Chelsea legend Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris recalls Blues legend Peter Bonetti – the fitness fanatic who never drank
HE was dubbed ‘The Cat’ due to his amazing reflexes — and Peter Bonetti had plenty of Chelsea bosses purring.
In an era when boozing, birding and betting were an accepted part of a football star’s lifestyle, Bonetti was a manager’s dream.
Super-fit, always on time, plus never moaned or agitated for a transfer, was the way his Chelsea skipper Ron Harris described his old pal.
And ‘Chopper’ Harris also revealed he NEVER saw the legendary keeper have a drink in his playing days — even when the Blues won the FA Cup 50 years ago after an infamous 2-1 FA Cup replay win over Leeds.
Born in Putney, not far from Stamford Bridge, Bonetti represented the Blues for almost two decades.
He pioneered the all-green goalkeeper kit and long throw-outs.
Bonetti enjoyed a remarkable playing career before briefly becoming a postman in Scotland’s Western Isles, then ran a guest house on the Isle of Mull.
But despite all the games for Chelsea, seven caps for England and League Cup, FA Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup medals — plus a 1966 World Cup medal, awarded in 2009 after an FA campaign to recognise those in the squad but not selected in the competition — he was one Cat who never acted as if he had got the cream.
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Harris, who up until a couple of years ago was doing hospitality work with Bonetti for Chelsea, mourned the loss of his great friend aged 78 yesterday after a long battle with illness
‘Chopper’, 75, told SunSport: “He was a proper gentleman.
“I can honestly say in all the time I have known him, I’ve never seen him p****d — even when we won the Cup!
“I have never even seen him drink. He was a fitness fanatic, he would win all the cross-countries.
“If we had a day off in the week, the next day we would do a cross-country around Epsom — and by the time he had finished the others were just coming round Tattenham Corner! He was a very placid fellow.
“He would never raise his voice or have a go at the back four. He was never in any bother, he was always punctual and his record speaks for himself.
“He would never go out, not even when we used to go away on pre-season tours or end-of-season tours.
“We used to always stay in a hotel on a Friday night, whether we played home or away — and five or six of us would go to the local dogs. But he would never do that, same as when we went abroad.
“He’d go sightseeing with the likes of John Hollins and Peter Houseman. We’d go out to have a drink but it was just not for him.”
Bonetti clocked up an amazing 729 games for Chelsea, second only to Harris on 795 and ahead of John Terry on 717.
Harris added: “In my time, nobody knew what an agent was.
“Now the more a player moves around, the more an agent gets, that is why I don’t think anybody will ever beat the record of mine.
“I had a friendly bet with John Terry about the record when he got near 700 and he had to pay up, which he did, promptly!
“And in those days, people played with pain. These days, unfortunately, they sneeze and they are off for a week.
“Peter was limping for three-quarters of the FA Cup Final replay against Leeds after Mick Jones ran into him.”
Harris admitted Bonetti was vastly different in his approach to the current crop of top-level keepers.
He added: “Unlike keepers today, he came out and caught crosses — they punch balls nowadays.
“The only thing he couldn’t do was kick a ball out, he was hopeless!
“Chelsea paid over £70million for Kepa. When you look at what the transfer fees are today — what would Gordon Banks be worth, what would Peter be worth?”
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But there was one thing about Bonetti which remains true of many keepers today — he fancied himself as a player.
Harris said: “Every time we played five-a-side he never played in goal, he always played up front.
“He liked to score a goal and he was pretty decent.”