Richard 'Dickie' Bond

Dickie's England cap and badge from 1910

Richard 'Dickie' Bond was one of City's greatest, albeit most controversial, players. When he came to Valley Parade, from Preston, in May 1909 he had already been capped by England and had established himself as one of the finest wide players in the country.

He became a key member of City's golden age side, he added more England caps whilst at the club, but was dropped for the 1911 FA Cup following a suspension after using 'improper language' to the crowd at Arsenal. Dickie’s suspension from 8 March-8 April prevented him playing in the quarter and semi-finals. Though he returned to League action, manager Peter O’Rourke kept faith with the side that had got City to the final.

Dickie did travel to the Crystal Palace, and the replay at Old Trafford, as one of four named reserves, but never made the team.

It was to be the one great regrets of Dickie’s career. However, his antics at Arsenal weren’t the first time he’d found himself in hot water with the disciplinarian O’Rourke. Only a year earlier Dickie had been suspended following a wild night out in Otley during December 1910 with Jimmy McDonald and Robert Campbell.

At the outbreak of the First World War Dickie joined the Bradford Pals, at half time during his last peacetime match for City – at Park Avenue on 28 April 1915 – he donned his corporals uniform and made an appeal for volunteers. Dickie served as a machine gunner at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Later in the War he was taken prisoner at Neuve Chapelle. The Pals had barely taken over the sector when a German raid killed over sixty Pals and captured several others. Dickie was shaving when the Germans invaded the trench and was caught completely unawares. The following night the German’s placed a sign in no-mans land welcoming the Bradford Pals to the front and sarcastically asking the whereabouts of Dickie. He spent two years as a POW, however, within days of his release he turned out for City in a Bradford derby at Valley Parade.

Following City's relegation from the top flight in 1922 Dickie left for his native Lancashire to play for Blackburn Rovers. After a long career he left the game to run a fish and chip shop in his native Garstang and later became a publican. He died aged 77 at Preston on 25th April 1955.

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