Eric Jones (born 23 June 1931 in

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the 2011 census to 11,678. Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few mi ...

) is an English former

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 ...

player, who played for

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

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 ...

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

and

Lancaster City Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Footb ...

in the 1950s and early 1960s. Jones nearly signed for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, but he had to do

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

in the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. Following the completion of his National Service, Jones signed for Preston North End. Eric was born in Ulverston, but was brought up in Preston and was a keen PNE supporter. Eric was an understudy to

Tom Finney Sir Thomas Finney (5 April 1922 – 14 February 2014) was an English international footballer who played from 1946 to 1960 as a winger or centre forward for Preston North End and England. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of the spor ...

. Playing in the same position as Finney, a regular

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 ...

international, meant that Eric found it extremely difficult to get regular first team appearances. Jones was unlucky not to play in the

1954 FA Cup Final The 1954 FA Cup Final was a football match between West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End, played on 1 May 1954 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. It was the final match of the 1953–54 staging of English football's primary cup com ...

, which Finney played in despite not being fully fit. Jones had deputised for Tom Finney against West Bromwich Albion only three weeks before at The Hawthorns and in his own words "had played well". In fact Eric says that after the game Len Millard came up to him and said "Good match son, I can see who has been training you", referring to the fact that he was playing on the right wing with a left foot, similar to Finney. Jones was friendly with

Peter Higham Peter Higham (born 8 November 1930) is an English former footballer who played as a forward. Born in Wigan, Higham served in the Royal Marines as part of his National Service, making one appearance for Portsmouth as an amateur in 1950. He la ...

and he followed him to

. Jones went on to play for

and

in the remainder of his career.

References

by Trusupporter.com

External links

* His Chapter 'My Football Career' can be seen at Trusupporter.com in the section relating to true supporters of Preston North En

* His videos including 'Destroying the Myth' where he names Wilf Mannion as the best 'Inside Right' according to Sir Tom Finney can be seen her

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Eric 1931 births Living people Accrington Stanley F.C. (1891) players Notts County F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Southport F.C. players Lancaster City F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football wingers English men's footballers Sportspeople from Ulverston Footballers from Cumbria Military personnel from Cumbria 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel Royal Air Force airmen