Gary Steven Jones (born 10 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer and first team coach of

Marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

. As a player, he was a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and makeshift midfielder from 1993 until 2008 for Tranmere Rovers, Nottingham Forest and Grimsby Town. In 2008 after retiring from the playing side of the game he has since held various positions on the coaching staff at Colwyn Bay,

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, Stockport County and Altrincham.

Playing career

Gary Jones started his career as a trainee at Tranmere Rovers in 1993, and he was a commanding force for the club, which in turn saw him move to Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2000. Whilst at Tranmere he played in the

2000 Football League Cup Final The 2000 Football League Cup Final was played between Leicester City, in their third final appearance in four years, and First Division side Tranmere Rovers at Wembley Stadium on 27 February 2000. It was the 34th and last League Cup Final to be p ...

. However, after playing only a brief role in first team affairs at Forest, he re-joined Tranmere in 2002, initially on loan before he made the move permanent. Jones once again played a vital part in the Rovers squad, and remained a regular at

Prenton Park Prenton Park is a large outdoor seated association football stadium in Birkenhead, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers, as well as Liverpool's women and reserves teams. The ground has had several rebuilds, with the most recent o ...

until he was released in June 2005. He joined Grimsby Town on trial a month later and after a slow start to the 2005–06 season, due to lack of fitness, Gary provided vital goals in Grimsby's ultimately unsuccessful promotion push. He was leading goal scorer with 17 goals in all competitions and formed a very effective partnership with Michael Reddy who scored 14 goals. He was seemingly going to miss the playoff final due to a 90th minute red card in the second leg of the semi-final, but this was rescinded on appeal. He signed a new one-year deal at Grimsby Town in the summer of 2007. He enjoyed a great rapport with the fans, and his whole-hearted displays made him a big favourite. He played most of the 2007–08 season with an injury (including an appearance as a substitute at Wembley as Grimsby lost out to MK Dons in the Football League Trophy final). Jones underwent surgery to improve his troublesome injury, but left Grimsby due to family reasons and then eventually retired.

Management career

On 24 September 2008, it was announced that Jones was the new assistant manager at

Colwyn Bay Football Club Colwyn Bay Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pel-Droed Bae Colwyn) is a football club based in Old Colwyn in north Wales. They are currently members of the Cymru North, the second tier of the Welsh football pyramid. Nicknamed the Seagulls, but also know ...

. On 21 May 2010 he returned to his home town and was appointed assistant manager of

the new club who were formed out of the liquidation of Chester City. In January 2014 he was appointed caretaker manager of Chester following the departure of Neil Young. He has since worked at Stockport County, Altrincham and

References

External links

*
Football Heroes Profile
– Nottingham Forest {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Gary 1975 births Living people Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players English men's footballers Grimsby Town F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Chester Chester F.C. managers English football managers Men's association football forwards Marine A.F.C. non-playing staff