Keith Jones (23 October 1928 – 25 August 2007) was a Welsh international

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 le ...

. A

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

, he made 295 league appearances in a 13-year career in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, and won one cap 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 ...

in 1949. He spent May 1946 to July 1957 at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, and made 199 appearances in all competitions, though was usually the club's second choice goalkeeper. He was sold on to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

for £3,500, and helped the "Valiants" to win the Fourth Division title in 1958–59. He moved on to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

in April 1959, before leaving the club the following year.

Club career

Jones played for Stourport Swifts,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, and

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

, before signing with

in May 1946. As

Joe Rutherford Joe Rutherford (20 September 1920 – 27 December 1994) was a footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Southport and Aston Villa. Born in Fatfield, County Durham, Rutherford played as a youth for Chester-le-Street School ...

's understudy, he did not feature in 1946–47, but made 19 appearances in 1947–48, as the "Villans" posted a sixth-place finish in the First Division. He played 13 games in 1948–49 and ten games in 1949–50 as Villa finished 10th and 12th in manager Alex Massie's last seasons in charge. Jones remained the club's back-up goalkeeper under new boss

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the B ...

, playing 15, 11 and 20 matches respectively, as Villa finished 15th in 1950–51, sixth in 1951–52, and 11th in 1952–53. New boss

Eric Houghton William Eric Houghton (29 June 1910 – 1 May 1996) was an English footballer and manager. Eric Houghton was born in Billingborough, Lincolnshire and educated at Donington Grammar School. He signed for Aston Villa as a seventeen-year-old an ...

then made Jones the club's regular custodian, as he featured 34, 41 and 35 times respectively as Villa finished 13th in 1953–54, sixth in 1954–55 and 20th in 1955–56. However, he played just the one game in 1956–57 as Villa finished tenth.

Nigel Sims David Nigel Sims (9 August 1931 – 6 January 2018), known as Nigel Sims, was an English footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aston Villa and Peterborough United in the 1950s and 1960s. Sim ...

was the goalkeeper in the 1957 FA Cup Final victory over

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. In eleven years at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

, Jones played 185 league and 14

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 ...

games. He was sold to

in July 1957 for £3,500. He went straight into the first team, ahead of back-up 'keeper John Poole, and made 46 appearances in 1957–58, the last ever season of

Third Division South The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

football. However, by December 1958 he had lost his place in the team to

Ken Hancock Kenneth Paul Hancock (born 25 November 1937) is an English former football goalkeeper. He is the younger brother of Ray Hancock. He made 442 league appearances in a 15-year career in the Football League. He began his professional career at P ...

, and was transferred to nearby

in April 1959.

Norman Low Norman Harvey Low (23 March 1914 – 21 May 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the son of Scottish international footballer, Wilf Low. A central defender, he played for Newcastle United between 1931 and 1933, before a ...

's "Valiants" went on to finish as champions of the newly created Fourth Division in 1958–59. Harry Ware's "Railwaymen" struggled near the football of the

in 1958–59 and 1959–60, after which point Jones departed

Gresty Road Gresty Road or the Alexandra Stadium, currently known as the Mornflake Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Crewe, Cheshire, England. The home ground of Crewe Alexandra, it has an all-seated capacity of 10,153. History Cre ...

International career

Jones received his sole

cap on 9 November 1949, in a 2–0 defeat to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Port Vale *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

: 1958–59

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Keith 1928 births 2007 deaths Welsh footballers Association football goalkeepers Stourport Swifts F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players English Football League players Wales international footballers