Kevin Bond, the former assistant manager of Pompey, is returning to the game.
The 66-year-old is back at Memorial Stadium more than a year after leaving the team unexpectedly from Bristol Rovers, where he spent 14 months working alongside Joey Barton and helped lead the team to promotion from League Two.
This time, though, it’s helping interim manager Andy Mangan, who is managing first-team affairs at the Gas in the wake of Barton’s dismissal last week.
The extensively traveled Bond is expected to work two days a week, part-time, as Rovers continue to look for a new management. The empty position has been connected to the likes of Garry Monk, Neil Harris, and out-of-work trio Dean Holden. Hussain AlSaeed, the owner of The Quarters, has not yet named a successor for the team.
After managing the team’s lone and only game after Barton’s departure, Rovers defeated Northampton 2-1 last Saturday, moving them up to 15th place in the League One standings.
The former defender did, in fact, have three stints at Pompey, where he worked as a scout for Kenny Jackett more recently after initially working with Alan Ball and then Harry Redknapp.
He kept up his tight working relationship with Redknapp even after leaving Fratton Park, working alongside the 2008 FA Cup-winning Blues manager when he was in charge of Southampton, Spurs, QPR, and Birmingham.
The former manager of Southend and Bournemouth remarked after leaving Rovers in October of last year: “Last season (Rovers’ promotion-winning season) was probably the most amazing year I’ve experienced in football.”
It was really amazing to go from where we were at Christmas to promotion on the final day of the season. I thought I had seen pretty much all there was to see in football, but I will never forget seeing that seventh goal go in.
It’s appropriate for me to depart at this moment. I want to express my gratitude to everyone associated with the club for making my stay here so special. Special thanks go out to Wael (al-Qadi), the owner of Bristol Rovers, Joey, the staff, the players, and our amazing supporters.
Bond was connected to the position of director of football at Yeovil prior to his return to Rovers. But after Matt Uggia’s abortive attempt to take over the non-league team, that possibility evaporated.
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