David Jones (footballer born 1984)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| David Jones | ||
 |
||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Frank Lloyd Jones | |
| Date of birth | 4 November 1984 | |
| Place of birth | Southport, England | |
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | |
| Playing position | Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Derby County | |
| Number | 7 | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1995–2003[1] | Manchester United | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 2003–2006 2005–2006 2006 2006–2007 2007– |
Manchester United → Preston North End (loan) → NEC Nijmegen (loan) → Derby County (loan) Derby County |
0 (0) 24 (3) 17 (6) 10 (1) 32 (6) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2004 | England U21 | 1 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
David Frank Lloyd Jones is a professional footballer currently playing for Derby County. A left-footed central midfielder, Jones has represented England at Under-21 level but he also has a parental qualification to play for the Wales national football team.
Contents |
[edit] Manchester United
Jones signed for Manchester United as an apprentice on 2 July 2001, and broke into the Under-19 side in late 2002, where he was soon made captain. He went on to make 18 appearances, scoring one goal, as the U19s 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 out on loan.
[edit] 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 P.N.E. debut at Watford on 6 August 2005, and was initially used as a substitute. Some early cameos from the bench soon saw him establish himself as first-choice in midfield however, 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 picture, making 24 appearances, including three as substitute, and scoring 3 goals.
[edit] NEC Nijmegen
This 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. He did not disappoint, scoring two goals in a 5–0 rout 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 Almelo, 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 Holland, the arrival of £14m Michael Carrick from Tottenham meant Jones was restricted to appearances in the Carling 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.[2]
[edit] 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. 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 secured Derby's promotion to the Premier League.
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 7 times in the league, with only 3 of those appearances coming under new manager Paul Jewell, who replaced Billy Davies at Derby in November 2007. He scored the first top flight goal in his career in Derby's 6-1 defeat against Chelsea on 12 March 2008. Jones was in and out of the side for the rest of the campaign and has been linked with a move away from the club as part of a mass clearout by Jewell. Jones Linked With Move Away From Rams
[edit] 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, and the midfielder has revealed former Manchester United team-mate and Wales captain Ryan Giggs has tried to persuade him to commit himself to the latter.[citation needed]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
|
|||||
