Football
There is currently 1 person viewing this thread.
Great warrior for West Ham.
sort by:
Show
per page
Replies: 37
|
By:
Agreed. RIP.
|
|
By:
sad news indeed
 |
|
By:
Gutted. Always admired the guy. R.I.P.
|
|
By:
Absolute legend, the phrase could have been written for him.
Sad news. Thoughts with friends and family. |
|
By:
RIP Billy
|
|
By:
Sad news one who fully deserved his mbe
|
|
By:
RIP
|
|
By:
Heartbroken over this. I loved him as a little boy when he led West Ham on the pitch.
From a different time when standards were so much higher. Worth watching on YouTube West Ham v QPR in a 1975 FA Cup tie. Keith Robson, a young and talented lad who West Ham brought down from the North East but who was a real hothead, chases after the ref and grabs him after not being awarded a foul. Bonds runs up and grabs Robson by the shirt and throat to stop him getting anything more serious than a booking! It was exactly was a captain should have done and summed up the man and the player perfectly. RIP, Billy. I will miss you. (It is an awful by-product of ageing that you lose the heroes of your younger days and this is just such an example.) |
|
By:
RIP, heard a lot about him when I was at school, though never saw him play.
|
|
By:
I saw Billy play against the toffees a number of times, always a player i admired and loved to watch back in the days when football really was worth going to see.
The hammers always tried to play the right way and Billy embodied their ethos. 799 games (in all comps) for one club is a hell of a shift. RIP Billy. |
|
By:
Started of at Charlton helping out as a groundsman then played in there first team ,don’t fancy that sort of think happening anymore
|
|
By:
Saw Billy play a fair few few times back then, great captain and great leader, him and Lampard senior very good players RIP
|
|
By:
799! Wow!
|
|
By:
RIP Billy, signed Neil Harris when he was our manager, what a signing.
|
|
By:
Yes Honcho, some achievement and 663 of those were league games. Just shows how fit he must have been, it was of course in the days when players would shrug off minor injuries which today would keep them out for several weeks as a "precaution" . Try telling the likes of Billy they were being rested and you would have been given short shrift !
|
|
By:
Very accurate post Dixie
|
|
By:
Agreed.
|
|
By:
Incredible amount of first team appearances for a big very big club.
|
|
By:
Sad sad news
RIP billy Billy bonds Claret and blue army Semi final rendition 4-0 down legendary Robert banks Westham years History on YouTube is unbelievable Watch it |
|
By:
That’s correct dixy
Billy embodied the West Ham way Blood sweat and tears ball played on ground Trying win Unlike cowards today Nothing about them Mangers that don’t want win games |
|
By:
Thanks for the heads up re the Robert Banks vids on YT... just now watched episodes 7 n 8 of the Billy Bonds years... so much footage there I've never seen... I clearly recall Liam Brady's last kick of his footballing career in May '90, was in the North Bank that day with a great view of his goal, don't think they restarted the game from memory...
It's a sad day today... was fortunate to have seen Billy play on a number of occasions, loved his no nonsense style... I wish I was eloquent enough to describe how important these icons of football were to working class boys back in the 70s and 80s, my era...there's a feeling there that I've never felt with the passing of other players playing in those decades... this one seems to matter, I don't know why, a bit like losing a mate... |
|
By:
I remember old
Brady playing for us Was £4 quid get in them days North bank Only 12-13 use go middle left Cos when call for let’s go ****g mental Cry out where end in front roe Happy times than |
|
By:
Saw Billy Bonds play against Bristol City in a midweek cup game (mid-eighties).
He must have been 36 or 37 but what a game he had! Was league cup (or equivalent) and the Hammers had quite a few kids in but he led them superbly. Was a 2-2 draw and West Ham won the reply 5-0, I think. RIP |
|
By:
Think that was 6-1.
|
|
By:
A sandwich short of a picnic.
|
|
By:
I read his autobiography last year. When we went to West Ham to discuss signing for the club in 1966/1967, he took 2 buses because he did not drive! He did the deal with the West Ham manger Ron Greenwood (no agents) and then Greenwood himself drove him home to Charlton!
Now, given the latter and given just what a fantastic servant Bonds soon became for the Hammers, it now seems very odd that when Greenwood was England manager he had Bonds on the substitute's bench against Italy in 1977 but did not have the grace to put him on for the final few minutes just to give him a cap he so richly deserved. OK, it was a World cup qualifier but England were 2 up after 81 minutes and surely Greenwood knew better than anyone that Bonds was not the type of player to let anyone down!!! No, the more I have read of Greenwood the more I have come to think he was a class conscious snob who the longer he spent in management the more he thought himself above his players. Back to Billy Bons, though, and what a compliment to him the BBC's HYS (have your say site) was yesterday after his death was announced. I saw not one bad comment and the number of people who supported other clubs but admired Bonds and would have had him in their team was amazing. Bonds was exceptional. A massively fit, whole hearted player, totally dependable player who knew how to behave and was a real gentleman (unless someone really tried to hurt him, in which case he was not someone to upset!) Again, RIP billy Bonds. I will never forget you. |
|
By:
If my memories right ,Bonds was told he'd be in the team in an England game
when Greenwood was in charge when Parkes injured his ribs. |
|
By:
According to AI, Parkes was actually promised a second cap by Greenwood against Wales but it did not happen. As a result, Parkes withdrew from wanting to be considered by England.
He had obtained one cap prior to this. I think, Penzance, you may be thinking of this incident? Does not involve Bonds, but does rather confirm the view I have developed of Greenwood. |
|
By:
LegendRIP
|
|
By:
Bonds was called up for England, but got injured
and didn't play, I can't remember the exact detail no doubt Google would tell me. He might be the best of our non capped players. |
|
By:
RIP Billy..
Real West Ham Legend. My memory is Greenwood gave his old friend an England cap... |
|
By:
Was there a fall out of sorts between Billy and Arry?
|
|
By:
It's all gonna kick off at the funeral.. I've heard.
|
|
By:
Yeh,best pals before Redknapp got the West Ham job.
|
|
By:
He never spoke to Redknapp again after that.
|
|
By:
Rednapp paid tribute to Billy on talksport this morning but I thought it was very watery,with no condolences offered to the family.
|
|
By:
Poor from Redknapp. Rate him even lower now.
|