Alfred Jones ( fl. 1885–1915) was

Small Heath Small Heath is an area in south-east Birmingham, West Midlands, England situated on and around the Coventry Road about from the city centre. History Small Heath, which has been settled and used since Roman times, sits on top of a small hill. ...

's first secretary-manager. Appointed in 1892, the year of their admission to the Football League, he oversaw the club winning the inaugural

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

championship, promotion to the First Division the following year, and two further promotions before his retirement in 1908. Jones worked as a manufacturer of

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

. He began acting as unpaid secretary for Small Heath Alliance F.C. in 1885, the year they turned professional. That season they reached the semi-final of the

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 ...

, which brought money into the club and broadened popular awareness of it. He supervised their entry into organised league football in the

Football Alliance The Football Alliance was an association football league in England which ran for three seasons, from 1889–90 to 1891–92. History In 1888, the same year the Football League was founded, The Combination was established by clubs who had been ...

which started in 1889, and their subsequent invitation to join the newly formed

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

of the Football League. It was at this point that Jones became the club's first paid secretary, and in addition took over responsibility for team affairs. In Jones's first season as secretary-manager, Small Heath won the inaugural Second Division championship, though this did not bring automatic

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

; the club were unsuccessful in a

test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

against the bottom club in the First Division,

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial R ...

. The following season the club were promoted via a test match victory over

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...

. Their stay in the top flight was brief, and with relegation came the loss of top players, falling attendances, and consequent reduced income. Despite the club's financial difficulties, Jones was responsible for some excellent players joining. In his 13-year tenure as manager his team were promoted three times, but relegated again three times. After the 1908 relegation, Jones was replaced as secretary-manager by Alex Watson, though he stayed at the club as part-time accountant until the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

References

* * Year of birth missing Year of death missing English football managers Birmingham City F.C. managers Place of birth missing Place of death missing {{England-footy-manager-stub