Voted into runners-up spot in the #50GreatestHammers poll, Club legend Billy Bonds MBE made a record 799 appearances in the Claret and Blue, twice captaining West Ham United to FA Cup glory in 1975 and 1980...
He had skippered the high-flying Hammers to victory over Bobby Moore’s Fulham underdogs at Wembley just five years earlier.
But now as Billy Bonds returned to the famous old stadium for the 1980 FA Cup final, the tables were turned as second-tier West Ham United prepared to face top-flight Arsenal beneath the Twin Towers, in another all London encounter.
Certainly, it had been a bumpy ride along Wembley Way for Bonzo, who almost missed the season’s showpiece against the Gunners through suspension following his daft dismissal against Birmingham City in a feisty, physical league encounter at Upton Park, weeks earlier.
I would’ve happily just played down the local park for nothing and, trust me, I realise just how lucky I am to have had such a fantastic career with West Ham United
Billy Bonds
“I had a silly skirmish with Colin Todd in early April and we were both stupidly sent off,” admits Bonds, who made a Club record 799 appearances for the Hammers after Ron Greenwood had persuaded him to move through the Blackwall Tunnel to sign from Charlton Athletic for £47,500 in 1967. “Lying in the bath afterwards, I was warned: ‘You’re gonna miss the final now!’ Suddenly, the implications of that moment of madness started to sink in and, appealing that red card, I went with John Lyall to the Football Association’s headquarters in Lancaster Gate to plead my case. I later heard that Ron – by now England manager – had, apparently, also put in a word with the FA, who thankfully decided that the one-match ban I’d already served was punishment enough with my cup final place at stake.
“The gods were with me that afternoon and I was so lucky to be cleared to face Arsenal at Wembley,” continues the ageless 73-year-old, who looks like he could still pull on the Claret & Blue today. “I’d been lucky to make it in 1975, too, when a cortisone injection into my groin got me through against Fulham.”
As well as having that threat of suspension hanging over him, the visionary and valiant Bonds had also encountered other hurdles in his quest to become the first West Ham United skipper to lift two FA Cups.
After enduring a Baggies barrage in the third round at The Hawthorns, where Phil Parkes had single-handedly held West Bromwich Albion at bay, nursing a nasty head injury, the heavily bandaged Billy then found himself facing Orient.
“Phil was our best-ever goalkeeper by miles – albeit Ludek Miklosko later did brilliantly for me when I was manager- and his saves kept us in the competition in our first tie up at West Brom, where he stopped virtually everything. Walking off at the Hawthorns, I said: ‘Parksey, this could be our year!’
“And after being kicked in the head the week before, I then had to wear a massive bandage at Brisbane Road in the fourth round!”
Having survived those scrapes on the way to his second final, the relieved Bonds was now fit and raring to go against Terry Neill’s Gunners.
“Arsenal were already FA Cup holders, a top four team and about to play in the European Cup Winners Cup final, too,” he observes, 40 years on. “The first goal was going to be the vital one and, after Trevor Brooking scored his famous header 13 minutes into the game, they barely gave us a problem. We matched them man-for-man and it was great to be able to walk up to the Royal Box and lift that trophy for the second time.
“It was another fantastic occasion for the West Ham United supporters, too,” concludes Bill, who was voted into runners-up spot in the recent #50 Greatest Hammers poll. “Those fans were brilliant to me from the moment I walked through the Green Street gates in 1967 and I always put in a shift for them, no matter where we were playing.
“As the son of a bus mechanic and window cleaner, I respected and appreciated what those supporters had to do to go out and earn a living every day. Forget Wembley, I would’ve happily just played down the local park for nothing and, trust me, I realise just how lucky I am to have had such a fantastic career with West Ham United.”
