Manchester City legend Mike Summerbee has paid tribute to John Bond, who has died at the age of 79.

Bond managed AFC Bournemouth and Norwich City among others during a glittering 29-year managerial career, the latter of which he took to the League Cup final 1975.

But his finest days as a boss came at City, whom he led to the FA Cup final in 1981 and Summerbee says the game has lost a genuine football man.

John Bond
Bond lead Manchester City to the 1981 FA Cup final. Reuters

"I knew John from when I was 16 years old," Summerbee said. "He was such a lovely man and it's a very sad day.

"He was a football man. He knew the game inside out. As a person outside of football, he was a wonderful man. You could talk forever about his contribution to the game of football because he was so dedicated to the game and he loved the game so very much."

During his 16-year career at West Ham United where he stared alongside Bobby Moore and Geoff Hurst, Bond notably won the Second Division in the 1957-58 seasons as well as the FA Cup in 1964, but missed out on a medal in the club's European Cup Winners' Cup triumph.

Ken Brown, who he played with at West Ham and then served as his assistant at Bournemouth and Norwich said: "John was a great character. He said what he thought and, at times, he riled people. But he was honest and felt he had to say what he felt had to be said, you always knew where you were with him.

"As a player, he was strong and I loved playing alongside him - but my memories are not just of a great team-mate but as a special friend. We all knew he had been ill for a while - I checked in on him to see how he was doing, so it is very sad that he has now gone, I will miss him."

Success also came during his spell at his only other professional club, Torquay United, where he helped win promotion in the first of three years at Plainmoor before retiring at the age of 37.

After winning promotion in his first season at Bournemouth and almost repeating the feat the following year, he won a move to Norwich with whom he took into Division One at the first time of asking.

Relegation and defeat in the League Cup final to Aston Villa followed, as did a switch to City in 1980 where the trend of success in his first season continued as he guided the club to the FA Cup final, with Ricky Villa's famous goal handing Tottenham Hotspur victory.

Spells across the country at Burnley, Swansea City, Birmingham City, Shrewsbury Town and non-league side Witton Albion following prior to a media role with Radio Five Live and a scouting position alongside son Kevin, the former assistant boss of Tottenham Hotspur.