David Jones (footballer born 1984)

For other people named David Jones, see David Jones (disambiguation).

David Jones

Personal information
Full name	David Frank Llwyd Jones
Date of birth	4 November 1984 (1984-11-04) (age 27)
Place of birth	Southport, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1][2]
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Wigan Athletic
Number	19
Youth career
1995–2003	Manchester United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003–2007	Manchester United	4[3]	(0)
2005–2006	→ Preston North End (loan)	24	(3)
2006	→ NEC Nijmegen (loan)	17	(6)
2006–2007	→ Derby County (loan)	10	(1)
2007–2008	Derby County	32	(6)
2008–2011	Wolverhampton Wanderers	66	(6)
2011–	Wigan Athletic	1	(0)
National team‡
2004	England U21	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 May 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 15 November 2008

David Frank Llwyd Jones (born 4 November 1984) is an English footballer of Welsh descent who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Wigan Athletic. Jones began his football career at Manchester United, but struggled to get into the first team and spent loan spells at Preston North End, NEC Nijmegen and Derby County, before joining Derby on a permanent basis. However, he left Derby at the end of the 2007–08 season to join Wolverhampton Wanderers before leaving them at the end of the 2010–11 season. Jones has represented England at Under-21 level, but he also has a parental qualification to play for Wales.

Club career

Manchester United

Born in Southport, Jones joined Manchester United in 1995 at the age of 10.^[4] He made eight appearances for the under-17 side in the 2000–01 season, and signed as an apprentice on 2 July 2001, before breaking into the Under-19 side in early 2002. He was made captain of the Under-19s at the start of the 2002–03 season, and went on to make 18 appearances, scoring one goal, as the team progressed to the final of the FA Youth Cup in April 2003, where a 2–0 victory over Middlesbrough in the second leg saw him lift the trophy at Old Trafford.

The following season saw Jones promoted to the reserve team, where he established himself as a regular in the heart of midfield. He was named as a substitute for a League Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion in December 2003, but did not feature in the game. In the 2004–05 season, Manchester United introduced a second reserve team to play in the Pontins' Holiday League, in addition to the existing FA Premier Reserve League North side. Jones was named as captain of the latter and also made regular appearances for the former. Jones experienced a great deal of success with the reserve sides, lifting the FA Premier Reserve League North trophy and then captaining the side to victory over Charlton Athletic Reserves (winners of the FAPRL South) to take the national title. He also featured as the reserves secured the Pontins Holiday League title and the Pontins Holiday League Cup, once again acting as captain as Manchester United were narrowly denied a fifth trophy at the hands of Manchester City Reserves in the final of the Manchester Seniors Cup.

Jones was allocated a squad number, 31, during the 2003–04 season and made his senior debut as a late substitute in a 1–0 home win over Arsenal in the League Cup. He made his full team debut in Manchester United's shock 0–0 home draw with non league Exeter City in the FA Cup third round. Despite these opportunities Jones found it hard to break into the first team ahead of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes and spent much of the remainder of his Manchester United career either in the reserves or out on loan.

Preston North End

For the 2004–05 season Jones was sent on a season long loan to Football League Championship side Preston North End to gain first-team experience making his debut at Watford on 6 August 2005. Good performances from the bench soon saw him established as first-choice in midfield and he scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 away win at Ipswich Town on 29 August 2005. Jones played a key role in a long unbeaten run which pushed Preston up into the Championship play-off positions, making 24 appearances, including three as substitute, and scoring 3 goals.

NEC Nijmegen

Jones' spell at Preston was followed by joining Eredivisie side NEC Nijmegen on a loan deal until the end 2005–06 season. Wearing number five, he again had to spend time on the substitutes bench to begin with, but impressed sufficiently in brief appearances against Ajax and Sparta Rotterdam to be brought on at half-time against ADO Den Haag on 22 January 2006. Jones scored two goals in a 5–0 win to secure a place in the starting line-up for the next game, where he again scored twice, this time to salvage a draw against Willem II. One of those goals was from the penalty spot. He started every game for the rest of the season in a left centre midfield role in NEC's 4–3–3 formation. During a match against Heracles, he scored a goal from 30 yards. In the match against FC Groningen, he again scored a goal from a free kick, just 25 yards out, receiving the Man of the Match award. In the short time he was with NEC Nijmegen, he got himself placed second on their Man of the Year list, with 134 points, thirty points behind talented striker Romano Denneboom. The team ended 10th in 2006 and Jones returned to England having signed a new three-year deal at Manchester United.

Despite his success in the Netherlands, the arrival of £14m Michael Carrick from Tottenham meant Jones was restricted to appearances in the League Cup. On 15 November 2006, a bid of £1m from Derby County was accepted. The deal would see Jones initially move on loan to Pride Park until the January transfer window – the first possible opportunity to make the transfer a permanent one. In moving to Derby, Jones would link up once again with Billy Davies, manager of Preston during his loan spell there.^[5]

Derby County

Jones' Derby career started promisingly, with the midfielder establishing himself as first choice in midfield and contributing significantly to Derby's push for promotion, including scoring a stoppage-time free-kick in the 1–0 home win against Sheffield Wednesday. Alex Ferguson once remarked that he had sold Jones too cheaply to Derby. However, as the season drew to a close Derby's form took a dip and Jones found himself moving to the fringes of the first team, only appearing as an 87th minute substitute in the 1–0 victory over West Bromwich Albion in the Championship Playoff Final which promoted Derby to the Premier League.^[6]

Despite Derby struggling on their return to the top flight Jones was unable to force himself into the first team on a regular basis, playing only 15 times in the league. He scored the first top flight goal of his career in Derby's 6–1 defeat at Chelsea on 12 March 2008. Jones was in and out of the side under new manager Paul Jewell, although he did make 12 of his 15 appearances that season under Jewell.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Jones signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers of the Championship on 27 June 2008 in a three-year deal for a reported fee of £1.2million.^[7] He made his Wolves debut on the opening day of the 2008–09 season at Plymouth and scored his first goal in a 5–1 win over Nottingham Forest on 30 August. He became a regular fixture in the first team squad throughout the season until a suspected injury halted his run in early 2009. He returned to the side during the final stages as the club eventually won promotion to the Premier League as champions, Jones' second promotion in three seasons.

The midfielder's return to the top flight was initially curtailed by several injury setbacks to a troublesome knee problem that had occurred in the previous season.^[8] However he returned to the central midfield in early 2010 at the expense of Nenad Milijaš and scored his first Premier League goal for Wolves when he finished an eighteen-pass move to defeat Tottenham Hotspur.^[9] His performances during the remainder of the season helped the club to survival and saw Jones be offered a new contract.^[10]

However, Jones failed to agree the terms of a new contract and he instead exited Wolves at the expiry of his deal in May 2011.^[11]

Wigan Athletic

On 2 August 2011, Jones was signed by Wigan Athletic on a free transfer after impressing on trial during the pre-season.^[12]

International career

Jones was called up to the England Under-21 squad during the 2003–04 season. Although qualified to play for Wales, Jones opted to play for England at that level and made what was to be his only appearance for the Under-21 side in a 2–2 away draw with Sweden on 30 March 2004, coming on as a second-half substitute for Nigel Reo-Coker. He is still eligible to play for either England or Wales. On 11 January 2011, Jones was again approached to play for Wales by manager Gary Speed, but he is yet to answer the call.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

• FA Youth Cup: 2003
• Football League Championship (II): 2009

References

1. ^ Hugman, Barry J. (2008). The PFA Footballers Who's Who 2008–09. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing. p. 233. ISBN 978-1-84596-324-8. 
2. ^ Rollin, Glenda & Rollin, Jack, eds (2008). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2008–2009. Headline. p. 468. ISBN 978-0-7553-1820-9. 
3. ^ About Man Utd: an encyclopedia of Manchester United www.aboutmanutd.com
4. ^ McKenna, Chris (22 June 2007). "Jones salutes Reds influence". ManUtd.com (Manchester United). http://www.manutd.com/default.sps?pagegid={B4CEE8FA-9A47-47BC-B069-3F7A2F35DB70}&newsid=438363. Retrieved 24 June 2007. 
5. ^ BBC Sport
6. ^ "Derby 1-0 West Brom". BBC Sport. 28 May 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/6689971.stm. 
7. ^ "Wolves complete deal for Jones". BBC Sport. 27 June 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wolverhampton_wanderers/7478041.stm. 
8. ^ "Surgery sidelines Wolves' Jones". BBC Sport. 1 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wolverhampton_wanderers/8285919.stm. 
9. ^ "Wolves' David Jones thrilled with goal against Spurs". BBC Sport. 11 February 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wolverhampton_wanderers/8511440.stm. 
10. ^ "Jones rewarded with new Wolves deal". Express and Star. 22 March 2010. http://www.expressandstar.com/2010/03/22/jones-rewarded-with-new-wolves-deal/. 
11. ^ "Boss's praise for departing Jones". wolves.co.uk. 27 May 2011. http://www.wolves.co.uk/page/News/0,,10307~2367610,00.html. 
12. ^ "Latics Sign Dave Jones". wiganlatics.co.uk (Wigan Athletic FC). 2 August 2011. http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10429~2408143,00.html. Retrieved 2 August 2011. 

External links

• David Jones career stats at Soccerbase
• ESPN Soccernet Profile

Persondata
Name	Jones, David Frank Llwyd
Alternative names	Jones, David
Short description
Date of birth	1984-11-04
Place of birth	Southport, England
Date of death
Place of death