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Pelle pays his tributes

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Manuel Pellegrini clearly has a very sharp view of the Irons history and how much certain players mean to this club.

And it’s great to hear him adding his accolades to the great Bill Bonds who will see the East Stand named in his honour on the evening of the Newcastle game.

The manager quite rightly made it clear how some players should be remembered across the ages and that Bonzo is one of them will probably cause great embarrassment in Bill’s word.

For this man is one of the shyest and most humble men you would ever meet who rushes away from publicity as quickly some players – no names no pack drill embrace it.

The boss was obviously determined to ensure that the buccaneering Bonzo should knew exactly how he felt and in all honesty spoke for all of us now at a certain age in adding his tribute.

He said: “As much as the new generations know about the players and the history of the Club, it’s always good for them to have recognition, whether that be the name of a stand or the name of a stadium.

I think that players like Billy Bonds, Trevor Brooking and Bobby Moore need to be remembered always by different generations of fans, so I am very happy for Billy because he had an important history at the Club.

He had a great career, scored a lot of goals and made more appearances than anybody here at this Club, so he deserves what the club is doing for him.”

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Hugh Southon is a lifelong Iron and the founding editor of ClaretandHugh. He is a national newspaper journalist of many years experience and was Bobby Moore's 'ghost' writer during the great man's lifetime. He describes ClaretandHugh as "the Hammers daily newspaper!"

Follow on Twitter @hughsouthon