Billy Bonds MBE
League Appearances - 663
Cup Appearances - 130
League Goals - 48
Cup Goals - 11
West Ham Career - 1967 - 1988 (player), 1990 - 1994 (manager)
Born - 17th September 1946
FA Cup Winner - 1975 (versus Fulham), 1980 (versus Arsenal)
Billy Bonds was signed in 1967 from Charlton for a fee of £49,500 by Ron Greenwood. He went on to make a record 793 competetive appearances for the club in a playing career that spanned 21 years before becoming the 7th manager in the clubs history in 1990.
During his playing career with the Hammers he won 2 FA Cups and appeared in the 1976 European Cup Winners Cup final versus Anderlecht and the 1981 League Cup Final versus Liverpool. The fans voted Billy Bonds Hammer of the Year on 4 occasions, 1971, 1974, 1975 and 1987. Billy was a West Ham United player for so long he was awarded two testimonials by the club and was rewarded for his services to football in 1988 with an MBE by the Queen.
On the field Billy was a genuine leader and he was the natural successor to take over from Bobby Moore as the club captain after Bobby Moore left for Fulham. It is astonishing to anyone who saw Billy play that he was never capped by England although he did get 2 England under 23 caps. The closest he came was when he was named as a substitute versus Italy in 1977. On another ocassion he was told by the England manager (Ron Greenwood) that he would be playing in a match only for him to get injured in an accidental training ground clash with team mate Phil Parkes, something that Phil Parkes feels guilty about to this day.