Kenneth Jones (26 June 1944 – 27 December 2012) was an English

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 ...

. The grandson of Aaron Jones, Jones played for several clubs in The Football League during his career, including

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in , at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The name derived from their former hom ...

, Southampton, and

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

. He played primarily as a full-back.

Playing career

Originally from Yorkshire, Jones began his career as 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 ...

for the team of Monckton Colliery, where he was an apprentice electrician at the time; he later converted to a full-back and, despite interest from

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

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

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

, joined

in September 1961 at the age of 16. Making over 100 appearances for the team as a teenager, Jones was dubbed by then-manager

Jimmy Scoular James Scoular (11 January 1925 – 19 March 1998) was a Scottish football player and manager. Known as a tough, combative player with precise passing skills, Scoular made over 600 appearances in the Football League with Portsmouth, Newcastle U ...

as "the best full-back in the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

". Jones's performances at Bradford Park Avenue attracted the attention of Southampton manager Ted Bates, who brought him to the club in June 1965, paying £15,000 for the defender. He made his debut for the club in September against Coventry City, but despite being able to play on either the left or the right of defense he struggled to cement a place in the team due to the competition provided by Stuart Williams, Tommy Hare, and David Webb. He made seven appearances at right-back in the 1965–66 season, which saw the Saints promoted to the First Division. In his first season in the top flight, Jones made a total of 19 appearances, most of which were at left-back. In his remaining seasons at Southampton, Jones continued to struggle with securing a place in the regular starting lineup, as

Joe Kirkup Joseph Robert Kirkup (born 17 December 1939) is an English former professional footballer who played as a full-back in the Football League for West Ham United, Chelsea and Southampton. Playing career Kirkup played junior football with West Ha ...

and Bob McCarthy added more competition to his regular positions, and at the end of the 1970–71 season he left the club after Bates failed to inform him about interest from other clubs. After leaving the Saints, Jones rejoined old manager Scoular at

for £6,000, but a string of injuries meant he only made a handful of appearances, after which he was released by the club. The final, non-league clubs he played for were Bath City and Basingstoke Town, and he briefly worked as a coach at Olivers Battery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Ken 1944 births English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Bath City F.C. players Basingstoke Town F.C. players English Football League players 2012 deaths People from the City of Wakefield