Farewell Bonzo

Rob Shepherd pays tribute to the West Ham legend Billy Bonds who has passed away at the age of 79.

If  you asked AI  to construct a player who embodied the true meaning of The West Ham way, what it means to those of us who have claret and blue running through our veins, then it should be Billy Bonds every bit as much as  Bobby Moore.
Bobby, was, is and will forever be West Ham deity, but Bonzo represents the body, the  blood, sweat and tears of its Christ in the Bubbles faith.  Billy Bonds even looked like a bit like Jesus during the 70’s.
Bonds’ family announced his passing yesterday after illness aged 79 saying : “We are heartbroken to announce that we have  lost our beloved Dad today. He was devoted to his family and was the most kind, loyal, selfless and loving person.”
He was indeed.
They added: “Dad loved West Ham United and its wonderful supporters with all his heart and treasured every moment of his time at the club.”
First and foremost as a young fan, then as a reporter I have many  memories of Billy Bonds as a player and manager.
Strangely the most vivid is of him in the immediate aftermath of games.
Bonzo played into his 40’s but his post match routine remained the same.
Those of us hacks who made our way down the tunnel area at Upton Park after the final whistle to hang around outside the dressing rooms in order to catch some quotes from the players (in the days when we were allowed) had to be quick if we wanted a few words with Bonds.
Win, lose or draw, Bonds was showered, suited and on his was back home with a couple of small cans of Heineken from a pack in hand, eager to beat the traffic to the  Blackwall tunnel and get home to his family south of the river on the edge of Kent. Usually within 15 minutes of the final whistle. No players lounge for him.
Nevertheless Bonds was still polite enough to stop and share a few words.
Not for long though. He was in a rush. And he was a man of few words, a bit shy even.

His persona as man was in sharp contrast to that of him as a player.
He was all action, physical sometimes to the point of fearsome. He could play anywhere on the pitch and over the course of his career, in which he made more appearances than any other player in West Ham’s history – 799 in all competitions – he actually did.
There were many games when one minute he was making a last ditch sliding tackle, the next he was storming up the other end, instigating an attack.
In his pomp he was a maruading midfield minder to Trevor Brooking’s artist, in a period when West Ham sometimes scaled the heights of entertainment but were often left fighting for survival.
The 1973-74 season springs to mind. The era of ‘The Holy Trinity’ of Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters had passed and West Ham didn’t have the players to perform the way manager Ron Greenwood preached.
Relegation loomed but Bonds led the team to safety with his passion and no little panache. In a vital game in the Spring of ’74 he scored a hat trick in a 3-0 win over Chelsea.
He even finished top scorer that season wearing the number 4 shirt, having taken over as captain from the departed Moore.
A favourite fans’ song that started around that time was ” Six foot two, eyes of blue, Billy Bonds is after you.”
He was a hard man who could play. He was swashbuckling rather than aggressive.
He could run, tackle, attack , defend, pass with both feet, head the ball and score. 
Most of all he never gave up. More often than not he played with socks around his ankles from the start . No shin pads. No fear 
In that sense he embodied the old East London ethos;  guile with graft.
It’s why he will always be spoken of in the same breath as Moore by the faithful.
For those who never saw him play then think a bit like, say, a Roy Keane or even Declan Rice now.
Invariably somewhere in the match reports of the day the line: ” ….a buccaneering Bonds ….” would pop up.
In 1975 he lifted the FA Cup after leading the Hammers to a 2-0 win over Fulham, with a strange sense of romance given that previous skipper Moore, who had led the Hammers to their first FA Cup success in 1964, was playing for the opposition.
Unlike Moore, Bonds, despite being called up a couple of times, never played for England. But those were the days when international caps were not thrown around like confetti.
Nevertheless it was still strange that Sir Alf Ramsey, Don Revie or even Greenwood never used him.
Bonds, unlike Moore or most of the West Ham’s other legends was not a product of the fabled ‘Acadamy’.
Born in Woolwich, south London, in 1946 he started his career with Charlton and was signed by Greenwood in 1967, initially as a right back who dressed like Roger Daltry who then became a wing half, who resembled Che Guevara as well as Jesus .
By the late 70’s now under the John Lyall’s management Bonds then moved to centre half and was the inspiration of a team that despite having slipped into the old second division beat Arsenal in the 1980 FA Cup and then returned to the top tier, producing a period of relative success and style,   many of the club’s older fans consider as good, if not better, than the original West Ham Way of the mid Sixties.
Bonds led a team with the talents of Brooking, Alan Devonshire and Alvin Martin, days when it could still boast of really  being a “family club”.
Renowned for extreme fitness throughout his career  – those Heineken cans were merely a post match treat – Bonds played into the late 1980s and into his forties.
Then after a stint as coach, reluctantly at first, he became manager and helped the team and club find its way again after the Lyall era had ended. He was a good boss although one sensed he never really enjoyed some of the baggage, not least the post match duties which prevented him from that dash to the sanctuary of home life in Chislehurst.
His most poignant moment as manager came in the 1991 FA Cup semi final. A ten-man West Ham were being trounced by Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest but still, as Bonds would have demanded, they were battling and trying to play football.
The travelling fans at Villa Park relentlessly sang “Billy Bonds’ Claret and Blue Army, Billy Bonds’ Claret and Blue Army………….” even after the final whistle.
It lacked the wistful lyricism and charm of “I’m forever blowing bubbles”, but the chant remains a powerful anthem for Hammers fans, especially in extremis.
The clumsy nature of Bond’s departure from the club when former team mate from back in the day Harry Redknapp took over as boss in 1994 was painful after 27 years with the club
It left a scar. He struggled to return as a guest at Upton Park, but has in recent years received warm ovations when paraded at the The London Stadium.
He never lost his love for the West Ham fans, nor the fans of him.

Even a short stint as manager at Millwall did not alter that. 
And there was no way they would fail to properly nor quietly mark his departure to the Big Dressing Room In The Sky on Sunday ahead of the match with Liverpool.
“Billy Bonds’ Claret and Blue Army,” was sung to the rooftops in reverence and emotion.
Raucous and raw.
One wonders what today’s players made of it. Not enough to inspire them as they slumped to 2-0 defeat.

But for the supporters, it was akin to a call to prayer, even for those far too young to have seen him play.
Without having to the tap into their phones they will have have been told by their dads or granddads, or maybe an aunt, as the images of Billy Bonds flashed up on the big screen: “Look up there : that’s what the West Ham Way looks like.”
RIP William Arthur Bonds MBE : 1946-2025

November 30 , 2025