Paul Jones spent 13 years with Bolton Wanderers where he is still remembered as the best centre half never to earn a full England cap, although he was in the England World Cup squad in 1977.
Jones has recently been heavily involved in coaching in Hunan Province in China after stints scouting for Crystal Palace, Hull City and Bolton since his playing career ended in May 1990 with a record of 625 League games under his belt.
Q. How did you, initially, get into the professional game?
A. Being born in Ellesmere Port, my first representative honours were gained with Cheshire boys, and then there was a great time with my long stint at the old Burnden Park with Wanderers before my playing career eased down with Huddersfield, Oldham, Blackpool, Wigan, Rochdale, Stockport and Capetown Spurs where my manager was the legendary Frank Lord. It seems everybody in football has a story to tell about Frank.
Q: What were the highlights of your playing career?
A.There are so many that stick in my mind, notably for Bolton: a great FA Cup semi final game when we lost 2-1 to Everton when I feel I put in one of my best ever performances against the great Goodison Park striker Bob Latchford. We had some great runs with Bolton, winning the Third Division title and promotion in 1973 and then in the Second Division in 1978, pipping Southampton and Spurs by a point.
Q: You certainly played with some great players in that period?
A: There's no doubt about that. The best player I was ever associated with was Frank Worthington in that period and if he was playing today he would have put people like Ronaldo and all the current superstar strikers in the shade. As a centre half it was just a delight to play with and learn so much from such as Warwick Rimmer and Tony Dunne who taught me so much. Warwick was my ‘dad’ in the Wanderers side.
Q. How did he help you?
His guidance at the side of me in the centre of defence was immense, while the former Manchester United star Dunne should have written a ‘gospel on how to defend’. Tony noticed every little nuance in a game, nothing escaped him, you would think he had eyes in the back of his head, and he was always on the spot with advice. He wasn't stingy with his knowledge either. He would always be saying to me to try this and try that, and he was a non-stop fount of advice about how to improve my game.
• More from Paul tomorrow.
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