During Frank O'Farrell's first spell as manager of Torquay United between 1965 and 1968, he raised the bar on everything that had been done before or since at Plainmoor and John Bond played a part in that success.
O'Farrell used his contacts with his former club, West Ham, to good effect to bring a number of players to Plainmoor from Upton Park, which included John, Ken Brown, Bill Kitchener, Tony Scott and John Smith.
John became the first of these signings to arrive at Plainmoor when he made his debut in a 4-3 home win over Bradford City on January 26th 1966.
Only 18 months earlier, Bond had been part of the West Ham side that won the 1964 FA Cup final at Wembley, where his teammates included future World Cup winners Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst.
Earlier in his career with the Hammers, he had been a teammate of O'Farrell's and a member of the West Ham Academy, which spawned a number of future managers, including Malcolm Allison and Dave Sexton.
He went on make a further 19 appearances for United as they won promotion from Division Four in the 1965-66 season, which was their second promotion to date.
John remained at Plainmoor until 1969, during which time he helped the Gulls to establish themselves in what is now League One and to record their highest ever league finish of 4th in the 'old' Third Division in the 1967-68.
He also ran his own newsagents in the town, which went by the name of 'Bondy's Tuckshop'.
After leaving Plainmoor, John embarked on a managerial career which saw him take charge of Bournemouth, Norwich City, Manchester City, Burnley, Swansea City, Birmingham City and Shrewsbury Town.
The highlights of his career in the dug out included taking Norwich to the 1975 League Cup final and leading Manchester City to the FA Cup final in 1981, which they lost to Tottenham Hotspur after a replay and one of the greatest cup final goals of all-time by Ricky Villa.
