first English side to sign three separate £1m or £1m+ players. Peter Swales often boasted of this point (and did so in an interview I did with him years later). The earlier £1m/£1m+ men were Steve Daley and Kevin Reeves.

I’ve interviewed John Bond, Trevor Francis and Peter Swales specifically about this transfer over the years. Subscribers can listen to my Bond interview (see below for details) and a written version of my Trevor Francis interview is available too here (this is free to read):

Trevor Francis

Here’s the John Bond interview:

The John Bond Interview

The story of Trevor Francis’ debut against Stoke is here:

41 Years Ago Today: Trevor Francis Debut

Here’s an article quoting Mike Doyle, who by this time was a Stoke player, about Francis:

City v Burnley

Today’s game with Burnley provides a great opportunity to remember some key games and stories from years gone by featuring the two clubs. I’ve written a lot about City & Burnley games over the years so sit back and get yourself in the mood for tonight’s game by having a look at these articles:

A game in 2001:

Capacity Crowd Watch City And Burnley

An amazing crowd for a second tier match:

69,463 watch MCFC and Burnley in Division Two

Another incredible crowd for a City-Burnley match:

An Incredible Crowd and Day in 1921

Sterling inspired City here:

Sterling Double

One of my quests to find missing objects involves the 1904 FA Cup final ball. I know it was in Burnley for over 40 years and was still there in the 1950s but where is it today? Can you help find it? Have a read of this:

Finding 1904 Objects

Jimmy Ross was a brilliant footballer for both City and Burnley but he’s often forgotten. You can find out who he was here:

The Great Jimmy Ross

More on Ross here:

The Death Of Jimmy Ross

John Bond managed both. Here’s an exclusive interview I did with him many years ago where we talked about his career at both:

John Bond Interview – Part 5

A season when City and Burnley challenged each other for the title:

MCFC 20TH CENTURY CHRONICLE – SEASON 1920-21

The earliest known surviving film of a City Ladies (now Women) match was against Burnley:

Manchester City Ladies – The Earliest Film

There are of course several articles mentioning Burnley manager Vincent Kompany’s time at MCFC. You can access some of them here:

https://gjfootballarchive.com/tag/vincent-kompany/

Maine Road 100 – Day 85

Post 85 of my Maine Road 100 countdown is a FA Cup reminder of a day that I know I loved as a kid. It was the day (24 January) in 1981 when John Bond’s Manchester City defeated his former club Norwich 6-0 in the FA Cup fourth round tie. I was sat in that uncovered bit between the Main Stand and the North Stand (it was cheaper but if it rained it was somewhat unpleasant, especially when the rain blew off the Main Stand roof on to us!).

This 1971 image shows the area I was sat in (number 2) that day:

Maine Road aerial 1971 from Farewell To Maine Road

Subscribers can read a report and watch highlights of the game here:

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If you would like to read this and all the other great content on here then please subscribe. Annual subscribers (£20 per year, sign up here) get access to everything posted on the site including PDFs of 2 of my out of print books and archived content like my exclusive audio interviews with John Bond, Malcolm Allison etc. Not only that but you’ll be helping to support this site’s development.

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If you would like to read this and all other great content on here then please subscribe. Monthly subscribers (£3 per month, cancel anytime and sign up here) get access to everything posted on the site since 1 October 2022. Not only that but you’ll be helping to support this site’s development.

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Maine Road 100 – Day 25

It’s day 25 of my posts counting down to the centenary of Maine Road’s opening game. Today – the Maine Road cage!

For years the front of the Main Stand at Maine Road was a simple doorway above a set of stairs. There was nothing particularly remarkable about it, although there was a wonderful mosaic above the entrance. However, by the early 1970s vandalism was taking its toll and the doorway was perceived as being particularly vulnerable. Whether it was or not is open to debate but the decision was taken in the 1970s to solve the problem by erecting a cage around the main entrance. These images of John Bond and John Benson show the cage as it looked in 1983.

John Bond, 1983

The ‘Sponsor a Match’ sign covers the original central mosaic. You can read about that here:

Maine Road 100 – Day 12

When City fans demonstrated during the 1980s and beyond the cage doors would be closed and locked to prevent fans from getting in to the offices, though they didn’t always manage it in time as this image shows:

Mirrorpix photo

In this image below John Benson and John Bond are stood in front of the players’ entrance which, at this time, was not within the cage (a later development changed that). I find it remarkable that the door for the players to go through was seen as being less important and that the players would not be protected.

John Benson and john Bond, 1983

For those unfamiliar with Maine Road this photo may help. The main entrance was on the Maine Road side of the Main Stand, above number 1.

Maine Road aerial 1971 from Farewell To Maine Road

If you’d like to read more on the history of Maine Road, take a look at Farewell To Maine Road, which can be downloaded from this page:

Farewell To Maine Road – Part One
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City 6 Norwich 0

On this day (24 January) 1981 John Bond’s Manchester City defeated his former club Norwich 6-0 in the FA Cup fourth round tie. Subscribers can read a report and watch highlights here:

Subscribe to get access

If you would like to read this and all the other great content on here then please subscribe. Annual subscribers (£20 per year, sign up here) get access to everything posted on the site including PDFs of 2 of my out of print books and archived content like my exclusive audio interviews with John Bond, Malcolm Allison etc. Not only that but you’ll be helping to support this site’s development.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access

If you would like to read this and all other great content on here then please subscribe. Monthly subscribers (£3 per month, cancel anytime and sign up here) get access to everything posted on the site since 1 October 2022. Not only that but you’ll be helping to support this site’s development.

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Manchester City’s 1980-81 Season

On a day when there’s a controversial refereeing decision in a Manchester Derby here’s a reminder that today is the anniversary (14 January 1981) of a notorious refereeing error in a Manchester City Liverpool League Cup semi-final. You can read about that elsewhere on the site. the anniversary though has given me the impetus to post this 9,000+ word article on the 1980-81 season. This was a remarkable season and you can read it below:

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This 9,000+ article is for subscribers only. You can subscribe at £20 a year (here) or £3 per month (below). Annual subscribers access everything posted since December 2020 and monthly subscribers access everything since 1 October 2022.

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This 9,000+ article is for subscribers only. You can subscribe at £20 a year (above) or £3 per month (here). Annual subscribers access everything posted since December 2020 and monthly subscribers access everything since 1 October 2022.

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Corrigan Bottled as Liverpool Lose 3-1 to MCFC

On this day (26 December) in 1981 Manchester City defeated Liverpool 3-1 at Anfield but it was a day marred when City keeper Joe Corrigan was felled by a bottle thrown at him. Here’s highlights of the game plus a brief audio clip of John Bond talking about the LFC reaction that day.

In 1995 I interviewed former City boss John Bond at his home. The interview lasted about two hours and here’s a brief snippet from that interview where he talks about that win over Liverpool on Boxing Day 1981.

The Blues won 3-1 (Bond, Hartford & Reeves) then two days later (Bond says it’s the next day in this clip but it was 28th December) City defeated Wolves 2-1 at Maine Rd. John discusses a brilliant goal from Trevor Francis. City went top of the League after the Wolves victory.

Stick with the clip because it ends with Bond’s views on how Liverpool used to react to wins and defeats. I’d best not comment – have a listen:

Here are a couple of cuttings from the day.

John Bond Interview Part 7 (Final Part)

We’ve reached the final minutes of my interview with John Bond from November 1995. I hope you’ve enjoyed it so far. As before, there’s a lot to interest and perhaps surprise in these frank views.

At the time this interview was performed 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 extremely 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, until now, none of the interview has ever been heard by the wider public. 

Subscribe to get access

If you would like to listen to the final part of this frank interview (and the other parts) 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, here) or £3 a month (below) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Annual subscribers get full access to everything posted since December 2020.

Subscribe

Subscribe to get access

If you would like to listen to the final part of this frank interview (and the other parts) 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 (here) if you’d like to sign up for a month at a time. Monthly subscribers get full access to everything posted since 1 October 2022.

Subscribe

80 Years Ago Today Manchester City’s And Norwich’s John Benson Was Born

On this day (23 December) in 1942 future Manchester City player and manager John Benson born at Arbroath. He joined the Blues at the age of 15 in July 1958 and went on to make 52 League and Cup appearances before being transferred to Torquay in 1964.  Spells at Bournemouth, Exeter and Norwich followed, before John moved into coaching.  In 1980 he returned to Manchester as assistant to manager John Bond.  Here’s an interview I did with him during October 2004.

Sadly, John died on October 30 2010 at the age of 67.

Here for subscribers is the interview from 2004.

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Subscribers get access to lots of additional content on this site. Annual subscribers get access to everything since December 2020 (including PDFs of 2 out of print books plus ausio interviews with John Bond, Malcolm Allison etc.) while monthly subscribers get access to everything from 1st October 2022. Annual costs £20 here and monthly is £3 per month below.

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Subscribers get access to lots of additional content on this site. Annual subscribers get access to everything while monthly subscribers get access to everything from 1st October 2022. Annual costs £20 above and monthly is £3 per month here.

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