Billy Jones (footballer born 1987)

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For other people called "Billy Jones" see Billy Jones (disambiguation)

Billy Jones
Personal information
Full name	William Jones
Date of birth	24 March 1987 (1987-03-24) (age 21)
Place of birth	Shrewsbury, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Defender/Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Preston North End
Number	19
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2003-2007 2007-	Crewe Alexandra Preston North End	132 (8) 029 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of February 8, 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

William "Billy" Jones (born 24 March 1987 in Shrewsbury, England) is an English footballer, currently awaiting his first season playing for Preston North End. Jones started his career at Crewe Alexandra, who were known for their production of good young players, although a majority of them were attacking players.

Jones made his professional debut in October 2003, in Crewe's 3-0 win over Derby County. Since then, Jones has been a regular in Crewe's back-line and, for the 2005-06 season, he played a majority of games in midfield. He later became the club's top goalscorer during the same season. In his fourth year for Crewe, Jones made his 100th league appearance against Millwall.

Contents 1 Ability 2 Career 2.1 2003-2007: Crewe Alexandra 2.2 2007 - present: Preston North End 2.3 International career 3 Club stats 4 Footnotes 5 References

[edit] Ability

One of Jones' notable abilities is his influence on the players around him.^[1] He is also considered a strong tackler and despite his lack of pace, the English defender makes up for it in his ability to read the game.^[1] These attributes are similar to those of many successful centre-halfs in the Premiership, such as Sami Hyypiä and Tony Adams, on the latter of whom Jones models his style of play on.^[1]. Some say^{[citation needed]} he could be the next Jamie Carragher, preferring to liken him to Liverpool FC's Bootle-born defender rather than Liverpool FC's Finnish stopper (Sami Hyypiä), placing more of an emphasis on Jones' vast level of versatility - earning Billy Jones mild popularity on Football Manager 2007, where on some versions, Jones' media description has him "touted as the next Jamie Carragher".

[edit] Career

[edit] 2003-2007: Crewe Alexandra

Main article: Crewe Alexandra F.C.

Billy Jones joined Crewe as a trainee at a young age following a recommendation to then-manager Dario Gradi by former Crewe centre half Dave Walton. Jones worked his way through the Crewe Academy ranks on in 2003 Jones signed his first professional contract for the club.

The English defender made his debut for the club at sixteen years of age against Derby County as a substitute for Justin Cochrane; the Railwaymen went onto win the game 3-0 with goals from Andrew Barrowman, Dean Ashton and Ben Rix. Jones went onto to play a further 26 league games, which also included his first goal for the club against Wigan Athletic, which later won the "Goal of the Season" award. Jones later added the "Young Player of the Year" award to his collection.

Despite his young age, the young defender continued to be a regular in the Crewe first team. Jones played a total of 20 league games during the 2004-05 season, none of them as a substitute. This was also the only season in which Jones failed to score a league goal for Crewe.

Jones had an impressive 2005-06 season despite the club's relegation from the Football League Championship. Jones played in a central midfield role for most of the season before moving to a left-back role at the end of the season with the signing of Tony Grant during the January transfer window to fill in his midfield role for the remainder of the season. Jones scored seven goals over the season, becoming the club's top goalscorer. Jones later won the "Player of the Year" award.

"When I was playing for Shrewsbury all you would hear in town was 'Billy Jones, Billy Jones, Billy Jones'. Everything about him is impressive - he can play in so many different positions too - and no wonder other clubs are keen." Ryan Lowe[2]

Jones was joined by more experienced defenders for the 2006-07 season, namely ex-Aston Villa player Neil Cox and Notts County's Julien Baudet. He played his 100th league game for the club ten games into the season against Millwall. In October 2006, Jones rejected an extension to his contract at Crewe.^[3] A week after rejecting his contract, Crewe put Jones on the transfer list,^[4] This resulted in a number of clubs being linked with a move for the young defender, most notably Premiership club Manchester City,^[5] who were, according to the Daily Mirror, lining up a £1.5 million offer for him.^[6]

Jones was later joined by Jon Otsemobor and Luke Rodgers on the Crewe transfer list.^[7][8] However, Jones was in a different position to both Otsemobor and Rodgers because of his age, as Crewe manager Dario Gradi said that he would take a chance on a tribunal,^[9] meaning that Jones could stay at Crewe until the end of his contract and the club would still get a fee for Jones' transfer.

Following a rejected offer by Stoke City,^[10] the Daily Mail reported the Everton were, in their words, "moving in [for an offer]" on the English defender.^[11]

[edit] 2007 - present: Preston North End

Main article: Preston North End F.C.

On 11 June 2007, Jones joined Preston North End with a 4 year contract from Crewe Alexandra, after much deliberation over which Football League Championship side he was going to join.^[12]

On 24 August 2007, the Football League tribunal for the transfer from Crewe to Preston was held. The outcome was that Preston had to pay Crewe and initial £50,000 fee on top of the original £200,000 transfer fee, making the first payment £250,000 overall. Additional clauses were also introduced: At the start of 2008, Preston would have to pay Crewe £200,000 and also pay £62,500 when Jones reached his 15th, 30th, 45th and 60th first team appearance, the Lancashire club would also have to pay Crewe another £250,000 if the The Lilywhites were promoted to the Premier League if Jones was still at the club and the final clause was that if Preston do sell Jones, 20% of the Transfer fee would to paid to Crewe. Overall, if all the criteria are fulfilled, Preston would have to pay Crewe at least £1 million.^[13]

[edit] International career

Main article: England national football team

While Jones was playing for the Crewe youth team, he played in England's youth set-up as well. The defender has captained all levels up to Under-20 level.

[edit] Club stats

Accurate of as June 12, 2007

Club	Season	Domestic League		Domestic Cup[14]		Continental Competition		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Preston North End	07-08	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Crewe Alexandra	06-07	41	1	6	0	0	0	47	1
	05-06	44	6	2	1	0	0	46	7
	04-05	20	0	2	0	0	0	22	0
	03-04	27	1	1	0	0	0	28	1
Total	03-Present	132	8	11	1	0	0	143	9
Career Totals	00-Present	132	8	11	1	0	0	143	9

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] References

v • d • e Preston North End F.C. – current squad 1 Lonergan • 2 Hart • 3 Davidson • 4 Chaplow • 5 Mawéné • 6 Jarrett • 7 Sedgwick • 8 Hawley • 9 Brown • 11 Carter • 12 St Ledger • 13 Henderson • 14 Chilvers • 15 Whaley • 16 McKenna • 17 Ormerod • 18 Hill • 19 Jones • 20 Nicholls • 21 Trotman • 23 L. Neal • 24 Anyinsah • 30 C. Neal • 31 Murphy • 33 Mellor • Manager: Irvine