Graeme Jones

Graeme Anthony Jones (born 13 March 1970) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a forward.

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

Graeme Jones
Personal information
Full name Graeme Anthony Jones[1]
Date of birth (1970-03-13) 13 March 1970[1]
Place of birth Gateshead, England
Position(s) Forward[1]
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1992 North Shields ?
1992–1993 Bridlington Town ? (21)
1993–1996 Doncaster Rovers 92 (26)
1996–1999 Wigan Athletic 96 (44)
1999–2002 St Johnstone 41 (7)
2002–2003 Southend United 21 (2)
2003–2004 Boston United 36 (7)
2004–2005 Bury 3 (1)
2005 Clyde 13 (2)
2005–2006 Hamilton Academical 13 (3)
Total 315 (113)
Teams managed
2019–2020 Luton Town
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

His playing career, which spanned between 1991 and 2006, included spells at North Shields, Bridlington Town, Doncaster Rovers, Wigan Athletic, St Johnstone, Southend United, Boston United, Bury, Clyde and Hamilton Academical.

He went into coaching in 2007, in which he became the assistant manager of Swansea City. Jones is notable as being the assistant to Roberto Martínez between 2007 and 2018, where he enjoyed spells at Swansea, Wigan Athletic, Everton and the Belgian national team. After leaving Belgium in 2018, he worked as assistant manager of Darren Moore at West Bromwich Albion, a role he held until March 2019.

Jones was appointed at his first managerial position at newly promoted Championship club Luton Town in May 2019. He left the position in April 2020 by mutual consent. He is currently a coach at Newcastle United.

Playing career

Born in Gateshead,[1] Jones began his career in 1991 with North Shields, then moving to Bridlington Town in 1992, before earning a £10,000 move to Doncaster Rovers. He then joined Wigan Athletic in 1996, after scoring 30 goals in 3 years at Doncaster. He became an instant success with the Latics, scoring 31 league goals in his first season, which remains a Wigan record to this day.[2] He also got a total of 4 hat-tricks this season. Jones went on to score 18 goals in the next two seasons, before joining Scottish side St Johnstone, on a £100,000 deal. Whilst at Wigan he also helped them win the 1998–99 Football League Trophy, for the final of which he was an unused substitute.[3]

Jones scored on his debut for St Johnstone, but his time with Saints was disrupted by injury. He returned to England in 2002 to sign for Southend United.[4] He joined Boston United in 2003,[5] before signing for Bury in 2004,[6] where he scored on his debut against Yeovil Town.[7] He also had injury problems at Bury, and after only 3 appearances in 6 months, he returned to Scotland to join Clyde.[8] After scoring the winning goal on his debut, he found the net on one more occasion for the Bully Wee, before he joined Hamilton Academical in July 2006. Jones was forced to retire in March 2006 due to injury, and became assistant manager at Accies.[9]

Coaching career

In March 2007, Jones joined the coaching staff of then-League One side Swansea City, becoming the new assistant manager of recently appointed head coach Roberto Martínez.[10] He followed Martínez to Wigan Athletic in June 2009, where he spent a period of four seasons working alongside Martínez.[11]

2012 saw Jones linked to the vacant managerial position at former side Swansea, now in the Premier League, after the departure of Brendan Rodgers, who left to take charge of European giants Liverpool.[12] However, talks between Jones and the club broke down, with Michael Laudrup subsequently taking over at the Liberty Stadium.[12] Championship club Burnley later expressed their interest in appointing Jones as their new manager as successor to Eddie Howe, in which Martínez admitted he was "not worried" with the recent speculation; no move was materialised and the job went to Sean Dyche.[13]

In July 2013, Jones relocated once again to Everton, continuing as assistant manager to Martínez, after Wigan were relegated from the Premier League.[11] He left upon Martínez's sacking in May 2016,[14] before being announced as Martínez's assistant coach of the Belgium national team in August,[15] working alongside former Arsenal player Thierry Henry.[16]

After huge speculation regarding Jones' future as Belgium coach, having been linked with various managerial positions within previous months, on 1 August 2018, it was announced that Jones would join newly relegated Championship club West Bromwich Albion as assistant coach to recently appointed head coach Darren Moore, which resulted in him leaving his position with Belgium, after a two-year spell, with this move meaning that this was the first time that Jones had not coached alongside Martínez for the first time since the beginning of his coaching career in 2007.[17] On 10 March 2019, he was relieved from his duties with immediate effect, shortly following the dismissal of Moore, after a negative run of results.[18]

After his stint managing Luton, Jones was appointed as a first-team coach at AFC Bournemouth under newly appointed manager Jason Tindall.[19]

He left Bournemouth in January 2021 to take up a coaching position at Newcastle.[20]

Managerial career

Luton Town

On 2 May 2019, it was confirmed that Jones had agreed to become the new permanent manager of newly promoted Championship club Luton Town, signing onto a three-year-contract, taking effect from 7 May.[21] Jones replaced caretaker manager Mick Harford,[22] who had been in charge of the club from January whilst they were in League One,[23] going on to finish as divisional champions,[24] after their previous manager Nathan Jones left to take charge of Stoke City in the Championship.[25] During the off-season, Jones brought in six new additions to his squad, including Martin Cranie, Callum McManaman, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Brendan Galloway, Simon Sluga and Jacob Butterfield.[26][27][28][29][30][31] His first game as a manager came on 2 August, a 3–3 thriller against Middlesbrough.[32] However, by the end of 2019, Luton were sat 23rd in the Championship, sitting in the relegation zone.[33] On 24 April 2020, with football suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic and having achieved only 10 league wins all season, leaving the club lying in 23rd and in the relegation zone, Jones left his post by mutual consent.[34]

Personal life

Jones' wife, Debbie, is from Stockton-on-Tees; she and her family support local football team Middlesbrough.[35]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 24 April 2020[36]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record
PWDLWin %
Luton Town 7 May 2019 24 April 2020 41 12 5 24 029.3
Total 41 12 5 24 029.3

References
  1. "Graeme Jones". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  2. Club Honours Wigan Athletic FC – Retrieved 28 August 2008
  3. "Auto Windscreens Shield Final - Sunday 18th April 1999". cockneylatic.co.uk. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
  4. Jones completes Shrimpers move BBC Sport – Retrieved 28 August 2008
  5. Jones joins Boston BBC Sport – Retrieved 28 August 2008
  6. Jones signs deal at Bury BBC Sport – Retrieved 28 August 2008
  7. "Bury 3–1 Yeovil". BBC. 6 August 2004. Retrieved 17 February 2013.
  8. Clyde sign Jones as Walker leaves BBC Sport – Retrieved 28 August 2008
  9. Accies' Jones is retiring early BBC Sport – Retrieved 28 August 2008
  10. Jones leaves Accies for Swansea BBC Sport – Retrieved 28 August 2008
  11. "Everton: Graeme Jones appointed Roberto Martinez's assistant". BBC Sport. 4 July 2013.
  12. Graeme Jones Swansea talks break down?, Sports Mole, retrieved 10 May 2019
  13. Roberto Martinez not worried by Graeme Jones speculation, Sports Mole, retrieved 10 May 2019
  14. "Roberto Martinez: Everton sack manager after three years in charge". BBC Sport.
  15. "Roberto Martinez: Belgium appoint ex-Everton manager as head coach". BBC Sport. 3 August 2016.
  16. "Thierry Henry joins Belgium coaching staff as assistant to Roberto Martínez". The Guardian. 26 August 2016. Archived from the original on 27 August 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  17. "Albion confirm Jones appointment". www.wba.co.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  18. "Darren Moore: West Brom Albion sack head coach after Ipswich draw". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  19. "Purches Named Assistant, Jones Joins". AFCB. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
  20. "Jones departs for Newcastle". AFCBNEW. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  21. "Graeme Jones: Luton Town appoint former Belgium and West Brom assistant as manager". BBC Sport. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
  22. "Mick Harford takes charge of Luton Town for Sunderland game". Sky Sports. 10 January 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  23. "Luton Town: Mick Harford to remain manager for rest of season". BBC Sport. 12 February 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  24. "Luton Town crowned League One champions". Sports Mole. 5 May 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  25. Nicholson, Fraser (9 January 2019). "Jones named new manager". Stoke City F.C. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
  26. Simmonds, Mike (28 June 2019). "Luton sign Blades defender on a free transfer". Luton Today. Retrieved 28 June 2019.
  27. "Callum McManaman: Luton Town agree deal for Wigan winger". BBC Sport. 4 June 2019. Retrieved 4 June 2019.
  28. Simmonds, Mike (1 July 2019). "Luton sign former Manchester United and Millwall midfielder". Luton Today. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  29. Simmonds, Mike (3 July 2019). "Luton snap up Everton defender on a free transfer". Luton Today. Retrieved 3 July 2019.
  30. Simmonds, Mike (19 July 2019). "Hatters smash club record transfer fee to sign Croatian goalkeeper Sluga". Luton Today. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  31. "Jacob Butterfield: Luton Town sign Derby County midfielder". BBC Sport. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  32. "Luton Town 3–3 Middlesbrough: Championship season starts with thrilling draw". BBC Sport. 2 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  33. "Bristol City 3–0 Luton Town: Robins return to winning ways against Hatters". BBC Sport. 29 December 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
  34. https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11717/11978301/graeme-jones-leaves-luton-by-mutual-consent
  35. "Graeme Jones want to 'upset the applecart' vs Middlesbrough in a game that's special for 3 reasons - Teesside Live". Gazette Live. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  36. "Managers: Graeme Jones". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
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