Wayne Jones (footballer)

Philip Wayne Jones (born 20 October 1948), known by his middle name of Wayne, is a former professional association footballer who spent his entire club career with Bristol Rovers, and was capped once by the Wales national football team.[1] Following his retirement from playing, he worked as a physio, coach and assistant manager for a number of different teams in The Football League.

Wayne Jones
Personal information
Full name Philip Wayne Jones
Date of birth (1948-10-20) 20 October 1948
Place of birth Treorchy, Wales
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1966–1973 Bristol Rovers 224 (28)
International career
????–1971 Wales under-23s 6 (0)
1971 Wales 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Jones joined Bristol Rovers as an amateur in July 1966, and it wasn't long before he had impressed the club's management enough to earn a professional contract, which he signed three months later in October. He made his first team debut later that season, on 25 February 1967 against Doncaster Rovers, and went on to make a further six appearances in The Football League during the 1966–67 campaign.[2] In all he made 224 League appearances for Rovers, 6 of which were from the bench, and scored 28 goals.[3]

His international career consisted of six appearances for the Wales national under-23 football team and one for the Welsh senior national team, and he was also selected to tour Australia and New Zealand with the Football Association of Wales in 1971.[2]

The end of Jones's playing career came when he was aged just 24, when on 4 November 1972 he fell to the ground clutching his knee during a game against Brentford. It was initially believed to be a cartilage injury, but it later emerged that he had a previously undiagnosed arthritic condition that meant he was never able to play again.[4]

International appearances
DateVenueHomeResultAway
26 May 1971[5]Olympiastadion, HelsinkiFinland Finland0–1Wales Wales

Post-playing career

After his playing career had reached a premature end, Jones trained initially as a sports physiotherapist and later as a coach and continued working within football in various capacities. In December 1977 he was appointed as Shrewsbury Town's physio, and in 1983 he returned to his former club Bristol Rovers as assistant manager to David Williams.[2]

He had a brief spell as a coach at Al-Rayyan Sports Club in 1985, before joining Notts County as physio later in the same year. Notts County later gave him the job of reserve team coach, but he left them in 1991 to take over the physio duties with Huddersfield Town.[2] In September 1994 he returned to Notts County as assistant manager when Russell Slade was appointed as their caretaker boss.[6] He worked as a coach with Gillingham until being sacked in 2004,[7] whereupon he returned to working as a physio, this time with Hereford United, before joining Yeovil Town in the same capacity in 2008.[8] He was released by Yeovil at the end of the 2008–09 season, much to his disappointment.[9]

His career as a physio continued when he spent the 2009–10 season with Aldershot Town,[10] and as at September 2011 he is working at Newport County.[11]

References
  1. "Related". faw.cymru.
  2. Jay, Mike; Byrne, Stephen (1994). Pirates in Profile: A Who's Who of Bristol Rovers Players. Bristol: Potten, Baber & Murray. p. 138. ISBN 0-9524835-0-5.
  3. Byrne, Stephen; Jay, Mike (2003). Bristol Rovers Football Club – The Definitive History 1883–2003. Stroud: Tempus. p. 500. ISBN 0-7524-2717-2.
  4. Gerry Prewett (8 June 2009). "Rovers Legends: Wayne Jones". Bristol Rovers F.C. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  5. Marcel Haisma, John van den Elsen and RSSSF 2007/08 (6 March 2008). "European Championship 1972 (Details)". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  6. "Football: Notts County sack manager after poor start: Walker pays a heavy price while Gemmill kicks off the Rotherham revival with his old pal from Derby's glory, glory days". The Independent. 15 September 1994. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  7. Bob Dunning (12 August 2007). "2004–2005". Bob and 1970–71 Footballers. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  8. "Got a sprain? Go and see Wayne". The Football League. 25 September 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  9. "Released physio Jones 'devastated' to leave Yeovil". This is Somerset. 15 May 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2010.
  10. "New physio joins club". Shots Trust. 23 April 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  11. "Club information". Newport County Football Club. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
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