Billy Bonds

Bonds made his League debut for Charlton against Northampton Town in February 1965 and became a regular in the first team, going on to make 95 League appearances, scoring one goal, before being signed by Ron Greenwood for West Ham United for a fee of £50,000 in May 1967. He made his first appearance for West Ham in a testimonial match for Ken Brown in the same month and made his League debut against Sheffield Wednesday in the opening game of the 1967–68 season. He was ever-present in the 1968–69 and 1969–70 seasons and played 124 consecutive league games until injury ended his run of appearances in October 1970. Bonds played his first three seasons as a right-back before Greenwood switched him to midfield in the 1970–71 season where he counterbalanced the skills of Trevor Brooking. Bonds was at his peak in the early 1970s, helping West Ham to the semi-final of the Football League Cup in the 1971–72 season, where they lost to Stoke City after a second replay, and topping the scorers list at West Ham in the 1973–74 season with 13 goals, including a hat-trick against Chelsea. After the departure of Bobby Moore in March 1974, Bonds was appointed to the captaincy and led the club to an FA Cup final victory over Fulham, for whom Bobby Moore was playing, in 1975 and to the final of the 1976 European Cup Winners' Cup despite a groin injury that interrupted the latter half of the 1974–75 season and part of the 1975–76 season. Greenwood moved Bonds from midfield to the back four as…

Bonds was capped twice at England Under-23 international level and was on the bench as a non-playing substitute for the senior international team for a World Cup qualifying match against Italy in November 1977. A collision with goalkeeper Phil Parkes in the last game of the 1980–1981 season broke two of Bonds' ribs, and ruled him out of selection for England against Brazil in May 1981. Bonds and Alvin Martin were in line to make their England debuts in that game.

After Bonds retired as a player in 1988, West Ham manager John Lyall appointed him as youth coach. He unsuccessfully applied for the manager's post when Lyall left the club in July 1989 after West Ham had been relegated. However, when new manager Lou Macari resigned seven months later, Bonds was appointed manager in February 1990. In his first full season in charge, he took the club to promotion, when they finished as runners-up to Oldham Athletic in the 1990-91 season, also reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup where they lost to Nottingham Forest. He was awarded a second testimonial in the same season. West Ham were relegated in the 1991–92 season in bottom place, but the board kept faith in Bonds and he led them to promotion the following season, when they finished as runners-up to Newcastle United. Bonds guided West Ham to a 13th-place finish in the 1993–94 Premier League. He resigned in August 1994, just before the new season began, when he was replaced by Harry Redknapp. He had spells in coaching at Queens Park Rangers and Reading before making a return to management with Millwall in May 1997. He managed 53 games before being sacked by the club the following year as they finished in the bottom half of Division Two.

West Ham United

FA Cup: 1974–75, 1979–80 Football League Second Division: 1980–81 Football League Cup runner-up: 1980–81 European Cup Winners' Cup runner-up: 1975–76