Chris Jones (born 12 September 1989) is a Welsh

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a winger for Afan Lido. He has previously played for Swansea City,

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

, Neath,

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...

and Gloucester City.

Career

Swansea City

Born in Swansea, Jones progressed through the Swansea City youth ranks and signed his first professional contract in 2006 lasting two and a half years and made his senior debut for the club against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

in 2006. In July 2007 he trained with

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

with a view to joining them on a season-long loan deal but he was recalled by Swansea to join up with the first team in preparation for the new season. Jones has played for Wales at various youth levels and is currently mainly playing for the under-19 team. However, he was called up to the under-21 squad in February 2007 coming on as a substitute against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. Jones spent the first three months of the 2008/09 season on loan at Conference National side

. He returned to Swansea on 18 November 2008.

Grimsby Town

On 1 July 2009, Jones joined

on trial with a view to a permanent deal being struck. On 18 July, manager Mike Newell offered Jones a permanent contract with the club. Jones officially signed for Grimsby Town on 25 July 2009. After struggling to break into the first team, Jones was made available for loan under new manager

Neil Woods Neil Stephen Woods (born 30 July 1966) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is academy manager at Grimsby Town. As a player, he was a striker from 1983 to 2000 for Doncaster Rovers, Rangers, Ipswich Town, Bra ...

, and in January 2010, Jones signed for

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

side Neath on loan until the end of the 2009–10 season, scoring a hat trick on his debut in a 3–2 win over

Porthmadog Porthmadog (; ), originally Portmadoc until 1974 and locally as "Port", is a Welsh coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd and the historic county of Caernarfonshire. It lies east of Criccieth, south-west of Blaenau Ff ...

. Following the conclusion of the Welsh football season, Jones returned to Grimsby and was ready for selection in Town's final two games of the season. Despite this he was not picked and on 12 May 2010, Jones was one of seven players placed on the transfer list by Neil Woods following their relegation from the Football League. After failing in his task to find a new club in the summer of 2010, Jones was kept on at Grimsby and was handed a squad number for the upcoming 2010–2011 campaign. On 30 July 2010 Jones had his contract cancelled by mutual consent.

Neath

Following his departure, Jones returned to Neath on a permanent deal on 5 August 2010. After playing as a striker during his loan spell, Jones has been converted to a right winger for the 2010–11 season and has provided many assists as well as chipping in with several goals as well as Neath go in search of European football. At the end of the 2010–11 season Jones won the Welsh Premier League Young Player of the Year Award. Jones was also Picked in the Welsh Premier League Dream Team in 2010–11 and 2011–12. Jones left Neath in May 2012 when the club folded.

The New Saints

Jones joined Newport County on trial on 5 July 2012. He however signed for

the following week. After two years with the club, and with his contract with the Saints about to expire, he was again keen to join Newport and went on trial with them again in the summer of 2014.

Gloucester City

On 31 July 2014, Jones joined Gloucester City on a short-term deal.

Port Talbot Town

In January 2015, Jones joined Port Talbot Town.

Thunder Bay Chill

He then joined Canadian team

Thunder Bay Chill Thunder Bay Chill Soccer Club is a Canadian soccer team based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2000, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at Chapples Park S ...

in May 2016, scoring three goals in 14 league matches, also appearing in one playoff match.

Aberystwyth Town

In August 2016 he joined

Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional football team, currently playing in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of football in Wales. They are the only top flight men's football team in Ce ...

Afan Lido

In March 2017 he joined Afan Lido.

Llanelli Town

In July 2017 he joined Llanelli Town.

Carmarthen Town

In May 2019 he joined Carmarthen Town.

Afan Lido (second time)

In January 2020 he re-joined Afan Lido.

Honours

Young Player of the Season:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

* Welsh Premier League Team of the Year:

, 2011–12, 2013–14

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Chris Living people 1989 births Footballers from Swansea Welsh footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Swansea City A.F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Neath F.C. players English Football League players Cymru Premier players The New Saints F.C. players Gloucester City A.F.C. players Afan Lido F.C. players Carmarthen Town A.F.C. players Llanelli Town A.F.C. players Aberystwyth Town F.C. players Thunder Bay Chill players Expatriate soccer players in Canada