Gerard Jones (born 24 June 1989) is an English professional football coach, having recently worked as Head of Coaching at

Bristol Rovers F.C. Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

and as an Elite Coach Educator with the

Royal Moroccan Football Federation The Royal Moroccan Football Federation ( ar, الجامعة الملكية المغربية لكرة القدم), (french: Fédérarion Royale marocaine de football) is the governing body of football in Morocco. It was established in 1956. It beca ...

. Jones is a former youth team player at

Halifax Town A.F.C. Halifax Town Association Football Club was an English football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire. They played in the Football League from 1921–1993 and 1998–2002. The club was dissolved in 2008, but reformed that July under the name ...

,Ferrier, Morwenna (6 March 2011)
"Britain's new entrepreneurs: young guns go for it"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. Retrieved on 20 June 2017. and award-winning

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

having set up a football coaching business in early 2009, which he later grew into becoming recognized among the Top 100 Best Business Start-ups in the UK in 2010 by Startups.co.uk. With over 14 years experience coaching in the U.K., U.S., Italy, Norway, Morocco and New Zealand,Vittles, Jack (14 July 2017)
"New Bristol Rovers head of academy coaching aiming to develop players who will play at the club for a decade"
''

Bristol Post The ''Bristol Post'' is a city/regional five-day-a-week (formerly appearing six days per week) newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It was ...

''. Retrieved on 15 July 2017. Belzer, Jares (20 March 2022)
"Gérard Jones Joins Sporting City North as Director of Coaching"
''

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

''. Retrieved on 20 August 2022. his previous roles include being a Director of Coaching in the U.S.,(10 March 2016)
"Soccer: Eastside FC Club announces new coach"
'' Grosse Pointe News''. Retrieved on 31 August 2017. having also worked as a Director of Coaching at Arsenal Soccer Schools, U21s Assistant Coach at Bradford City A.F.C., an Academy Coach at Rochdale A.F.C. and a former

Manager (association football) In association football, the manager is the person who runs a football club or a national team. They have wide-ranging responsibilities, including selecting the team, choosing the tactics, recruiting and transferring players, negotiating pl ...

at Eccleshill United F.C.Bate, Adam (6 July 2017)
"Gerard Jones is a teacher, author and now Bristol Rovers coach at 28"
''

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

''. Retrieved on 6 July 2017. Since leaving Bristol Rovers in 2018, Jones joined

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

as a nationally licensed Instructor, having been identified by USSF to deliver nationally accredited coach education courses which include their 4v4, 7v7, 9v9 and 11v11 In-Person Courses and National D Licence courses through

Eastern New York State Soccer Association The Eastern New York State Soccer Association (ENYSSA) is the governing body of soccer in the eastern half of New York state, specifically the counties east of the Interstate 81 corridor. History ENYSSA was founded in 1913 to serve as an organi ...

. As a published author in communication psychology through the use of Game-calls, Jones has presented at several coaching conferences and events, which includes as a Guest Presenter at the Kentucky Youth Soccer Association "Soccer Learning University" conference in 2020, one of the

United States Soccer Federation State Soccer Association The United States Soccer Federation's State Soccer Associations are the local governing bodies of soccer in the United States. State Soccer Associations exist to govern all aspects of soccer in the United States. They are responsible for administer ...

sharing insight into his 4-Cs Coaching Approach which guides his coaching philosophy. Jones joined the

recruited by Osian Roberts as an Elite Coach Educator (Formateur des Entraîneurs) in Feb 2020. He is currently a Director of Coaching at

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. Belzer, Jares (20 March 2022)
"Gérard Jones Joins Sporting City North as Director of Coaching"
''

''. Retrieved on 20 August 2022.

Coaching career

Jones started his coaching career in schools and community programs, later going on to launch his own coaching business Gerard School of Football. He then coached at various non-league youth and reserve teams, alongside college and university programs, and later became an Academy Coach at Rochdale A.F.C and First Team Manager at Eccleshill United F.C.Whiting, Ian (6 December 2014

''

Telegraph & Argus The ''Telegraph & Argus'' is the daily newspaper for Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It is published six times each week, from Monday to Saturday inclusive. The newspaper has offices in Newhall Way, Bradford, from where its journalists work ...

''. Retrieved on 20 June 2017.Eccleshill United (2 December 2014)

''

Northern Counties East Football League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English association football, football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the English football lea ...

''. Retrieved on 23 June 2017. In March 2016, Jones left England and his role with Bradford City A.F.C. where he was the Assistant U21s Coach through American collegiate soccer academy

RIASA The Richmond International Academic and Soccer Academy (RIASA) is an association football academy based in Leeds, England which was founded in 2010. History RIASA was founded in 2010 and is based at Leeds Beckett University's Headingley campus. It ...

, to become the Director of Coaching at Eastside F.C. in Michigan.Whiting, Ian (19 February 2016

''

''. Retrieved on 20 June 2017. June 2017, Bristol Rovers F.C. announced Jones as Head of Academy Coaching, responsible for the development of the Academy coaching program and coach development across all ages, working with the Academy Manager and Phase Lead Coaches to enhance the efficiency of their programs. In 2011, Jones was listed among the Top 50 brightest and most talented people in the North of England,Willis, Joe (8 January 2012)
"Region's rising stars are honoured by think-tank"
''

The Northern Echo ''The Northern Echo'' is a regional daily morning newspaper based in the town of Darlington in North East England, serving mainly southern County Durham and northern Yorkshire. The paper covers national as well as regional news. In 2007, its t ...

''. Retrieved on 20 June 2017. and in 2014 was also awarded the

Junior Chamber International Junior Chamber International, commonly referred to as JCI, is a non-profit international non-governmental organization of young people between and years old. It has members in about 124 countries, and regional or national organizations in mo ...

U.K. Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) award for his entrepreneurial success and creation of coaching programs with Gerard School of Football. Alongside coaching, Jones is also a published author with his book titled: Let's Talk Soccer. Jones holds the FA UEFA A Licence and FA Advanced Youth Award (12–16) alongside a master's degree in Performance Coaching. He is also studying a PhD in augmented feedback related to how coaches can use verbal feedback in football within a constraints-led approach to guide the visual search of the football player, in order to improve player's learning and performance. Jones is studying a PhD at

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Cr ...

alongside creating a digital tech-startup providing online coach education for coaches, which has already received support from

NatWest National Westminster Bank, commonly known as NatWest, is a major retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank and Westminster Bank. In 2000, it ...

via their Entrepreneur Accelerator programme and the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

's Impulse Programme for High Tech Innovation. Jones is also a Nationally Licensed Instructor for

. In early 2020, Jones joined the

as an Elite Coach Educator under the direction of then National Technical Director Osian Roberts. He later joined MLS

in early 2022 as a Director of Coaching. Belzer, Jares (20 March 2022)
"Gérard Jones Joins Sporting City North as Director of Coaching"
''

''. Retrieved on 20 August 2022.

Coaching career

References

Further reading