Jones, Joey (1982-1985)

Joey Jones (1982-1985)

Written by Backbiter in July 2007

We haven’t signed a player from Liverpool since the thirties – a certain Alf Hanson, whose real name was Adolph, but for whatever reason he preferred to be known as Alf. Chelsea’s managers of the past 70 years have either felt Liverpool players weren’t good enough, or maybe they were afraid for their hubcaps. I’m sure they knew our fans would give them a hard time, at least at first.

Twenty five years ago one of our more popular managers did sign a former Liverpool player. Not just any former Liverpool player, but one with a Liverpool tattoo on his forearm, who chose to play in short-sleeved shirts even on the coldest days, with no attempt to conceal it with cosmetic make-up of any sort, as far as I am aware. Before he’d even played a game for us he received hate-mail from a few Chelsea fans. And he managed to get himself sent off on his debut up at Carlisle – to the cheers of both sets of fans.

He clearly had a bit to do to win over the supporters. Paul Canoville had encountered horrendous racist abuse on his first few appearances, but a combination of real skill and a superb attitude eventually silenced the hostile chants and boos. Joey Jones’s problem was that he was never going to win the fans over with his skills. Skill was not his strong point. What he had going for him was an unbelievable attitude – unmatchable enthusiasm and phenomenal commitment.

He joined a Chelsea side that was one of the worst in our history: stuck in Division 2 since relegation under Danny Blanchflower in 1979; no real team spirit; and underachieving, demotivated players. We’d enjoyed one decent season in the previous ten, and this would turn out to be as bad as any. So for a player who had won the European Cup just five years earlier, the move to Chelsea was not exactly stepping back into the big time. A step up from Wrexham, yes, but this wasn’t the Chelsea of the sixties and early seventies, when we were a club with real glamour and style, huge crowds and some memorable successes. In 1982 we were a club in deep trouble.

Joey Jones couldn’t even be persuaded to uproot his family from his beloved North Wales. But John Neal and Ken Bates were prepared to accept his marathon commute as they knew what they were getting for their £34,000 – and he paid them back for their investment many times over.

He was 27 and might have thought his best days were behind him. If he had any doubts about joining us they might have had something to do with an appearance at the Bridge in January 1978, when the European champions were drawn against us in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Wearing 3 but playing at right back, he found himself marking young Clive Walker, who had enjoyed a great few weeks in a side that was starting to string some results together but could not realistically have been expected to give Liverpool a particularly tough game. In one of the shocks of the season we played them off the park to win 4-2 in one of my all-time favourite victories, and Walker tore Joey Jones apart. It was the beginning of the end of his Anfield career and later that year he rejoined Wrexham, where he had started his career, for a club record £210,000.

Right from the start it was obvious he was willing to give everything for the team. He was a whole-hearted, tenacious defender. Tall and bony, not intimidating to look at like his successor at left-back, the monster from Aberdeen Doug Rougvie, but as hard as nails. When he tackled opponents they stayed tackled.

It didn’t take the fans long to warm to him. He would run onto the pitch punching the air to gee them up and struck up a fantastic rapport with the crowd. He didn’t have the talent to turn us into a decent side all by himself (it took a clear-out and some wonderful signings to do that the following summer) but he played a huge part in keeping the team afloat during that dreadful 1982-3 season. There was no contest when it came to selecting the player of the year.

The next season, following the influx of John Neal’s and Iain MacNeill’s brilliant buys like Nevin, Dixon, Spackman and Niedzwiecki, turned out to be better than any of us could have dreamt after we’d just escaped relegation to Division three. For many long-standing fans it was perhaps our most enjoyable season ever, as it had seemed we were destined to remain crap in perpetuity, but almost overnight we were good again – exciting to watch, consistent, committed and constantly improving. Joey Jones was part of a fine back four that included skipper Colin Pates, new signing Joe McLaughlin and returning legend John Hollins, who eventually gave way to converted striker Colin Lee. We were strong, good in the air and well-organised. Jones and McLaughlin won few marks for style on the ball, but they did their jobs expertly, and you could tell they were loving being part of a successful side that had a real future.

In his 78 appearances he only scored twice, but I vividly remember one of them – at Fulham in an amazing 5-3 win. It was a glancing header from a corner to give us a first-half lead, and he ran back up the field going absolutely nuts, as if we’d won the league or the cup or possibly both. We didn’t need his goals that season – Dixon, Speedie and Nevin were all prolific, and promotion was a formality.

Coming to Chelsea to join John Neal was a reunion for Joey Jones, who had played under him at Wrexham in the seventies. He started to feel really at home when former Wrexham teammate Eddie Ned joined a few months after him. And he was in seventh heaven when John Neal signed his big mate Mickey Thomas early in 1984 – a deal that was the finishing touch to the side that went on to clinch the second division title. He at last had someone to share the long drives down the motorway and to sleep rough with in the groundsman’s room at the Bridge when they couldn’t face the traffic.

Both players enjoyed every minute of their time together at Chelsea, and look upon it as one of the happiest and most rewarding times of their long and eventful careers. I remember reading a report on the 5-0 win over Leeds when we sealed promotion. Joey Jones was asked how the feeling compared with other highlights of his career and he replied: “Nothing – and I include winning the league and European Cup with Liverpool – nothing has given me more pleasure in football than this”.

Things were never as good for him again at Chelsea. We spent £300 000 to bring in Doug Rougvie, supposedly to strengthen the side, but while he added strength he certainly didn’t add skill or stability to the back four, and like many fans I really missed seeing Joey Jones at left back. You couldn’t blame him for finding the traveling tough, especially when he was no longer playing regularly, and eventually both he and Mickey Thomas moved on, with Joey joining Huddersfield in 1985 (It was said that John Hollins had given him an ultimatum about moving closer to London and that Joey had refused).

After two years he ended up back at Wrexham, where he played another 132 times until his retirement in 1992, after almost 600 league appearances.

His Wales career set a record for international caps – 71 -until it was beaten by another former Chelsea Welshman, Peter Nicholas. He played in just as many finals of major tournaments as other Welsh legends such as Mark Hughes, Ian Rush and Ryan Giggs ( zero). Well, he would have played in two World Cup Finals but for some scandalous refereeing decisions that went Scotland’s way in 1978 and 1986, but like me I bet he’s not at all bitter about that.

He moved into coaching with the club until –in an unfortunate parallel with John Neal – heart surgery forced him to take a back seat. He remains very much involved, however, and is considered by many to be Wrexham’s greatest ever player. He was even offered the chance to coach Wales’s youngsters by current manager John Toshack, but a fear of flying (aka Bergkamp syndrome) led him to turn the offer down.

According to the Wrexham Evening Leader, “Joey Jones has the distinction of being a terrace hero at two clubs, Liverpool and Wrexham”- a pathetic omission which I hope he takes as an insult to his status amongst Chelsea fans. I can’t think of a better tribute to pay the man than this from Kelvin Barker, the author of ‘Celery! Representing Chelsea in the 1980s’:

“Chelsea would have been relegated at the end of 1982/83 had Joey not signed, and the club would have gone the way of the likes of Aldershot had they been relegated. The most important signing in Chelsea’s history”.