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King Billy
Re: King Billy
A poem the Mrs lifted from Facebook
BONZO
There's a sadness in the East End of London tonight
As the hammers lost one of their own
A legend in the true sense of the word
And Claret and Blue to the bone
I remember standing in the Boleyn North Bank
And watching him run like a train
A bloodied bandage wrapped around his forehead
And everybody singing out his name
Twenty Odd years behind the badge
And wearing his heart on his sleeve
Nearly eight hundred first team games for West Ham
With a spirit that made us believe
That player, of course was the great Billy Bonds
Or Bonzo as he became known
Captain. Manager, FA Cup winner
With a stand in the ground all his own
Now Billy joins Heaven's eleven
With a few old mates from his grass roots
Fly high now Billy and thanks for the memories
I hope you've remembered your boots
Chris Ross (The East End Poet)
BONZO
There's a sadness in the East End of London tonight
As the hammers lost one of their own
A legend in the true sense of the word
And Claret and Blue to the bone
I remember standing in the Boleyn North Bank
And watching him run like a train
A bloodied bandage wrapped around his forehead
And everybody singing out his name
Twenty Odd years behind the badge
And wearing his heart on his sleeve
Nearly eight hundred first team games for West Ham
With a spirit that made us believe
That player, of course was the great Billy Bonds
Or Bonzo as he became known
Captain. Manager, FA Cup winner
With a stand in the ground all his own
Now Billy joins Heaven's eleven
With a few old mates from his grass roots
Fly high now Billy and thanks for the memories
I hope you've remembered your boots
Chris Ross (The East End Poet)
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Outer Cape
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Re: King Billy
This is a good obituary written in the Times.
Billy Bonds obituary: club legend as player and manager at West HamCaptain for the Hammers who led them to two FA Cup wins and was regarded as the best player to never earn a cap for EnglandIf people were starting to think that Billy Bonds was “past it” in his late thirties, pre-season training at West Ham United would soon disabuse them of that notion. Players 15 years younger than the evergreen Bonds would lag far behind as he led gruelling cross-country runs through Epping Forest on sweltering summer days.
He had actually retired as a player in 1984 at the age of 37, but it was a decision that would not be accepted for long. Bonds went on to represent the club for another four years, winning West Ham’s player of the year award in 1987 at the age of 40, and finally retiring a few months before his 42nd birthday. Many thought he could have gone on for a few more years.In a record 799 appearances for the Hammers, from 1967 to 1988, the man known as “Bonzo” chased, harried and retrieved like the most faithful of gundogs.
However tough his opponent — and he had survived an era notorious for hard men who could get away with thuggery — Bonds never shirked a challenge.Whether his hair was a short back and sides in the late Sixties, mutton chops in the Seventies or a mullet in the Eighties, Bonds’s socks would always be round his ankles and his shins would resemble a woodchopper’s block.
Fans will put up with a lot if players give their all on the pitch and no one tried harder than Bonzo. Yet four player of the year awards over the course of his career attested to the fact that he was an excellent player as well as a cult figure. On top of having one of the best engines in football, Bonds read the game well and was good on the ball.
In the latter stages of his career as a central defender he was renowned for calmly bringing the ball out of defence and launching attacks.Above all, in 21 years as a player at West Ham, Bonds was a model of doing what you are told, doing it well and never complaining.
On being signed by Ron Greenwood in 1967, he was put straight into the team at right-back. Three years later Greenwood sprang a surprise by converting Bonds into a central midfielder, where he acted as a minder for the ball-playing Trevor Brooking. With Bonds seemingly here, there and everywhere, the move proved to be a masterstroke. Bonds was voted the club’s player of the year for two years in a row, in 1974 and 1975, and even ended the 1973-74 season as the club’s leading scorer with 13 goals, including a memorable hat-trick against Chelsea.
Bonds was preternaturally fit but his behaviour after West Ham games at the club’s old Boleyn Ground added another clue to his longevity. Though he was a popular figure who enjoyed a can of lager, he was the first in the bath and would be driving home to his family through the Blackwall tunnel with his father while team-mates were still getting dressed and planning a night out.
William Arthur Bonds was born in Woolwich, southeast London, in 1946 and grew up in Eltham. His mother, Barbara, was watching Charlton Athletic just hours before giving birth to him. The young Bonds first kicked a ball at 18 months. His father, Arthur, a transport mechanic, was often on the touchline as Bonds flourished in schoolboy football, playing on Sunday mornings for Moatbridge (paying a “tanner” — two and a half pence — for the privilege) and representing Woolwich District and Kent Schools.
As a child he had sat on his father’s shoulders to catch sight of the action in thronging 60,000 crowds at Charlton Athletic. It was for them he signed after leaving school at 15. He cycled to the club’s Valley ground from Eltham and made as much money from picking up coins as he swept the terraces as he did from his pay packet.On the insistence of his father, he started an apprenticeship at a local ship propeller factory but left after two months because he hated it so much. “Those few months of factory work were crucial in turning me into a professional footballer,” he recalled. “It was the gee-up I needed — no way was I ever going back to that workbench.”
He made his first-team debut in 1965 and would play 95 times for Charlton. Much of his childhood had been spent playing five-a-side football for a team called the Magpies that he formed with other boys on his street. His mastery of the quick-passing, shorter form of the game served him well. Playing in the Evening Standard five-a-side tournament for Charlton, he was spotted by Greenwood.
Bonds went straight into the West Ham team, playing alongside the World Cup winners Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst in an attractive side.
When Moore left the club for Fulham in 1974, Bonds was the natural choice to replace him as captain. A year later the pair lined up against each other in the 1975 FA Cup final. Bonds held the cup aloft as West Ham won 2-0.By his own admission, West Ham were a perennially inconsistent side but always a danger in cup competitions and in 1980, Bonds lifted the FA Cup again. The team were then in the second division and up against the highly fancied Arsenal, the cup holders. After an early Trevor Brooking header gave the Hammers the lead, Bonds played superbly as West Ham held on to win.In an era before agents, contract negotiations were a simple affair.
Every two years Bonds would be offered an extra £25 a week to sign a new deal. He would sign without a word and go home and “tell the missus”.
Described as the best player never to be capped by England, he was due to make his international debut against Brazil in May 1981 but was ruled out after breaking two ribs in a collision with his team-mate Phil Parkes in the final game of the 1980-81 season, when West Ham were promoted back to the first division. A year after Bonds finally retired, the club were relegated from the top flight again and John Lyall left after 15 years as manager.
Bonds was overwhelmingly the fans’ choice to replace him but the job went to Lou Macari. After the Scot failed to take the club back up, Bonds was appointed in 1990. West Ham were promoted in 1991, relegated in 1992, promoted again in 1993 and finished in mid-table in 1994. Given the limited resources, most agreed Bonds had done a decent job.
His time as manager of West Ham started with him painting the dressing rooms. It ended in 1994 after the club told him they wanted to install his No 2 and close friend Harry Redknapp in his place. Bonds was reportedly offered another role at the club but felt hurt at the way the situation had been handled.
He left West Ham for good with dignity and without fuss.Bonds later coached at QPR and Reading and managed Millwall from 1997 but was sacked the following season.
He admitted that in the modern era he found it difficult to deal with the greater sense of entitlement of young players. He later worked as a summariser for BBC Radio London.
A quiet and shy man, he enjoyed gardening and retreating with his family to his cottage in Dorset, where his appreciation of the landscape was enhanced by a love for the poetry and novels of Thomas Hardy.
Though the hierarchy at West Ham had not always treated their former player well, they made up for it in 2019 by naming a stand after Bonds at their newly opened London Stadium. His wife, Marilyn, predeceased him and he is survived by their daughters, Claire and Katie.
Grown men cried as the club paid tribute to Bonds before West Ham’s game against Liverpool on Sunday, November 30, and many would have wished Bonzo was still on the pitch as the Hammers lost 2-0. All who played in that game earn fortunes. Bonds never earned more than a basic weekly wage of £600, but didn’t care. “I would have happily played for nothing in the local park.”
Billy Bonds, MBE, footballer, was born on September 17, 1946. He died of undisclosed causes on November 30, 2025, aged 79
Billy Bonds obituary: club legend as player and manager at West HamCaptain for the Hammers who led them to two FA Cup wins and was regarded as the best player to never earn a cap for EnglandIf people were starting to think that Billy Bonds was “past it” in his late thirties, pre-season training at West Ham United would soon disabuse them of that notion. Players 15 years younger than the evergreen Bonds would lag far behind as he led gruelling cross-country runs through Epping Forest on sweltering summer days.
He had actually retired as a player in 1984 at the age of 37, but it was a decision that would not be accepted for long. Bonds went on to represent the club for another four years, winning West Ham’s player of the year award in 1987 at the age of 40, and finally retiring a few months before his 42nd birthday. Many thought he could have gone on for a few more years.In a record 799 appearances for the Hammers, from 1967 to 1988, the man known as “Bonzo” chased, harried and retrieved like the most faithful of gundogs.
However tough his opponent — and he had survived an era notorious for hard men who could get away with thuggery — Bonds never shirked a challenge.Whether his hair was a short back and sides in the late Sixties, mutton chops in the Seventies or a mullet in the Eighties, Bonds’s socks would always be round his ankles and his shins would resemble a woodchopper’s block.
Fans will put up with a lot if players give their all on the pitch and no one tried harder than Bonzo. Yet four player of the year awards over the course of his career attested to the fact that he was an excellent player as well as a cult figure. On top of having one of the best engines in football, Bonds read the game well and was good on the ball.
In the latter stages of his career as a central defender he was renowned for calmly bringing the ball out of defence and launching attacks.Above all, in 21 years as a player at West Ham, Bonds was a model of doing what you are told, doing it well and never complaining.
On being signed by Ron Greenwood in 1967, he was put straight into the team at right-back. Three years later Greenwood sprang a surprise by converting Bonds into a central midfielder, where he acted as a minder for the ball-playing Trevor Brooking. With Bonds seemingly here, there and everywhere, the move proved to be a masterstroke. Bonds was voted the club’s player of the year for two years in a row, in 1974 and 1975, and even ended the 1973-74 season as the club’s leading scorer with 13 goals, including a memorable hat-trick against Chelsea.
Bonds was preternaturally fit but his behaviour after West Ham games at the club’s old Boleyn Ground added another clue to his longevity. Though he was a popular figure who enjoyed a can of lager, he was the first in the bath and would be driving home to his family through the Blackwall tunnel with his father while team-mates were still getting dressed and planning a night out.
William Arthur Bonds was born in Woolwich, southeast London, in 1946 and grew up in Eltham. His mother, Barbara, was watching Charlton Athletic just hours before giving birth to him. The young Bonds first kicked a ball at 18 months. His father, Arthur, a transport mechanic, was often on the touchline as Bonds flourished in schoolboy football, playing on Sunday mornings for Moatbridge (paying a “tanner” — two and a half pence — for the privilege) and representing Woolwich District and Kent Schools.
As a child he had sat on his father’s shoulders to catch sight of the action in thronging 60,000 crowds at Charlton Athletic. It was for them he signed after leaving school at 15. He cycled to the club’s Valley ground from Eltham and made as much money from picking up coins as he swept the terraces as he did from his pay packet.On the insistence of his father, he started an apprenticeship at a local ship propeller factory but left after two months because he hated it so much. “Those few months of factory work were crucial in turning me into a professional footballer,” he recalled. “It was the gee-up I needed — no way was I ever going back to that workbench.”
He made his first-team debut in 1965 and would play 95 times for Charlton. Much of his childhood had been spent playing five-a-side football for a team called the Magpies that he formed with other boys on his street. His mastery of the quick-passing, shorter form of the game served him well. Playing in the Evening Standard five-a-side tournament for Charlton, he was spotted by Greenwood.
Bonds went straight into the West Ham team, playing alongside the World Cup winners Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and Geoff Hurst in an attractive side.
When Moore left the club for Fulham in 1974, Bonds was the natural choice to replace him as captain. A year later the pair lined up against each other in the 1975 FA Cup final. Bonds held the cup aloft as West Ham won 2-0.By his own admission, West Ham were a perennially inconsistent side but always a danger in cup competitions and in 1980, Bonds lifted the FA Cup again. The team were then in the second division and up against the highly fancied Arsenal, the cup holders. After an early Trevor Brooking header gave the Hammers the lead, Bonds played superbly as West Ham held on to win.In an era before agents, contract negotiations were a simple affair.
Every two years Bonds would be offered an extra £25 a week to sign a new deal. He would sign without a word and go home and “tell the missus”.
Described as the best player never to be capped by England, he was due to make his international debut against Brazil in May 1981 but was ruled out after breaking two ribs in a collision with his team-mate Phil Parkes in the final game of the 1980-81 season, when West Ham were promoted back to the first division. A year after Bonds finally retired, the club were relegated from the top flight again and John Lyall left after 15 years as manager.
Bonds was overwhelmingly the fans’ choice to replace him but the job went to Lou Macari. After the Scot failed to take the club back up, Bonds was appointed in 1990. West Ham were promoted in 1991, relegated in 1992, promoted again in 1993 and finished in mid-table in 1994. Given the limited resources, most agreed Bonds had done a decent job.
His time as manager of West Ham started with him painting the dressing rooms. It ended in 1994 after the club told him they wanted to install his No 2 and close friend Harry Redknapp in his place. Bonds was reportedly offered another role at the club but felt hurt at the way the situation had been handled.
He left West Ham for good with dignity and without fuss.Bonds later coached at QPR and Reading and managed Millwall from 1997 but was sacked the following season.
He admitted that in the modern era he found it difficult to deal with the greater sense of entitlement of young players. He later worked as a summariser for BBC Radio London.
A quiet and shy man, he enjoyed gardening and retreating with his family to his cottage in Dorset, where his appreciation of the landscape was enhanced by a love for the poetry and novels of Thomas Hardy.
Though the hierarchy at West Ham had not always treated their former player well, they made up for it in 2019 by naming a stand after Bonds at their newly opened London Stadium. His wife, Marilyn, predeceased him and he is survived by their daughters, Claire and Katie.
Grown men cried as the club paid tribute to Bonds before West Ham’s game against Liverpool on Sunday, November 30, and many would have wished Bonzo was still on the pitch as the Hammers lost 2-0. All who played in that game earn fortunes. Bonds never earned more than a basic weekly wage of £600, but didn’t care. “I would have happily played for nothing in the local park.”
Billy Bonds, MBE, footballer, was born on September 17, 1946. He died of undisclosed causes on November 30, 2025, aged 79
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Pshyco scored all 4
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Re: King Billy
I knew Billy was ill at least 18 months ago . But typical of the great man he went about it quietly and with no fuss . He's without doubt the greatest west ham player of all time . Even above mooro and SIR Trevor. Not the most skilful. But he made up with it with sheer will power. Hopefully it won't be long before we regain bonzos beloved FA cup .
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Outer Cape
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Re: King Billy
Yesterday, I listened to the Football Guardian Podcast, and disatisfied with the tribute to Billy Bonds I wrote them a letter. I cut and pasted "Coffee one Sugar's" post but I could have chosen many of the posts on this thread.
This is the email I sent to the Guardian.
Hi Max, Barney and Barry, I’ve been a loyal listener to the podcast for years and continue to enjoy the work you and the team do. Keep it up.However, the brief note appended to the end of the West Ham - Liverpool match report, felt inadequate and, to be honest, borderline disrespectful.
A quick look at social media or YouTube shows the enormous and heartfelt outpouring of grief for a true club legend.I’d suggest sending a couple of your team to the next home game against Aston Villa to really understand what he meant to the club and its supporters.
As a keen listener, I’ve also noticed the growing disaffection among several contributors (Barney, Jonathan, Barry, for example) with the underlying business model of the modern game: the match-day entertainment packages, the transactional focus, surge pricing, gambling sponsors, irrelevant cups and competitions, corrupt organizations, human-rights-abuse sportswashing, and the media’s obsession with personalities and trivia.
Never has the gap between what Billy Bonds stood for and what the modern game represents felt so wide.
For context, the message below appeared on the West Ham fan site westhamonline.co.uk just hours after his death was announced.This was written on the West Ham fan site by “Coffee One Sugar”
"He was, and still is, an integral part of my growing up as a West Ham fan. When his name was on the team sheet, you knew, you really knew, that the team would put up a fight, even when it ended up in defeat which was not infrequent. He was usually the first one out of the dressing room afterwards while the others yapped and drank their milk or bottle of light ale or whatever they did knock back at that time.
He was a captain you could look up to, respect, and know that his first priority was always the interest of the club and its supporters. He was the kind of man you could look up to even from the distance of the terraces.
He had a presence on the field and was held in obvious respect by his team mates. He gave you confidence that you wouldn't be overcome by sheer effort or fight, nor by and in the joint effort of team and fan.I shall miss him, not because I knew the man but for the sense of justified pride that his memory cannot and will not erase.
They say you cannot measure a player by trophies and medals alone. If you could, the record books would gleam with the name of Billy Bonds. But his legacy is not carved from silver or gold; it is etched into the very soul of a football club, into the stands of Upton Park, and into the hearts of generations who were privileged to call him their own.
To watch Billy Bonds play was to understand the very essence of West Ham United. He was not merely a player who wore the claret and blue; he was its living, breathing, battling embodiment. For over two decades, he was the constant, the rock, the leader. He was a force of nature, a player whose heart seemed to beat with the collective pulse of the terraces.
He didn't just cover every blade of grass; he claimed it, defended it, and poured his being into it. His tackles were not just challenges; they were statements of intent, roars of defiance that echoed around the Boleyn Ground.
And what a captain he was. He didn't need an armband to lead, but he wore it with a king's authority and a soldier's humility. He was the man you would follow into battle, because you knew he would be the first into the breach and the last to leave. He led with a clenched fist, a determined stare, and an action that screamed: Follow Me. But beyond the warrior, there was a craftsman.
Beyond the grit, there was grace. He could truly play. He was a fusion of iron and silk, of passion and precision, each taking the fore when circumstance demanded. His legacy is multi-faceted. It lies in the standards he set - that of unwavering commitment, and of putting everything on the line for your cause.
He is the benchmark against which every captain, every player, and every heart that beats claret and blue is measured."
I have nothing to add to the above. To reduce the tribute to a verbal caricature of a southeast London geezer falls way short of the mark.
Best,
Adrian Nunn
San Francisco, CA
This is the email I received back from Barry Glendenning of the Guardian.
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for the mail. You say you found our tribute to Billy inadequate and borderline disrespectful but don't explain why, beyond describing it as "a verbal caricature of a southeast London geezer". That bears little or no relation to the tribute I remember hearing at the time and none to the tribute I just re-listened to, in case it had in some way got completely mangled in the edit and emerged sounding inadequate and disrespectful. That is not the case.
Billy’s love for West Ham, his legendary status, his uncompromising excellence as a player and leader, his striking looks and athletic physique, his longevity and his legendary status were all mentioned, as well as the incontrovertible fact that he was from south-east London, the same neck of the woods as Barney, who spoke about him with obvious fondness, bordering on reverence: "He was a very reassuring figure: you liked him, you respected him ... he was a perfect professional."
I am very sorry for what is obviously a sad loss for you and other West Ham fans, and while it's not for me to dictate what you or anyone else should find inadequate or offensive, I think you're way wide of the mark in saying we were even remotely disrespectful to Billy’s memory or legacy.
Cheers,
Barry
This is the email I sent to the Guardian.
Hi Max, Barney and Barry, I’ve been a loyal listener to the podcast for years and continue to enjoy the work you and the team do. Keep it up.However, the brief note appended to the end of the West Ham - Liverpool match report, felt inadequate and, to be honest, borderline disrespectful.
A quick look at social media or YouTube shows the enormous and heartfelt outpouring of grief for a true club legend.I’d suggest sending a couple of your team to the next home game against Aston Villa to really understand what he meant to the club and its supporters.
As a keen listener, I’ve also noticed the growing disaffection among several contributors (Barney, Jonathan, Barry, for example) with the underlying business model of the modern game: the match-day entertainment packages, the transactional focus, surge pricing, gambling sponsors, irrelevant cups and competitions, corrupt organizations, human-rights-abuse sportswashing, and the media’s obsession with personalities and trivia.
Never has the gap between what Billy Bonds stood for and what the modern game represents felt so wide.
For context, the message below appeared on the West Ham fan site westhamonline.co.uk just hours after his death was announced.This was written on the West Ham fan site by “Coffee One Sugar”
"He was, and still is, an integral part of my growing up as a West Ham fan. When his name was on the team sheet, you knew, you really knew, that the team would put up a fight, even when it ended up in defeat which was not infrequent. He was usually the first one out of the dressing room afterwards while the others yapped and drank their milk or bottle of light ale or whatever they did knock back at that time.
He was a captain you could look up to, respect, and know that his first priority was always the interest of the club and its supporters. He was the kind of man you could look up to even from the distance of the terraces.
He had a presence on the field and was held in obvious respect by his team mates. He gave you confidence that you wouldn't be overcome by sheer effort or fight, nor by and in the joint effort of team and fan.I shall miss him, not because I knew the man but for the sense of justified pride that his memory cannot and will not erase.
They say you cannot measure a player by trophies and medals alone. If you could, the record books would gleam with the name of Billy Bonds. But his legacy is not carved from silver or gold; it is etched into the very soul of a football club, into the stands of Upton Park, and into the hearts of generations who were privileged to call him their own.
To watch Billy Bonds play was to understand the very essence of West Ham United. He was not merely a player who wore the claret and blue; he was its living, breathing, battling embodiment. For over two decades, he was the constant, the rock, the leader. He was a force of nature, a player whose heart seemed to beat with the collective pulse of the terraces.
He didn't just cover every blade of grass; he claimed it, defended it, and poured his being into it. His tackles were not just challenges; they were statements of intent, roars of defiance that echoed around the Boleyn Ground.
And what a captain he was. He didn't need an armband to lead, but he wore it with a king's authority and a soldier's humility. He was the man you would follow into battle, because you knew he would be the first into the breach and the last to leave. He led with a clenched fist, a determined stare, and an action that screamed: Follow Me. But beyond the warrior, there was a craftsman.
Beyond the grit, there was grace. He could truly play. He was a fusion of iron and silk, of passion and precision, each taking the fore when circumstance demanded. His legacy is multi-faceted. It lies in the standards he set - that of unwavering commitment, and of putting everything on the line for your cause.
He is the benchmark against which every captain, every player, and every heart that beats claret and blue is measured."
I have nothing to add to the above. To reduce the tribute to a verbal caricature of a southeast London geezer falls way short of the mark.
Best,
Adrian Nunn
San Francisco, CA
This is the email I received back from Barry Glendenning of the Guardian.
Hi Adrian,
Thanks for the mail. You say you found our tribute to Billy inadequate and borderline disrespectful but don't explain why, beyond describing it as "a verbal caricature of a southeast London geezer". That bears little or no relation to the tribute I remember hearing at the time and none to the tribute I just re-listened to, in case it had in some way got completely mangled in the edit and emerged sounding inadequate and disrespectful. That is not the case.
Billy’s love for West Ham, his legendary status, his uncompromising excellence as a player and leader, his striking looks and athletic physique, his longevity and his legendary status were all mentioned, as well as the incontrovertible fact that he was from south-east London, the same neck of the woods as Barney, who spoke about him with obvious fondness, bordering on reverence: "He was a very reassuring figure: you liked him, you respected him ... he was a perfect professional."
I am very sorry for what is obviously a sad loss for you and other West Ham fans, and while it's not for me to dictate what you or anyone else should find inadequate or offensive, I think you're way wide of the mark in saying we were even remotely disrespectful to Billy’s memory or legacy.
Cheers,
Barry
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happygilmore
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Re: King Billy
I place Bobby, Trevor & Billy on a par at the top, above everyone else.
We will never see their likes again playing for West Ham or at any English club for that matter.
The likes of the "Super Sunday" display between Chelsea V Arsenal I turned off . Can't stand most of the modern cheating overpaid footballers.
We will never see their likes again playing for West Ham or at any English club for that matter.
The likes of the "Super Sunday" display between Chelsea V Arsenal I turned off . Can't stand most of the modern cheating overpaid footballers.
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Eastside surge
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Re: King Billy
Will never ever forget the billy bonds claret and blue army chant against forest in the cup semi final at villa park. Even when I occasionally watch it back on YouTube it still sends a shiver down my spine, I’ve got a framed picture of billy and sir Trevor holding the cup aloft in 1980 hanging on my wall so I know billy is looking after me!
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Russ of the BML
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Re: King Billy
Was at an event on Friday at my local social club where Tony Gale and Julian Dicks were the guests. It was a brilliant night. Galey is friends with a few of the members. Very intimate night. Not as much a Q&A but more like a conversation about everything West Ham. Galey and Julian were on form.
Gayley announced that he had heard Bonzo was 'not good'. He and a few other ex-players had tried to reach out to the family but had not had much back. He said the club had also tried but again hadn't got much if anything back.
Then Sunday the sad news came in. Was a shock.
Bonzo's last game for West Ham was in 1988. I was only 13. Before that I had only been to a dozen or so games as I relied on my mate's dad to take me. So I saw Bonzo play and as good as he still was, he was in his twilight when I did. Which was a shame for me. Would loved to have seen him play live when he was in his pomp.
Magnificent player and human.
RIP Bonzo.
Gayley announced that he had heard Bonzo was 'not good'. He and a few other ex-players had tried to reach out to the family but had not had much back. He said the club had also tried but again hadn't got much if anything back.
Then Sunday the sad news came in. Was a shock.
Bonzo's last game for West Ham was in 1988. I was only 13. Before that I had only been to a dozen or so games as I relied on my mate's dad to take me. So I saw Bonzo play and as good as he still was, he was in his twilight when I did. Which was a shame for me. Would loved to have seen him play live when he was in his pomp.
Magnificent player and human.
RIP Bonzo.
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Takashi Miike
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Massive Attack
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Re: King Billy
Have had the honour of meeting Brooking, Hurst, Di Canio, Parkes and Noble out of that West Ham Royalty Bingo card. Sadly never got to meet Bonzo and of course Moore (although have a prized possession of a signed ball). Was amazing to see him celebrated for the Bonds Stand ceremony though when he was all choked up from the BML. Was such a special moment.
We've all been spoilt for Legends, Heros and Idols at our great Club.
Re: King Billy
And Alvin Martin
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Tomshardware
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Re: King Billy
I started going a couple of years after Bonds had hung up his boots. He was in the dugout by then but I was brought up hearing about the players my dad and my Grandad watched. Obviously there was Bobby, Hurst, Peters, but the main 2 other players my dad would always wax lyrical about are Billy Bonds and Trevor Brooking, with Devonshire a close third. I watched a VHS I got in the club portacabin shop religiously, written and narrated by John Motson who seemed to have a great affection and respect for the club. Bonds featured heavily and I fell in love with this player who had an aura about him, the long hair and beard, no nonsense, hard but not dirty, a good footballer as well. He looked as though he'd just ran down from the terraces to put on the shirt and play. He was West Ham and as someone had written on another club's forum yesterday, he looked and played like a 'lion'.
There will never be another Billy Bonds.
There will never be another Billy Bonds.
Re: King Billy
cholo wrote: ↑02 Dec 2025, 06:12I noticed and apart from for the likes of Sir Bobby Chatlton and Jimmy Greaves, who were world class players, I don't think I've seen a reaction like it from opposing fans just showing the utmost respect. It shows you how special he was.
The greatest English player to never play for England, it's not just us saying that, ask all other fans who watched him play over the years countless times.
We played man u at home straight after George Best died, and west ham gave him a good send off. Bobby Charlton was very emotional and a bit surprised I thought, and thanked the fans. But yeah while Billy is a king to us, he wouldn't have been a household name, only proper football people outside west ham would appreciate him.
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oh dear II
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Re: King Billy
honky cat" wrote: ↑01 Dec 2025, 19:19oh dear II" wrote: ↑01 Dec 2025, 14:02 She simply said, quite innocently, “When West Ham were great, he was the greatest.”
I absolutely love this. Your Mrs is a wise woman.
Thanks, she is indeed, she married me
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Takashi Miike
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Pub Bigot
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Re: King Billy
cholo wrote: ↑02 Dec 2025, 06:12I noticed and apart from for the likes of Sir Bobby Chatlton and Jimmy Greaves, who were world class players, I don't think I've seen a reaction like it from opposing fans just showing the utmost respect. It shows you how special he was.
The greatest English player to never play for England, it's not just us saying that, ask all other fans who watched him play over the years countless times.
You're correct but I'll add Dennis Law as well
Re: King Billy
I noticed and apart from for the likes of Sir Bobby Chatlton and Jimmy Greaves, who were world class players, I don't think I've seen a reaction like it from opposing fans just showing the utmost respect. It shows you how special he was.
The greatest English player to never play for England, it's not just us saying that, ask all other fans who watched him play over the years countless times.
The greatest English player to never play for England, it's not just us saying that, ask all other fans who watched him play over the years countless times.
Re: King Billy
West Ham legends ranked.
1 Bobby Moore
2 Billy Bonds
3 Trevor Brooking
4 Geoff Hurst
5 Julian Dicks
6 Di Canio
7 Pop Robson
8 Ginger Pele
9 Phil Parkes
10 Mark Noble
11 Ray Stewart
Quite the line up.
1 Bobby Moore
2 Billy Bonds
3 Trevor Brooking
4 Geoff Hurst
5 Julian Dicks
6 Di Canio
7 Pop Robson
8 Ginger Pele
9 Phil Parkes
10 Mark Noble
11 Ray Stewart
Quite the line up.
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Tomshardware
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Jaan Kenbrovin
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Re: King Billy
Bill was the walking embodiment of the club as a player. Gave me some of my best memories as a fan when he was manager under some very difficult times too.
The Villa park Semi final sums up what a powerful impact he had. Can't think of any comparison in sport that has happened before or since.
RIP Billy.
The Villa park Semi final sums up what a powerful impact he had. Can't think of any comparison in sport that has happened before or since.
RIP Billy.
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Matt Holmes
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