Ray Jones

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For other people with this name, see Raymond Jones.
Ray Jones
Personal information
Full name Raymond Barry Bankote Jones
Date of birth 28 August 1988(1988-08-28)
Place of birth    Newham, London, England
Date of death    25 August 2007 (aged 18)
Place of death    East Ham, Newham, London, England
Height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Playing position Striker
Youth clubs
Colchester United
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2006–2007 Queens Park Rangers 33 (5)   
National team
2006 England U19 01 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Raymond Barry Bankote "Ray" Jones (28 August 198825 August 2007) was an English professional footballer who played for Queens Park Rangers.

Contents

[edit] Career

He was rejected as a youth team player at Colchester United before impressing the managers at QPR. He made his debut for QPR against Watford in the closing stages of the 2005-06 season and scored his first league goal at Loftus Road against Hull City on 23 September 2006. On 17 November 2006, Jones scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over high flying Cardiff City.

On 5 September 2006, Jones came on as a substitute for England U-19 against the Netherlands, hence earning his only youth cap.[1]

Many Premier League clubs showed interest in Jones after several solid performances for Rangers, and QPR manager John Gregory at one point was resigned to him leaving,[2] but stated he may have been "ill advised" by his agent. However, after scoring in a 1-0 victory over Colchester United on 1 January 2007 he pledged his future to the club, which rang true a week later as he signed a new three and a half year deal,[3] which would have kept him at the club until 2010. Colchester United made a £200,000 offer for Jones in June 2007, which was rejected by QPR, but made another bid the following day, which was also turned down.[4] In total, Jones played 37 games (19 as sub) for QPR in all competitions, scoring 6 goals.[5]

[edit] Death

Jones died, along with two others, in a car accident in East Ham, London in the early hours of August 25, 2007 when the vehicle he was travelling in collided with a bus.[6] As a mark of respect QPR postponed their upcoming game with Burnley, who in turn replaced it with an open training session with proceeds going to the charity of QPR’s choice.[7] QPR have also decided to retire the number 31 shirt in memory of Jones who wore the shirt during his time at Loftus Road.[8] In their league game against Southampton on September 1, 2007 at Loftus Road all of the Queens Park Rangers players carried Ray Jones's name on the back of their shirts as a mark of respect.[9]

[edit] Statistics

Club Performance
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Others Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Queens Park Rangers 2005-06 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
2006-07 31 5 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 35 6
Total 33 5 2 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 37 6

[5] [10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Lions held by Holland", TheFA.com, 2006-09-05. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 
  2. ^ "QPR chief resigned to Jones exit", BBC Sport, 2006-12-14. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 
  3. ^ "Striking ace Jones commits to QPR", BBC Sport, 2007-01-06. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 
  4. ^ "QPR reject second Colchester bid", BBC Sport, 2007-06-19. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 
  5. ^ a b "Ray Jones Player Profile", Queens Park Rangers FC. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 
  6. ^ "QPR's Ray Jones dies in car crash", BBC Sport, 2007-08-25. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 
  7. ^ "Burnley Pay Their Respects", Queens Park Rangers FC, 2007-08-25. Retrieved on 2007-08-25. 
  8. ^ "REMEMBERING RAY - NUMBER 31", Queens Park Rangers FC, 2007-08-28. Retrieved on 2007-08-28. 
  9. ^ "Shirt tribute for striker Jones", Queens Park Rangers FC, 2007-08-29. Retrieved on 2007-08-29. 
  10. ^ Ray Jones SoccerBase profile. SoccerBase. Retrieved on 2007-08-29.

[edit] External links

Persondata
NAME Jones, Raymond Barry Bankote
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jones, Ray, Jones, Raymond
SHORT DESCRIPTION Football (soccer) player
DATE OF BIRTH 28 August 1988
PLACE OF BIRTH Newham, Greater London, England
DATE OF DEATH 25 August 2007
PLACE OF DEATH East Ham, Greater London, England