Murray Jones

Murray Jones
Personal information
Full name Murray Lee Jones[1]
Date of birth (1964-10-07) 7 October 1964
Place of birth Bexley, England
Playing position Forward
Youth career
Southampton
Luton Town
Southend United
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Welling United
Epsom & Ewell
Greenwich Borough
1986–1987 Croydon
1987–1989 Carshalton Athletic 108 (52)
1989–1990 Crystal Palace 0 (0)
1990–1991 Bristol City 0 (0)
1990Doncaster Rovers (loan) 5 (0)
1991 Exeter City 20 (3)
1991–1992 Grimsby Town 28 (3)
1992–1993 Brentford 16 (0)
1993–1994 Sittingbourne
1994 Guangdong Hongyuan 12 (3)
1994–1995 Farnborough Town 19 (2)
1995–1996 Frankwell
1996–1997 Welling United 4 (0)
1997–1998 Sutton United
Teams managed
Crystal Palace (reserves)
2005 Crawley Town (reserves)
2005 Crawley Town (caretaker)
2011–2012 Bromley (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Murray Lee Jones (born 7 October 1964) is an English retired professional football striker, coach and manager who played in the Football League for Grimsby Town, Exeter City, Brentford and Doncaster Rovers.[1] He is currently U16 coach at Millwall.

Playing career

Early years

Jones began his career with spells in the youth systems at Football League clubs Southampton and Luton Town, before being offered an apprenticeship at Fourth Division club Southend United.[2] He signed a professional contract prior to the beginning of the 1982–83 season, but was released without making a first team appearance.[2] Jones dropped into non-league football and played for Welling United, Epsom & Ewell, Greenwich Borough and Croydon, before starring for Isthmian League Premier Division side Carshalton Athletic with 52 goals in 108 appearances for the club.[2]

Crystal Palace

Jones joined First Division club Crystal Palace in October 1989, but failed to make an appearance before departing at the end of the 1989–90 season.[3]

Bristol City

Jones dropped down to the Second Division to sign for Bristol City in August 1990.[3] He failed to make a first team appearance while at Ashton Gate and departed the club in January 1991.[3]

Doncaster Rovers (loan)

Jones finally made his professional debut while on loan at Fourth Division club Doncaster Rovers in October 1990.[4] He made five appearances during his spell.[3]

Exeter City

Jones moved to join Third Division club Exeter City for a £30,000 fee in January 1991 and scored three goals in 20 league appearances before departing at the end of the 1990–91 season.[2]

Grimsby Town

Jones impressed newly-promoted Second Division Division club Grimsby Town sufficiently for the Mariners to pay £50,000 for his services in July 1991.[5] Jones failed to deliver, scoring only three goals in 28 league appearances during the 1991–92 season.[3]

Brentford

Jones signed for newly-promoted First Division club Brentford in a £75,000 deal in July 1992,[6] as a replacement for the departed Dean Holdsworth.[1] He struggled to hold down a place in the team and failed to score in 20 appearances before his contract was cancelled after the Bees' relegation back to Division Two was confirmed at the end of the 1992–93 season.[1][5] Jones' failure to replace Dean Holdsworth's goals in Brentford's only season in the second tier between 1954 and 2013 has seen him named as the club's worst-ever signing.[7][8]

Sittingbourne

Jones signed for Southern League Premier Division side Sittingbourne during the 1993–94 season.[1]

Guangdong Hongyuan

Jones was one of five English players to move to China to sign for Jia-A League side Guangdong Hongyuan for the 1994 season, the inaugural campaign of professional football in the country.[1] He appeared in 12 of the side's 22 league matches, scoring three goals.[9]

Farnborough Town

Jones returned to England to sign for Conference club Farnborough Town in late 1994. He made 19 appearances and scored two goals during the 1994–95 season.

Frankwell

Jones returned to the Far East to sign for Hong Kong First Division League side Frankwell for the 1995–96 season.[10] He failed to inspire the team to more than a mid-table finish.

Return to non-league football

Jones closed out his career back in non-league football in England with Welling United and Sutton United.[11]

Management and coaching career

Crystal Palace

Jones returned to Crystal Palace as a member of the club's academy staff in 1998.[5] He held the positions of U17, U19 and reserve team manager before departing in 2005.

Crawley Town

Jones joined Conference side Crawley Town as first team coach and reserve team manager prior to the start of the 2005–06 season.[5] He was promoted to assistant manager in September 2005, after the sacking of Dave Swindlehurst.[12] The sacking of first team manager Francis Vines the following month saw Jones named as caretaker manager, but he departed the club by mutual consent on 26 October, having yet to preside over a match.[12]

Reading

Jones coached at Championship side Reading's academy during the 2005–06 season.

Fulham

Jones joined Premier League side Fulham as an academy coach in June 2006. He served in the U12, U13 and U14 managerial positions before leaving at the end of the 2010–11 season.

Bromley

In tandem with his role at Fulham, Jones was academy manager at Conference South side Bromley between July 2007 and June 2012.[5] He was also first team boss Mark Goldberg's assistant manager during the 2011–12 season.[13]

Brighton and Hove Albion

Between June and December 2012, Jones coached Championship side Brighton & Hove Albion's U12, U13, U14 and U15 academy players and held the role of U16 manager.

Queens Park Rangers

Jones joined Premier League club Queens Park Rangers as an academy coach in February 2013, assisting U15 coach Fitzroy Lewinson.[14] He progressed to assist to Development Squad Coach Paul Furlong.[15]

Millwall

In 2016, Jones joined League One club Millwall as U16 coach.[16]

Career statistics

Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Doncaster Rovers (loan) 1990–91[4] Fourth Division 5 0 5 0
Exeter City 1990–91[2] Third Division 20 3 20 3
Brentford 1992–93[17] First Division 16 0 0 0 2 0 2[lower-alpha 1] 0 20 0
Guangdong Hongyuan 1994[9] Jia-A League 12 3 12 3
Career total 53 6 0 0 2 0 2 0 57 6
  1. Appearances in Anglo-Italian Cup.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920–2006. Harefield: Yore Publications. p. 89. ISBN 978-0955294914.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jones, Murray – The Grecian Archive". grecianarchive.exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Barry Hugman's Footballers – Murray Jones". hugmansfootballers.com. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Murray Jones profile". Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Croxford, Mark; Lane, David; Waterman, Greville (2013). The Big Brentford Book Of The Nineties. Sunbury, Middlesex: Legends Publishing. pp. 396–397. ISBN 9781906796723.
  6. "Sport in Short: Football". The Independent. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  7. "Football Club History Database – Brentford". Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  8. "Nat backs Ladies' Day". SkySports. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  9. 1 2 "CHINA 1994". hongkongfootie.tumblr.com. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  10. "Season of promise looks good for fans". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  11. Hodgkins, Leila. "Club Year | Clubs | The Non-League Club Directory". www.non-leagueclubdirectory.co.uk. Retrieved 24 October 2017.
  12. 1 2 "BBC SPORT – Football – My Club – Crawley Town – Jones makes mutual Crawley exit". Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  13. Paul Green. "Goldberg excited by Bromley return". News Shopper. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  14. "QPR Contacts and Directory". Archived from the original on 8 November 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  15. "QPR Contacts and Directory". www.qpr.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  16. FC, Millwall. "Who's Who". www.millwallfc.co.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
  17. Croxford, Lane & Waterman 2013, p. 478.
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