Len Bond, Brentford's Players’ Player of the Year in 1978/79, looks back on his three years with the Bees.

The castle crest was used by Brentford from 1975 to 1993.

Promotion was won twice during that period, from the Fourth to Third Division in 1977/78 and from the third to second tier in 1991/92. The other highlight was a run to the sixth round of the FA Cup in 1988/89.

To celebrate the return of the castle crest on our 2022/24 second kit, we’re speaking with those who wore it best the first time around.

Next up is goalkeeper Len Bond, who played 130 games for the club from 1977 to 1980.

Bond was part of the aforementioned side that won promotion to the Third Division.

Len Bond’s football career was almost over before it even started.

The Somerset-born goalkeeper learned his trade at Bristol City, after joining as a 13-year-old schoolboy, and would train with the Robins’ first team during the holidays, along with a young Trevor Francis, who would go on to become a legend at Birmingham City.

One afternoon, he was caught in an accidental collision with centre-forward Terry Bush, when the youth team lined up against the first team.

“I wasn’t feeling great after the match, I was feeling hot and cold,” he explains, speaking from his home in the West Country.

“John Sillett [the ex-Chelsea defender and then City youth coach] called an ambulance as a precaution and, after I was taken to hospital, they found out I had internal bleeding.

“I spent my 16th birthday in Weston General Hospital and five weeks there in total, but John basically saved my life by making that call.”

Refreshed and with newfound gratitude, he was back playing within a year and signed professional terms at 17, before spending the next three years as understudy to Ray Cashley and John Shaw.

In 1974, he joined Exeter City on loan, before further loan spells with Torquay United, Colchester United, Scunthorpe United and, in 1976, St Louis Stars, where he replaced Chelsea legend Peter Bonetti between the sticks and played against one of the all-time greats, Pele.

Bond had made 30 league appearances for Bristol City by this point, but shortly after his return to the UK, he decided he was not content playing second fiddle any longer and, in August 1977, he moved east to join Brentford.

“It was probably getting a bit stale,” he admits. “I knew I wasn’t flavour of the month with Alan Dicks, the manager, because I wasn’t happy. I felt I should have been in the side and he didn’t agree.

“He called me into the office one morning and told me he’d had a phone call from Bill Dodgin Jnr. Brentford were playing Fulham at the training ground and he’d asked if I’d like to go up and play, so I drove up, played and we won.

“Before I left, I said thanks and that I’d really enjoyed it as it was nice to feel wanted. The next morning, Alan told me Brentford wanted to sign me, which gave me an almighty confidence boost and a lift.”

Bond comes alive as he recalls working under Dodgin.

“When I joined, I moved to Bracknell and stayed with our other 'keeper Graham Cox and his mum and dad. There were a few other players in Bracknell at the time, including Gordon Sweetzer, so we all had a bit of a tie-up. We used to drive in together and watch Concorde fly off at 9.15.

“In training, Bill made the boys do everything with the ball. He would set them up in a 4v8, where you were running around in little squares, and you’d get your fitness that way. I can tell you that was hard. We used to do pre-season running in Richmond Park for three days and then it would be ball work after that.

“We used to do a lot of running without the ball at Bristol City, but to work under Bill and use a football 99.9 per cent of the time was so enjoyable. That first year broadened my outlook on football and how you could train differently from just running up and down hills.

“He used to say: ‘Don’t worry about them, let them worry about us.’ That’s how easy-going he was. Looking back now, he could have been stricter in a sense, but overall, it was a joy to be there playing for him.

“Once a month, on the last Wednesday, we would go to a country club in Cobham. Some of us would play a bit of squash or golf, then we’d get changed, go and have a bite to eat and a couple of beers at Dan Tana’s restaurant. Then it would be back to training Thursday and Friday and play on Saturday. That bonded everybody together.”

Bond’s first year at Brentford could not have gone much better. He played all bar one game of the 50 games in all competitions in 1977/78, kept 15 clean sheets and, of course, topped it off with a Fourth Division winner’s medal.

“After we got promoted against Darlington, my dad, a few family members, some mates and I went down to the Playboy Club on Park Lane as I’d met somebody who said he was a doorman there. I mentioned his name at the door, but it wasn’t looking good, so I turned around, with my tail between my legs, and said we’d get a beer elsewhere.

“I got 20 yards down the road and heard someone shout my name – it was Dave Edwins, the manager of the Playboy Club! He saw me on the cameras and recognised me because he was a Brentford supporter! It turned out to be one of the best nights ever.

“We sat down and he gave us a table and whatever we wanted - he really looked after us. You couldn’t have made it up. We became quite pally after that and he sent me a Playboy membership card for life, which meant I could play on their gaming tables, too, so I sent him a season ticket in return.”

During the summer, his preparations for the new season took a hit - quite literally.

“I was driving back from my parents’ house in Ilminster about six o’clock one evening and had a car crash,” he recalls.

“I came round a corner, had to swerve and I hit a telegraph pole on the near side. I could see the impact coming, so I held the steering wheel and broke two bones in my hand.”

As a result, Brentford were forced to bring in a replacement in Trevor Porter from Slough Town. The stopper, two years Bond’s junior, played 13 times in all competitions while the sidelined no.1 recovered.

It was a frustrating time, but he made the best of it.

“Training was not a problem because I could run again straightaway. I couldn’t do any handling, but I could train,” the 69-year-old says.

“I could handle myself as an outfield player with the ball at my feet as I used to play out – we all think we can play a bit, though, us keepers! I had a good upbringing as an outfield player before I even played in goal.

“I used to bang in a few in five-a-side at Bristol City and from that, your head quickly gets bigger! I kept myself fit physically and when I came back, I was so relieved as I had that buzz again after barely being able to handle the ball or catch it for six to eight weeks.”

Bond recovered his starting spot in mid-October and kept 14 clean sheets – including two separate four-game streaks without conceding – on the way to winning the Players’ Player of the Year award as Brentford finished, respectably, in 10th in the first campaign back in the Third Division.

In the summer of 1979, Bond says he turned down “a lucrative move” to Plymouth Argyle – who had offered “about 40 grand” for his services. “I said to Bill that if he could match my wages, I’d gladly stay at Brentford and I did,” he adds.

He retained the no.1 shirt throughout the club’s tumultuous 1979/80 season, but it proved to be his last in west London.

“Fred Callaghan replaced Bill in the March and he just wasn’t my cup of tea,” Bond says. “I came back to the West Country after a dispute during pre-season. He made me lose all my faith in football. I was so down.

“Every summer, when we used to get eight or nine weeks off, I would go and work for a friend of mine scaffolding on the building site, so I’d probably go back fitter than I was at the end of the season. I used to love all of that and I got a great tan, too!

“I came back and still wasn’t enjoying it, so I went back to Somerset for a week, got on the building site and then got a call from Fred on the Friday morning. He told me to get myself back up there because somebody wanted to take me - but he wouldn’t tell me who it was.

“I went in on the Monday, knocked on the door at Griffin Park and Fred was there with his feet up on the table. ‘Chelsea want you,’ he said! Geoff Hurst had been on the phone and wanted to meet up, so I went to Stamford Bridge and was overawed.

“I spoke to Hurst’s number two, Bobby Gould, who I’d played with at Bristol City, and he said I was probably going to be third-choice behind Petar Borota and Bob Iles. They weren’t even going to give me a pay rise, either! I thought about it, but though it was a bigger club, it would have been like a demotion for me.

“Plymouth came in with a bid, but Fred said I wasn’t going there, so I was back on the building site and training with Yeovil a couple of nights a week. Then Exeter came in and asked if I wanted to go in for a couple of days’ training. I said yes and that was what brought me back to the West Country, which is where my heart is.”

And so off he went, back to St James Park, where he had been on loan six years earlier. He quickly established himself at the Grecians’ first-choice stopper and went on to make 138 league appearances, as well as being part of the team that reached the FA Cup quarter-final in 1980/81.

But despite the way his exit came about, he still treasures the time he spent at Griffin Park.

“It was a lovely club and I met some lovely people on and off the field. It was just a lovely family club. When I look back on my time with Brentford, I have a big smile on my face. You never forget what you left behind, but you look to the future and where they’ve got to since I was there. They’ll always be in my heart.

“I remember my first time back at Brentford after I signed for Exeter. I've still got the scar – I got stretchered off!

“It was a wet afternoon, I came out for a ball, slid out and all seemed fine. One of our defenders told me to sit down on the edge of the box. He pointed at my knee, I looked down and my kneecap was basically hanging off, but I didn’t feel a thing! The ref asked what was wrong and nearly threw up when he saw my knee!

“Dr Radley Smith was the consultant and director there. He stitched me up and I had to put a clamp on my leg for about three weeks because otherwise, every time I walked, the stitches would pop and I’d get an infection.

“We lost 1-0, but that day will always leave a lasting memory for me because the support I got from the crowd was amazing.”

Bond then turned out for Yeovil, Weymouth, Bath City and Gloucester City before retiring in 1991. As well as working on World Cup winner Alan Ball’s coaching staff, once again at Exeter, he undertook various other coaching roles after his playing career concluded, owned a newsagent and later ran his own mail-order sportswear company.

Before retiring two years ago, he coached part-time at the prestigious Millfield School, where one of the pupils he worked with was Brentford B’s very own Romeo Beckham. “I let the pupils call me Bondy, but he always made sure to call me sir. He was very polite.”

During a school tour to South Africa around four years ago, he was given a reminder that Brentford fans never forget.

“I got speaking to a member of staff before the flight from Heathrow and we got onto the topic of football,” he says.

“I told him I used to play football and my favourite time was at Brentford. I had my glasses on and looked a lot older, but he looked at me when I took my glasses off and he said ‘Bloody hell, you’re Len Bond!’ He said we were the only two Brentford fans there because everyone else supported QPR.

“Then I got onto the plane, expecting to sit with the boys, but the air hostess directed me to the left instead of the right - he’d had me upgraded to first class! You never know where you’re going to meet Brentford fans. I was very lucky.”