The word ‘legend’ in the modern game gets thrown around so often that fans find themselves disagreeing what does and does not constitute legendary status.
But there can be no arguments where Billy Bonds is concerned. Not to West Ham fans.
Voted West Ham’s greatest ever player by fans in 2018, Bonds was and will forever remain the perfect example of what it means to be West Ham. Passion, tenacity, grit, loyalty and honestly; all traits that underline the identity of the club and its fanbase.
As London Stadium prepared to host Premier League champions Liverpool on Sunday afternoon and in the immediacy of the announcement of his passing just hours earlier, the Billy Bonds Stand stood taller and prouder than ever before.
Despite the sadness throughout the fanbase and the club, supporters arrived in Stratford fully prepared to show just what Bonds meant to them.
Captain Jarrod Bowen proudly raised a shirt with ‘Bonds 4’ on the back to the supporters in the Billy Bonds Stadium just before kick-off and the fans spent much of the game chanting ‘Billy Bonds’ Claret & Blue Army’ regardless of what they were seeing on the pitch.
Victory over an out-of-form Liverpool felt almost inevitable given the backdrop of Sunday afternoon’s game but unfortunately, it was not to be. The result also felt somewhat irrelevant on the day the club lost its ultimate legend.
Football does not make players like Bonds anymore and it says all you need to know about the type of player and person he was that his loss is being felt beyond just the confines of east London.
He will be sorely missed but proudly remembered, with his legacy immortalised in claret and blue forever more.
Find more from James Jones at We Are West Ham, external