Bond, but no licence to thrill!
THE name was Bond, John Bond, and the cigarsmoking, good-life persona of the former Burnley manager could not be more different than the current Turf Moor boss Sean Dyche.
According to A Director’s Tale by Burnley aficionado Dave Thomas, Bond – who arrived at the club after being sacked at Manchester City – looked well out of his comfort zone from the minute he walked in.
Thomas said: “Unfortunately, his ultrafine dress sense and stylishness made him look out of place at a still working-class, drab Burnley.”
In Thomas’s account – utilising the dairies of Derek Gill, who was a director during a turbulent period in the early ’80s when Burnley were a game away from dropping into the non-League – Bond’s 14-month reign is seen as contributing to the worst period in Clarets’ history.
Gill admitted: “In retrospect I was as guilty as the next man in allowing my infatuation with the inside of football to overcome my judgement.
“Within days of the Hull City game [Bond’s first – a 4-1 defeat] I knew we had dropped an clanger in appointing John Bond.
“It was so different at Burnley, every participant became frustrated. This marriage from hell should have been ended before consummation.”