Kevin John Bond (born 22 June 1957) is an English professional football manager and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

. He was most recently first-team coach at

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

Playing career

Bond was born in

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

, London. He started his career as a trainee at

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a r ...

where his father, John Bond, was manager. When his father took up the manager's post at Norwich City he too made the move. His league debut was made away to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in April 1976. 161 appearances followed generating fourteen goals and earning him two

England B England B is a secondary football team run occasionally as support for the England national football team. At times they have played other nations' full teams; they have also played matches against 'B' teams from other football associations. S ...

caps. Wanting to try his luck abroad he had a brief spell in the NASL with the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

. At the start of the 1981–82 season he was again reunited with his father at

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. 110 games for the

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City F.C. from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest a ...

side in the next three years resulted in a lucrative transfer to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, where he spent four years, playing 140 games. He was signed by former club Bournemouth, with whom he played 126 matches, before transferring to Exeter City,

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

and

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1983 ...

where he finished his career.

Managerial and coaching career

Bond began his coaching career as reserve team coach at former club

. Spells as coach at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

followed, before Kevin followed his father into the managerial role when he took over at non league side

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

in October 1997. In early May 1998, Kevin was named as assistant manager to Alan Ball at

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

. Following Ball's sacking, Bond became first a scout for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, and then returned to Portsmouth as reserve team coach under manager

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In h ...

. However, following Redknapp's resignation and subsequent appointment at rivals

, Bond chose to return to his old club and was appointed as one of the coaches working under Redknapp. When then assistant Jim Smith's contract wasn't renewed following relegation, Bond took up the role. When Redknapp left Southampton to return once more to Portsmouth, Bond also chose to again follow him, but this time he was appointed assistant manager of the

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect Ar ...

side. On 1 June 2006, Bond left Portsmouth to join

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

as assistant to Newcastle manager Glenn Roeder whom he had worked with previously at

. In July 2006 he completed his UEFA Pro Licence in coaching. Bonds' contract with Newcastle United was terminated on 26 September 2006 after allegations he was prepared to take bungs for players whilst at

. On 12 October 2006, Bond was appointed manager of Bournemouth, signing until the end of the season. Although Bournemouth lost the first five games of his reign, they avoided relegation and he was awarded a new contract. A ten-point deduction for entering administration saw Bournemouth relegated to League Two at the end of the 2007–08 season, in spite of a run of five wins the last six games which nearly kept the club up. Bournemouth then had a further 17 points deducted for the 2008–09 season and Bond and his management team ( Rob Newman and Eddie Howe) were dismissed by the Cherries on 1 September 2008 having only picked up two points from the first four matches of the season. On 27 October 2008, Bond was re-united yet again with

as assistant manager of

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. Following Redknapp's sacking in 2012, Bond left the club in June 2012. In November 2012, Bond was once again re-united with Harry Redknapp, at

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

as their assistant manager. After Harry Redknapp departed and Chris Ramsey took over as head coach, Bond became First Team Coach. In February 2015, Bond was briefly caretaker manager at QPR. In April 2016, Bond was appointed manager of

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Hong Kong Football Association. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inaugural seaso ...

club Hong Kong Pegasus, until the end of the season. Bond led Pegasus to a double cup win during his short stint as manager. On 6 June 2016, Bond was appointed first-team coach of

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

. He left the club on 13 October of the same year, along with Steve Clarke and

Massimo Battara Massimo Battara (born 3 May 1963) is an Italian football coach and a former player, who played as a goalkeeper. He currently works as a goalkeeping coach with the Italian national football team. He has worked with Roberto Di Matteo both at As ...

. On 7 November 2016, it was announced that Bond would have a second tenure as Pegasus manager. He left his role as manager for a second time in June 2017 to reunite with Redknapp as an assistant at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. His contract at Birmingham City was terminated on 16 September 2017. He remained with Pegasus as a consultant. On 2 April 2019, Bond was appointed as manager of Southend United until the end of the 2018–19 season. Southend, under Bond's managership, finished 19th in

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, successfully avoiding relegation on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches a ...

, following a win on the last day of the season against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. After a run of six defeats at the start of the 2019–20 season, Bond resigned from his position of manager at Southend United on 6 September 2019. In August 2021, Bond was appointed by

to join Joey Barton's side as a first-team coach. Having helped the club to immediate promotion back to League One with a dramatic final-day victory over

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The te ...

, Bond departed the club in October 2022. Following his departure, manager Barton explained the decision, stating that the club's coaching staff needed cutting down in order to streamline the approach to coaching.

Corruption allegations

On 20 September 2006,

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

announced that it was to investigate allegations "relating to players' agents and connected activities" concerning Kevin Bond, following a BBC Panorama special on corruption in football. Newcastle United placed him on gardening leave following the broadcast, and terminated his contract on 26 September, although no charges were brought against him, and Bond has denied the allegations.

Managerial statistics

References

External links