Playing Career
Like most professional managers in the game, Jones enjoyed a career as a player in his early years. He started his professional career with Everton in his home city of Liverpool. He played as a defender with the team for seven years, during which time he represented the English national team at youth and under-21 level.
He left Everton to play for Coventry City in 1981 for a transfer fee of £275,000 – after three seasons he picked up a knee injury which threatened to end his football career.
After recovering from this injury, he played two further seasons for Seiko in Hong Kong and one season for Preston North End before retiring. Jones first went to Hong Kong on 2 April 1981 on loan from Coventry City for the remainder of the season, teammate Jim Hagan had already settled in the squad. At the end of the season, Seiko won the league championship for the third time in a row as well as the Hong Kong FA Cup. After his release from Coventry City, Jones joined Seiko on a permanent basis at the start of the 1982/83 season, playing 22 games for Seiko during the season, including a friendly with a "Brazil Stars Team" on 12 December 1982, the game ended 0–0 and was decided by penalties, Jones did score from the spot, but Seiko went on to lose 2–3. He was also selected in the squad of Hong Kong League XI led by Dutch coach George Knobel, to face French side Monaco on 9 January 1982, which ended in a 1–0 win for the Hong Kong League XI.
After retiring from professional football he went on to become assistant manager at Southport where he also made 2 appearances as a player.
Read more about this topic: Dave Jones (footballer Born 1956)
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