Michael Jones (24 March 1947 – 9 August 2022) was an English 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 lea ...

and coach.

Playing career

Jones started his career as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

, then managed by

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

, and moved on to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

in 1969. Having played a key part in County's promotions in 1971 and 1973 he then moved on to

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

later that year and helped the club to the Division Four championship in his first season, before leaving the country.

Managerial career

Jones spent a brief spell as player-coach at now defunct Canadian outfit Ottawa Tigers in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

, before he returned to England in 1976 to fill the manager's role at Kettering Town, initially as player-manager. A successful spell at Kettering saw them in the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

final in 1979 and after losing the final to Stafford Rangers, he had his first taste of league management at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

. Jones spent two seasons at Mansfield before joining his former teammate

Roy McFarland Roy Leslie McFarland (born 5 April 1948) is an English former football manager and player. With Derby County, he played 442 league games, helping him to earn 28 caps for England. Born in Liverpool, McFarland developed his skills at Tranmere Ro ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

as assistant manager. After a brief spell at Derby County together the two men went their separate ways, and after Jones had two years in charge of Halifax Town he then joined Peterborough, initially as

Noel Cantwell Noel Euchuria Cornelius Cantwell (28 February 1932 – 8 September 2005) was an Irish football player and sometime cricketer. Club career Cantwell was born in Cork, Ireland, and was educated at the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers College ...

's assistant, before taking over as manager in 1988. It was at Peterborough that Jones met

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player who is currently football advisor at Torquay United. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed ...

whom he would go on to assist at

from 1989 to 1993, and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

from 1993 to 1995, before joining Plymouth Argyle in 1995, once again as Warnock's assistant. After Warnock left Argyle in 1997 Jones had a short, unsuccessful spell as manager at

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in the area of Milehouse, Plymouth, Devon, England. With a capacity of 17,900, the ground has been the home of Plymouth Argyle Football Club since 1903, and was also used between 1900 and 1903 by Argyle Athlet ...

and on being dismissed in 1998 had a spell managing the

Brunei Brunei, officially Brunei Darussalam, is a country in Southeast Asia, situated on the northern coast of the island of Borneo. Apart from its coastline on the South China Sea, it is completely surrounded by the Malaysian state of Sarawak, with ...

national team, performing an amazing feat in getting the tiny

Borneo Borneo () is the List of islands by area, third-largest island in the world, with an area of , and population of 23,053,723 (2020 national censuses). Situated at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, it is one of the Greater Sunda ...

province to their first ever

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup (), formerly known as Malaya Cup, is an annual football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popularity as the country's oldest cup tournament, i ...

final in 1999, beating

Sarawak Sarawak ( , ) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia. It is the largest among the 13 states, with an area almost equal to that of Peninsular Malaysia. Sarawak is located in East Malaysia in northwest Borneo, and is ...

by two goals to one to collect the trophy. Jones remained with Brunei until 2002, returning to England for spells as assistant manager at Nuneaton Borough, and then manager of Telford United before financial problems led to the collapse of the club. In 2005, Jones resumed his partnership with Warnock at Sheffield United. The club was promoted to the Premiership at the end of Jones' first season at the Blades, but was relegated again twelve months later, with both Warnock and Jones stepping down. After this the two men spent a short period out of football before joining Crystal Palace in October 2007, with the Eagles turning from relegation battlers to play-off semi-finalists under Warnock and Jones' stewardship. On 1 March 2010. Jones joined

at London rivals

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

, as assistant manager. However, on 8 January 2012, Warnock was sacked as manager of QPR. Jones and

Keith Curle Keith Curle (born 14 November 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player, who was most recently the manager of National League side Hartlepool United. He played as a centre back from 1981 to 2005, notably in the Prem ...

were also reported to have left the club. On 19 February 2012, new

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

manager, Neil Warnock confirmed Jones would be his assistant manager. On 1 April 2013 When Warnock was sacked as manager of Leeds United Jones left the club. On 21 June 2013, Jones was appointed assistant manager at Notts County. He left the club following Chris Kiwomya's departure.

Later life and death

Jones acted as a director of the fine jewellery brand MJ Jones from 2016 to 2021, founded by Jones's son, Matthew J. Jones, in 2012. Jones died in August 2022, at the age of 75.

References