Charles Jones (12 December 1899 – April 1966) was a Welsh international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er. Born in

Troedyrhiw Troed-y-rhiw (, translation: foot of the slope) is a large community (Wales), community village in the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. Its population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 5,296 ...

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

, Jones started his career at Cardiff City, but was released in the summer of 1921 after just one appearance, a 1–0 defeat to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. He joined

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

, and in his first season at the club ( 1921–22) won a

Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated to ...

medal and promotion to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. He moved in March 1923 to First Division

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

, but the club were relegated to the Second Division soon after he joined; Jones spent another two seasons with the Latics in the second flight, and then joined fellow Second Division side

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in the summer of 1925. Jones steadily made a name for himself as a talented

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

with Forest, making over 100 appearances for them in three years. It was also while there that he picked up the first of his eight caps for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, excelling in a 3–1 victory over

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

on 1 March 1926. In addition, he went on to captain his country several times. Jones was signed by

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful managers in the early 20th ...

for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in May 1928, and often played as one of the forwards as Chapman introduced the

WM formation In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

. He missed only three league games in 1929–30, although he was not selected for the Gunners' 1930

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

-winning side. However, Jones proved his versatility by moving to right half, and became known as a tenacious ballwinner and committed tackler in the Arsenal midfield. With Arsenal he won three First Division winners' medals (in 1930–31, 1932–33 and 1933–34), and played in the 1931–32 FA Cup final (which Arsenal lost controversially to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

). He also won the

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

and

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

. Towards the end of his career his age was starting to catch up with him, and competition for midfield places was fierce; with players such as

Bob John Robert Frederick John (3 February 1899 – 17 July 1982) was a Welsh football player and coach. Born in Barry, John played for Barry Town and Caerphilly, before joining English club Arsenal, who signed him, against stiff competition, in Jan ...

and

Frank Hill Frank Robert Hill (21 May 1906 – 28 August 1993) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager. Playing career Forfar and Aberdeen Hill was born in Forfar and started his career at Forfar Athletic F.C., Forfar Athletic, jo ...

in the Arsenal squad, Jones only played 16 matches in 1932–33. However his knowledge of the game and tactical sense were still appreciated by Arsenal managers Herbert Chapman and Joe Shaw; this meant he was a regular in the 1933–34 season, at the end of which he retired from the game, at the age of 34. In all he played 195 games for Arsenal, scoring eight goals. Jones was manager of

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

from May 1934 to December 1935.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Charlie 1899 births 1966 deaths Footballers from Merthyr Tydfil Cardiff City F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Notts County F.C. managers People from Troed-y-rhiw Sportspeople from Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Wales international footballers Welsh footballers Association football wingers Date of death missing Place of death missing Welsh football managers FA Cup Final players