Matt Jones (footballer)

For other people named Matt Jones, see Matt Jones (disambiguation).

For another association footballer, see Matthew Robert Jones.

Matt Jones

Personal information
Full name	Matthew Graham Jones
Date of birth	1 September 1980 (1980-09-01) (age 31)
Place of birth	Llanelli, Wales
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Llanelli
Number	27
Youth career
2000–2002	Leeds United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997-2000	Leeds United	23	(0)
2000-2004	Leicester City	27	(1)
2007-2009	Llanelli	29	(0)
National team
1999-2003	Wales	13	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Matthew Graham Jones (born September 1, 1980 in Llanelli, Wales) is a former Welsh international football player, who last played for Llanelli in the Welsh Premier League. He has played centre-midfield for most of his career, though sometimes appeared at right back for Llanelli. He formerly played for Leeds United and Leicester City. He married his childhood sweetheart, Sarah, during the summer of 2002.

Biography

Jones was born in Llanelli, Wales and joined the Leeds United Youth Academy in 1997 at the age of 17. Unable to establish himself as a first team regular he transferred to Leicester City in December 2000 for a fee of £3 million. He has scored only one league goal in his career in a 2-1 home defeat to Middlesbrough on September 17, 2001.^[1]

Intended to be a replacement for Neil Lennon,^[2] his time with Leicester was littered with injuries. He spent a year out with a knee ligament injury^[3] received when tackled by Gary McAllister in Liverpool's 1-0 win against Leicester in January 2002. In August 2003 he trained with Nottingham Forest, but on his return to Leicester three weeks later was ruled out, initially for four further months, with a back injury.^[4]

After numerous operations in a bid to recover Jones decided to retire in 2004 at the age of 23.^[5] His last international game for Wales was a 2-0 away defeat to USA in May 2003, receiving a red card during his 13th appearance.^[6][7]

Since his retirement Jones worked within the sports media including appearances for BBC Sport, Sky Sports and John Barnes Soccer Night and has both written a column on the BBC Sport website^[8] and been featured as part of the BBC Wales website Raise your game series.^[9]

In September 2007, Jones announced he would come out of retirement to play for Llanelli in the Welsh Premier League.^[10]

Matt featured sporadically for Llanelli over 2 seasons, making 23 league appearances, scoring one goal. He has also added appearances in the Welsh Cup Final and the Champions League to his CV.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ "Boro stun Foxes". BBC. 17 September 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/1544585.stm. Retrieved 29 December 2009. 
2. ^ "Taylor hails Jones as the new Lennon". thisislondon.co.uk. 2000-12-14. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/article-1086318-taylor-hails-jones-as-the-new-lennon.do. Retrieved 2009-10-25. 
3. ^ "Oster and Jones return for Wales". BBC Sport. 2003-01-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/wales/2698097.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-03. 
4. ^ "Jones out for four months". BBC Sport. 2003-08-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/leicester_city/3119241.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-03. 
5. ^ "Jones forced to retire". BBC Sport. 2004-06-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/l/leicester_city/3776473.stm. Retrieved 2008-10-23. 
6. ^ "USA sink poor Wales". BBC Sport. 2003-05-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/wales/2938150.stm. Retrieved 2008-10-23. 
7. ^ "Matt Jones, footballer". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/raiseyourgame/sites/inspiration/heroes/pages/matt_jones3.shtml. Retrieved 2010-01-03. 
8. ^ "Matthew Jones column". BBC Sport. 2006-01-27. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4652026.stm. Retrieved 2008-12-03. 
9. ^ "Concentration". BBC Wales. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/raiseyourgame/pages/matt_jones2.shtml. Retrieved 2008-12-03. 
10. ^ "Llanelli get their man". NonLeagueDaily. 2007-09-12. http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?newsmode=FULL&nid=44921. Retrieved 2008-12-03. 

External links

• The Matt Jones Column - BBC Online Sport
• Matt Jones career stats at Soccerbase

Persondata
Name	Jones, Matt
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1980-09-01
Place of birth	Llanelli, Wales
Date of death
Place of death