Jones playing for Australia |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Bradley Scott Jones[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 19 March 1982 [2] | ||
| Place of birth | Armadale, Perth, Australia | ||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Liverpool | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1997–1999 | Bayswater City | ||
| 1999–2001 | Middlesbrough | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2001–2010 | Middlesbrough | 57 | (0) |
| 2001 | → Shelbourne (loan) | 2 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | → Stockport County (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 2003 | → Rotherham United (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| 2003 | → Blackpool (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | → Blackpool (loan) | 12 | (0) |
| 2006 | → Sheffield Wednesday (loan) | 15 | (0) |
| 2010– | Liverpool | 2 | (0) |
| 2011 | → Derby County (loan) | 7 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2001 | Australia U20 | 1 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | Australia U23 | 6 | (0) |
| 2007– | Australia | 3 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:19, 7 May 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Bradley Scott "Brad" Jones (born 19 March 1982) is an Australian football (soccer) player who plays for Liverpool as a goalkeeper. He was a member of the Middlesbrough team for over a decade, and also had a number of loan spells at a succession of lower league clubs; Shelbourne, Stockport, Rotherham, Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday. In August 2010, he made a £2.3m move to Liverpool. In March 2011, after only two games for the Reds, he joined Derby on loan until the end of the season.
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Jones was born in Armadale, Perth, Western Australia to an English father. Jones signed for Bayswater City SC in Western Australia.[3]
He was then signed by Middlesbrough after he was released by Norwich, playing in their youth system, and signed a professional contract in March 1999.[2] He made his first team debut in the FA Cup third round against Notts County in 2004 and later that season won a League Cup winners medal.
He had loan spells at several clubs; in the 2001–02 season he played two games for Irish club side Shelbourne, He made his début against local rivals Bohemians at Dalymount Park and conceded 4 goals in a 6–4 victory one of which was direct from his own goal kick. Later he had loan spells at Stockport County and Blackpool. In the 2005–06 season, playing for Middlesbrough, Jones saved a Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty which left the match against Manchester United level at 0–0.
In August 2006, Jones was loaned out to Sheffield Wednesday for a period of three months. He made a somewhat up-and-down start to his loan spell, making some vital saves as well as conceding penalties in successive games against Plymouth Argyle and Leeds United. On 21 October, his own fans turned on him and attacked him by throwing coins and other missiles during the home game against Queens Park Rangers.[4]
With his mentor in Mark Schwarzer moving to Fulham, Jones became first choice goalkeeper at Middlesbrough. He picked up an injury in the second game of the 2008–09 season, and subsequently missed the next two games. Jones regained his place in the Middlesbrough first team in January 2009 and remained first choice as Middlesbrough were relegated from the Premier League. Another pre-season injury saw him miss the start of the season but he regained his place after new signing Danny Coyne conceded 5 against West Bromwich Albion. He remained in the Boro side for the rest of the season, although they failed to gain promotion from the Championship.
On 17 August 2010, Jones joined Liverpool F.C. in a deal worth £2.3 million. He qualifies as a "home-grown" player under the new Premier League rules.[5] On 19 August, Jones watched Liverpool's UEFA Europa League play-off 1st leg tie at Anfield from the directors' box, along with captain Steven Gerrard, Emiliano Insua, Alberto Aquilani and Dirk Kuyt. He was handed the number 1 shirt after goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri left the club on 23 August, ahead of Liverpool's clash with Manchester City. Jones made his unofficial début in Jamie Carragher's testimonial against an Everton XI, and impressed with a string of saves.[6] Jones made his debut for Liverpool in the League Cup 3rd Round tie against Northampton Town on 23 September 2010. The game ended 2-2 after extra time before Liverpool lost on penalties. A couple of weeks later, Jones injured his shoulder in training, and would be out for up to a month. Reserve goalkeeper Martin Hansen took his place on the bench until Jones was back fit as Liverpool's other backup goalkeeper Péter Gulácsi was on loan at nearby club Tranmere Rovers. He made his second start for the club on 15 December 2010 in a Europa League game against Utrecht, getting his first clean sheet for the Reds. Unfortunately for Jones this was to be his last game of the 2010-2011 season.
At the end of March, Jones joined on loan to Derby for the remainder of the 2010-11 season.[7] Jones made his debut in a 4-1 loss to Cardiff and went on to concede 16 goals in his 7 games at Derby, including another four against Burnley (2-4) and three against Norwich City (2-3). He came in for criticism from Derby manager Nigel Clough after his mistake let Bristol City take an early lead in Derby's final home game of the season, in a match the club eventually lost 2-0. It turned out to be Jones' last Derby game[8] He was an unused substitute in Derby's 2-1 defeat at Reading on the last day of the Championship season before returning to Liverpool, after being replaced by academy goalkeeper Ross Atkins.[9]
Jones received his first senior international call up on 5 February 2007 to replace Mark Schwarzer in a friendly match.[10] He made his first senior international start on 2 June 2007 against Uruguay. He was part of Australia's début campaign in the 2007 Asian Cup, but he did not feature in any of their matches. Additionally, he was selected as one of the three goalkeepers in Australia's final 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup,[11] but he left the squad to return to his family following news of his son being diagnosed with leukemia,[12] and he did not return to the tournament.[13]
Jones's six year old son Luca Jones died on 18 November 2011 after a year-long battle with leukemia.[14] Liverpool's players and staff wore black armbands as a mark of respect in their subsequent 2-1 victory over Chelsea.[15]
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