Paul Jones (born 28 June 1986) is 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 ...

who plays for King's Lynn Town as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

Career

Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient Youth

Born in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

, Kent, Jones began his career with the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

in 2001 before signing for

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

's youth system in 2002. Despite never breaking into their first team, Jones was thought highly of by then youth coach

Alex Inglethorpe Alexander Matthew Inglethorpe (born 14 November 1971) is an English former footballer who played as a forward for Watford, Leyton Orient, Exeter City and Barnet. He is now the Academy Director at Liverpool FC. Playing career Born in Epsom, E ...

Exeter City

When Alex Inglethorpe was appointed manager of

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

side

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

in Autumn 2004, one of his first moves was to bring Paul Jones in on loan. Arriving part way through the 2004–05 season, Jones quickly established himself as City's first choice keeper, making 23 appearances. In January 2005 he played in Exeter's memorable 0–0 draw at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. On 1 July 2005, Inglethorpe acquired Jones from Orient, and signed him to a permanent deal. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Inglethorpe left Exeter and was replaced by new manager

Paul Tisdale Paul Robert Tisdale (born 14 January 1973) is an English professional football manager and former player. He is currently Head of Football Operations at Celtic. As a player, Tisdale represented Southampton, Bristol City, FinnPa, Panionios and ...

. During the pre-season, Jones was forced to compete for his spot with then backup keeper, and former Exeter youth trainee Martin Rice. Days prior to Exeter's first match of the season, Tisdale selected Rice as his first choice keeper. Jones then became Exeter's second choice keeper. He returned to the first-team for the 2007 Conference playoff final, in which he saved a penalty – becoming the first person to do so at the new

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. Exeter failed to win the final though and during the next season, Jones figured mostly as an understudy to Rice's replacement

Andy Marriott Andrew Marriott (born 11 October 1970) is an English-born Welsh professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. He is a journeyman player, having represented various clubs, and has also played for the Welsh national team. Football career M ...

. He was chosen in the first team again for the play-offs and this time, Exeter managed to win the final at Wembley, with Jones keeping a clean sheet. In the 2008–09 season he played in all 46 League Two matches for Exeter City. Also he won the 2008–09 player of the season award for Exeter City after many stunning performances in goal throughout the season.

Peterborough United

On 31 January 2011 Jones joined Peterborough United on loan until the end of the 2010–11.season. He made the move permanent by signing an initial one-year contract on 24 June 2011 to join on a free transfer. He found himself picked as first choice keeper for the majority of the season, as a result Peterborough offered him a new contract but he rejected it.

Crawley Town

On 26 May 2012, it was confirmed that Jones had signed for newly promoted League One side Crawley Town. He made his debut on 14 August, starting in a League Cup match against

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

which ended 2–2, with Crawley winning on penalties by 4–1, and Jones saving two penalties in the shoot-out. After two seasons in League One with Crawley, he was released by at the end of the 2013–14 season. He made 92 league appearances in a Red Devils shirt

Portsmouth

In June 2014 Jones signed for League Two club

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

on a three-year deal. He was manager Andy Awford's first signing as Pompey boss and was the only keeper at

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a association football, football ground in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and is the home of Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth Football Club. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it ...

when joining, after

Trevor Carson Trevor Carson (born 5 March 1988) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Dundee. Born in Killyleagh, Northern Ireland, Carson started his youth career with Killyleagh Boys before moving to Sunderland in 2 ...

's loan expired, whilst both John Sullivan and Phil Smith were released. On 1 February 2016, Jones re-joined

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

on a 28-day loan.

Norwich City

On 4 July 2016, Jones signed for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

on a two-year deal as goalkeeping cover. Jones made his first appearance for the Canaries in the 6–1

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

win over

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

. However, with him being third choice goalkeeper behind

John Ruddy John Thomas Gordon Ruddy (born 24 October 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He is currently a free agent. Ruddy began his career at Cambridge United, before signing for Everton as a 19-year-old. He spent f ...

and Michael McGovern, and later Angus Gunn, this would be his only first team appearance for Norwich. In January 2018, he was loaned to

for the remainder of the season, but again was merely cover for

Christy Pym Christy James Pym (born 24 April 1995) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for side Grimsby Town. Club career Exeter City Pym was born in Exeter, Devon. He came through the youth ranks at his hometown club, Exeter City. Pym ...

and made no first team appearances.

Fleetwood Town

On 2 August 2018, Jones signed for

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

on a one-year deal.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 6 August 2019, Jones signed for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

on a free transfer. On the 24 June 2020, he signed a one-month extension to cover the rest of the 2019/20 season which was delayed due to the coronavirus.

King's Lynn Town

On 1 June 2021, Jones joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side King's Lynn Town on a free transfer, linking up with his former Leyton Orient youth-team manager

Ian Culverhouse Ian Brett Culverhouse (born 22 September 1964) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is currently manager of club St Albans City. Culverhouse began his career with Tottenham Hotspur. He found first team op ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Paul 1986 births Living people Footballers from Maidstone Footballers from Kent English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players King's Lynn Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen