Former Pompey assistant manager will leave Bristol Rovers at the end of the 2023/24 season.
Kevin Bond, who previously worked as an assistant manager at Fratton Park under Alan Ball in 1998, became Rovers’ first-team coach on a part-time basis in November. He assisted Andy Mangan as caretaker manager until Matt Taylor was named permanent in December.
The team finished the season in 15th place, with Taylor saying he will be speaking with his backroom staff. Goalkeeping coach Anssi Jaakkola and Head of Data and Analysis Adam Mahoney have already declared their departure from Memorial Stadium via social media accounts.
Bond decided to quit BS7 despite Taylor’s offer to stay, and the former Bournemouth and Queens Park Rangers manager believes it is the perfect time to leave a club for which he would be ‘eternally grateful.’
Bond told Bristol Live: “It’s the end of the season, and I believe the time has come for me to leave the club. My time is up here. As you know, I initially returned because Andy Moangan had urged me to. He was plainly aiming to get the position full-time if possible. He was short-staffed and requested me to come, which I gladly did. I like Andy; I think he’s brilliant at his profession, and I believe he’ll one day be a good manager.
“I came back for him, but in actuality, he would never get the job. I can see it now. I believe the owners wanted to make a statement by signing what they perceived as their own manager.
Bond admitted that he intended to leave with Mangan in December, but lingered to assist the incoming Taylor.
“It would have been new for Matt,” Bond continued. “Obviously, everything and everyone was new to him, but I was somewhat familiar with everything, so I agreed to stay on and loved my time working with him.
“Supporting him and trying to help in any way I could, whether it was on the training ground or in any other way, talking with the great coaches and all of the players who I obviously knew and who have always been fantastic with me.” I believe Matt has now gotten his feet under the table and understands Bristol Rovers, and I believe it is the correct thing to do, therefore I’m pleased to call it a day.”
The Gas are preparing for a summer of change, including a ‘new-look’ squad. Bond has linked the forthcoming season to his time at Fratton Park.
“(It’s a) Massive summer,” the former Rovers coach said. “In one of my first coaching jobs in the early 2000s, Harry Redknapp took over the reigns at Portsmouth in the Championship and transformed the entire team in one summer.” He must have signed ten, twelve, or more players and constructed an entirely new team, which in our experience rarely works.”
Bond’s CV includes a second term with the Blues under Redknapp before joining Glenn Roeder’s Newcastle in 2006. Bond then reunited with former Pompey manager Redknapp at Tottenham Hotspur before winning two cups as manager of Hong Kong Premier League club Pegasus.
The 66-year-old subsequently returned to the UK, where he was appointed first-team coach at Aston Villa in 2016, before rejoining Redknapp as an assistant at Birmingham City.
Bond was also a crucial component in Rovers’ League Two promotion season in 2015/16, when the Pirates scored 7-0 in the final game to finish third, and he has reflected on his achievements as he leaves the Memorial Stadium.
“I thought I’d seen it all in football until I came across that last day of the season, which I’ll have to explain to those who have never heard of what we did. It felt like a scenario that might be made into a film; it was strange. I recall being on the touchline when the seventh goal was scored, thinking to myself, ‘Really, has that just happened?’ It was completely unbelievable. So I will never forget that.
“I really enjoyed my time there,” Bond continued. “Everyone was great to me, really brilliant. Bristol Rovers provided some of my most memorable football experiences, so I greatly loved my two stays there and will be eternally thankful.
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