Steven Gary Jones (born 17 March 1970) is an English former professional

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 ...

who played as a striker.

Career

Jones started his footballing career at

non-League Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

clubs Basildon United and then

Billericay Town Billericay Town Football Club is a football club based in Billericay, Essex, England. The club are currently members of and play at New Lodge. They are the second most successful club in FA Vase history, having won the competition on three o ...

. He had been working at a local soap factory and earning £250 per week before moving to West Ham who increased his wages to £400 per week. He moved to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

in November 1992 for £22,500 rising to £45,000 based on appearances, and made his first senior appearance for the East London club in a reserve fixture against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

on 17 November 1992. He made his first-team debut away to

Cosenza Calcio 1914 Cosenza Calcio 1914 was a professional Italian football club based in Cosenza, Calabria. It starts in 1912 when was founded Società Sportiva Fortitudo (the year 1914 is a reference to the first historic match played by the club on 23 February 1 ...

in the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup ( it, Coppa Anglo-Italiana, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) is a defunct European football c ...

on 8 December 1992, and set up the only goal of the game for

Clive Allen Clive Darren Allen (born 20 May 1961) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for seven different London clubs. Allen was a prolific striker throughout his career ...

. His first goal for the club came against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in a 1–1 home draw on 6 February 1993, ten minutes into his full

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

debut. Jones also scored against Peterborough three days later in a 2–1 home win for the Hammers. Jones made just three Premier League starts and five appearances as a substitute during the 1993–94 campaign before joining

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

in October 1994. Despite his lack of action that season, Jones is remembered by West Ham fans for opening the scoring in a memorable 1–4 away win against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Easter Monday 1994, after coming on as a substitute in the first half. In January 1996, after a successful spell at the south coast club, West Ham manager

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

again brought the player back to Upton Park for a fee of £200,000, with

Mark Watson Mark Andrew Watson (born 13 February 1980) is a British comedian and novelist. Early life Watson was born in Bristol to a Welsh mother and English father. He has younger twin sisters and a brother, Paul. He attended Bristol Grammar School, wh ...

moving to Dean Court. During his second spell with West Ham he was partnered with Mike Newell as twin strikers. With the pair both failing to score goals manager Redknapp bought

Paul Kitson Paul Kitson (born 9 January 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He notably played in the Premier League for Newcastle United and West Ham United, as well as in the Football League with Leicester Cit ...

and

John Hartson John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and BT Sport. As a player he was a striker, notably for Scottish club Celtic where his time ...

to provide the goals needed to keep West Ham from relegation and Jones was allowed to leave. He joined

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

in February 1997 for £400,000. He played in their dramatic win over Sunderland in the 1998 play-off final, winning 7–6 on penalties after a 4–4 draw. He had been nominated as the eighth penalty taker, if required. After another short spell at Bournemouth, Jones moved to

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

for fee of £425,000 and then had loan spells at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

and

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. He became player-coach for Isthmian League team

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed ...

in June 2002. Jones was forced to retire from professional football due to injury.

Personal life

Jones is the founder of Langdon Pumas, a youth football club in

Basildon Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159. It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...

References

External links

Steve Jones
at Soccerbase {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Steve 1970 births Living people Sportspeople from Cambridge English footballers Men's association football forwards Basildon United F.C. players Billericay Town F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Hornchurch F.C. players Association football coaches