Matt Jones (footballer, born 1980)

For the English professional player, see Matt Jones (footballer born 1986).
Matt Jones
Personal information
Full name Matthew Jones
Date of birth (1980-09-01) 1 September 1980
Place of birth Llanelli, Wales
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position Midfielder
Youth career
1997–2000 Leeds United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2000 Leeds United 23 (0)
2000–2004 Leicester City 27 (1)
2007–2009 Llanelli 23 (1)
National team
1999–2003 Wales 13 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Matthew Jones (born 1 September 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 now attends the Bristol Institute of Modern Music.

Playing career

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 scored only one league goal in his career, in a 2–1 home defeat to Middlesbrough on 17 September 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 tackling 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]

Post football

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]

Jones 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.

References

  1. ↑ "Boro stun Foxes". BBC. 17 September 2001. Retrieved 29 December 2009.
  2. ↑ "Taylor hails Jones as the new Lennon". thisislondon.co.uk. 14 December 2000. Retrieved 25 October 2009.
  3. ↑ "Oster and Jones return for Wales". BBC Sport. 27 January 2003. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  4. ↑ "Jones out for four months". BBC Sport. 2 August 2003. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  5. ↑ "Jones forced to retire". BBC Sport. 4 June 2004. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  6. ↑ "USA sink poor Wales". BBC Sport. 27 May 2003. Retrieved 23 October 2008.
  7. ↑ "Matt Jones, footballer". BBC. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  8. ↑ "Matthew Jones column". BBC Sport. 27 January 2006. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  9. ↑ "Concentration". BBC Wales. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
  10. ↑ "Llanelli get their man". NonLeagueDaily. 12 September 2007. Retrieved 3 December 2008.
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