Anfield had been blessed with some top-class attacking full-backs over the years.
Long before Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson helped redefine the role under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool have enjoyed a succession of skilled operators who have ploughed successful furrows up and down the flanks from the likes of Chris Lawler and Gerry Byrne under Bill Shankly to Phil Neal and Alan Kennedy who both scored European Cup winning goals for the Reds.
Those continent-conquering achievements make it difficult to overlook the latter pair when it comes to the age-old question of picking an all-time LFC XI but there is one candidate whose meteoric rise in the 1990s threatened to make him a serious candidate for such an accolade until injuries cut his career devastatingly short and forced him to retire from the game just as he should have been reaching his peak.
Rob Jones experienced a classic rags-to-riches rise after making one of the great Liverpool debuts just days after moving from Fourth Division Crewe Alexandra as a 19-year-old and, within months, earning an England call-up and FA Cup winners medal before becoming a key element in one of the Reds’ most heralded attacking - if flawed - sides, and more recently has been a big influence in helping one of his successors in the role find his niche.
Jones was following in family footsteps when he made it to Anfield, his grandfather Bill having played 277 games for Liverpool between 1946 and 1954 and been part of the Reds’ first post-war championship winning side alongside the likes of Bob Paisley, Billy Liddell and Albert Stubbins. He would go on to become a scout for the club and was reputed to have discovered Roger Hunt while the future World Cup winner was playing non-league for Stockton Heath as well as later providing reports on a teenage Ian Rush, often taking his grandson with him on scouting missions.
Bill was also responsible for taking young Rob on the Kop for his first match as an eight-year-old, a 2-0 win - fittingly, as it would turn out - against Manchester United at Anfield on Boxing Day 1979, which only further fostered the Reds-mad youngster’s hero-worship of Kenny Dalglish who he would constantly pretend to be when kicking the ball around in the back garden of his Ellesmere Port home. A naturally gifted all-round sportsman, Jones initially started out - perhaps surprisingly to those who remembered his desperately unlucky and ultimately futile attempts to find the net for Liverpool - as a box-to-box midfielder with a penchant for scoring goals for local side Polygon.
Despite suffering from asthma and severe childhood migraines, Jones’s natural talent was spotted by Crewe while playing for Halton Boys and he soon became part of their once-revered youth policy from which talents the likes of David Platt, Danny Murphy, Neil Lennon, Robbie Savage, Craig Hignett and Geoff Thomas also emerged. He had never played right-back before becoming Alex’s second youngest ever player when making his first team debut against Darlington at the age of 16 years and 158 days in April 1988 but his raw pace, defensive instincts and ability to cross made him a natural for the role and he soon became a regular after signing YTS forms and then a pro deal, winning England U17 and U18 honours.
He first got to play at Anfield in September 1990 when Crewe were drawn against Liverpool in the second round of the League Cup. The Cheshire minnows performed creditably, becoming the first side that season to take the lead against the reigning champions who had won their first six league matches before Kenny Dalglish’s men hit back to win comfortably, and Jones was flattered to find himself being linked with a move to Anfield soon afterwards but wrote it off as mere speculation.
Twelve months later, his dreams would become reality. With Graeme Souness having taken over as Reds boss from Dalglish following the former Celtic man’s shock resignation in February 1991, an injury crisis hit Anfield early in the new man’s first full campaign in charge and after watching Jones in another early season League Cup tie, this time against Newcastle, the Liverpool manager swooped.
“We’d heard about a young full-back who could have what it takes to make the step up and I was interested to see what he had to offer”, Souness recalled in Jones’s autobiography, ‘Robbed’. “On this occasion, it didn’t take long for us to realise what a player we had on our hands. Right away I felt Rob was the stand-out performer. He was extremely athletic and very quick. For someone who was so young, he also showed great confidence. I looked towards chief scout Tom Saunders who was with me midway through the action and I could tell by his expression he was thinking the same thing. Rob was worth taking a chance on. We knew Crewe didn’t want a lot of money so I decided to act.”
A £300,000 fee - rising to half a million pounds with appearance add-ons - was swiftly agreed, with the first the 19-year-old defender knew about it being an answer-phone message from Crewe boss Dario Gradi to give him a call.
“I was a bit shocked because he never rang any of us at home, I wasn’t even sure he had my number!”, Jones recalled. “I remember the conversation vividly. I was sitting on the staircase when he told me Liverpool had been in touch and wanted me to go to Anfield the following day and sign for them. I was stunned and struggled to find the words to respond at first. Dario must have taken that to mean I was concerned about leaving Crewe and told me not to worry, adding they would take me back if I didn’t want to go or they weren’t offering enough money. I’m sure my response at the time was polite but inside I was just thinking ‘yeah, right!’ The team I’d supported all my life was interested in me so there was no way I would quibble about money!
“My mind was in a complete whirl. With all respect to Dario, I just wanted to get off the phone and scream. When I finally did hang up, I burst out crying I was that emotional. It was a huge shock more than anything and being a Liverpool fan it was just unbelievable. I used to go to as many Liverpool games as possible and only couple of weeks before I’d been standing on the Kop watching them play. The thought of suddenly going from worshipping all those international stars to playing five-a-side with them at Melwood was just unreal.”
Yet within less than 24 hours that is exactly what the teenager would be doing after quickly accepting Liverpool’s offer to double his £250 a week wages and being handed a pair of boots to take part in the Friday training session alongside stars like Ian Rush, Steve McMahon, Ray Houghton and Steve Nicol who he’d been cheering on from the terraces only weeks before. It would become something of a baptism of fire but proved to Souness the teenager was ready to be thrown straight into the team that Sunday for arguably the biggest game of the season so far, a televised trip to Manchester United.
“This was it, time to impress”, Jones remembered. “The nerves went out the window because I knew I couldn’t be found wanting. I told myself Souness must have thought something of me to put me straight into training alongside all these legendary players. One of the first touches I had was one I’d never forget. Steve McMahon came flying in on me from nowhere and lunged forward with the type of two-faced challenge that would earn an instant red card nowadays. I managed to ride it and just got on with the game and once I got to know him I realised this was just typical of his appetite for football and his way of testing me out to see if I had anything about me. It didn’t faze me and at the end of the session I thought I’d done well.
“The players jumped back on the coach to Anfield but Souness drove me back in his car, mentioned the small matter of Liverpool’s next game at Old Trafford and asked me how I thought I’d cope. I was startled but quickly regained my composure and told him I’d be fine and wouldn’t have a problem. He said he was thinking about putting me in the team to mark Ryan Giggs and asked how I’d cope against his pace. Again I tried to remain as calm as possible and just told him I’d be fine and was ready for it. I managed to keep the tone of voice level but inside the butterflies were whipping up a storm. It was at this moment we arrived back at Anfield. He paused and looked me straight in the eye. I smiled back and held his gaze. He didn’t say anything and just nodded, opened the car door and told me to join the other lads in the canteen. My heart was pounding and I just hoped my expression had told him whatever it was he wanted to see.”
Jones also survived another examination of his temperament when new Reds striker £2.9m British record transfer Dean Saunders helped him accidentally on purpose pour water over his training ground nemesis Steve McMahon’s lunch in a canteen prank and the youngster was given the nod by Souness on the Saturday he would be in the starting XI to face the Red Devils when only a week earlier he had been lining up for Crewe against Gillingham in the Fourth Division. Having gone second in the First Division table after victory over Everton at the end of August, Liverpool had dropped to ninth after a poor September with concerns over the Reds’ form underlined by the blistering start to the season Alex Ferguson’s side had made.
Less than two years earlier, the Scot was thought to be on the brink of the sack after making scant progress following his November 1986 arrival from Aberdeen but, having followed up United’s 1990 FA Cup triumph with the European Cup Winners Cup the following season, his side were targeting a serious bid for the league championship which had been absent from Old Trafford since 1967 and they had already opened up a six-point lead at the top of the table, having won eight and drew two of their first ten matches. Much of the press’s conviction this was year the Red Devils’s near-quarter century title drought would end was based on the emergence of 17-year-old Welsh left-winger Ryan Giggs, who had only made his first-team debut against Everton the previous March but had already shown strong glimpses of the rare talent which would see him finish his career as one of English football’s most decorated players.
“Butterflies and excitement gripped my stomach as I prepared for the biggest moment of my life as the roar of over 40,000 fans sent a tingling sensation throughout my body as we prepared to kick off”, Jones recalled. “Ryan Giggs was already been hailed as the next George Best and the snarling faces of the United supporters that flanked my touchline left me in no doubt they were desperate to see him destroy me. I took a deep breath, this was what I had always dreamed of. Determination and desire surged through me as the adrenaline kicked in and as soon as the referee’s whistle blew, my nerves evaporated. I got a nice touch of the ball early on and then I won a header against Giggs. It gave me great confidence and that’s when your natural ability as a footballer kicks in. A good example came midway through the first half when Giggs rushed to put me under pressure in my own penalty area but I tried a Cruyff turn and managed to get beyond him and clear the ball upfield. He tried to knock it past me and outpace me a couple of times but I was quick and always managed to recover. I don’t know what it was but I just seemed to suit playing against him.
“I think Alex Ferguson must have told Giggs to get at me as much as possible and test me out but as the half time whistle went it was still goalless and as far as I was concerned I’d not been made a mug out of. In the dressing room Souness spoke to the team and after that he tapped me on the back and just said, ‘same again’. Roy Evans told me to keep doing what I was already doing, they didn’t want me to complicate things which was fine by me. We started the second half quite well but I could feel myself getting tired. My body was starting to cramp up and when the late Gary Ablett was sent off just after the hour mark Souness decided he needed fresh legs and replaced me with Mike Marsh. It wasn’t just the running I’d done in the match. The days leading up to the game, knowing I was going to play, had created a tension in my muscles so it was the right call for me to go off.”
The games finished goalless, with United striker Mark Hughes also getting his marching orders for head-butting David Burrows, but all the talk afterwards was of Jones’s incredibly composed debut, Souness saying afterwards "Rob has only been at the club two days before playing a game like this so his performance was a bonus. The right side of defence has been a problem for us but it looks as if this boy is going to be some player" while the Guardian wrote, “The assured performance of Rob Jones, Liverpool's £300,000 signing from Crewe, at right-back was remarkable for a player brought from obscurity only 48 hours earlier. Jones watched everything, shirked nothing and in the end paid for his courage by coming off worse in a tackle with Hughes, giving way to Marsh in the same minute that saw the departure of Ablett.”
The whirlwind nature of the young full-back’s arrival meant with an international break immediately following the Old Trafford clash, because he was cup-tied for the League Cup and not registered in time for the early round of the UEFA Cup, it would be nearly three weeks before he could make his Anfield bow. Jones was more than glad in the meantime to get a run-out on home soil for the reserves which may well have proved invaluable when he almost made a nightmare start against Coventry City at the end of October when he finally got the chance to impress the supporters he’d only recently been standing on the Kop with.
“Even though it was only for the reserves, it was still a proud moment for me to pull on the red of Liverpool at home for the first time. It may have only been a second-string run-out but I was overjoyed and it made me even more eager to sample the atmosphere generated by a packed Anfield in full cry. It felt like an eternity since Old Trafford and when I finally did get onto the pitch my nerves were well and truly jangling again. The sight of the Kop made my mouth dry and I just wanted the game to get underway so I could focus on the task at hand. Ask any player and they will tell you about the importance of a good first touch but that didn’t happen.
“We’d just kicked off and the ball found its way back to Bruce Grobbelaar. He rolled it out to me and I moved forwards towards the halfway line. I tried to lay a pass infield to one of our midfielders but it was intercepted by their winger David Smith who picked up possession and must have thought Christmas had come early because he was suddenly presented with a clear run at goal. I surged through the gears and ate up the ground. Just as he was about to let fly I managed to slide in with a timely block to avert the danger. They appealed for a penalty but I definitely got the ball. I puffed out my cheeks and looked at Bruce who just shrugged and bowled the ball out to the opposite flank. I breathed a huge sigh of relief.”
Ray Houghton’s first-half goal ensured a 1-0 victory which moved Souness’s men up to eighth and hopes the Reds’ indifferent start to the season was behind them were fostered soon afterwards by a memorable UEFA Cup fightback - which Jones had to watch from the stands having not been registered in time - against French side Auxerre, the first time Liverpool had ever overturned a two-goal first-leg deficit in Europe in only their second tie back in continental competition after the six-year Heysel ban. They would go on to reach the quarter-finals before bowing out to Italians Genoa but an embarrassing League Cup exit to third-tier Peterborough United was an indicator of the serious decline the club was about to fall into and, although an improved run of form around the turn of the year led to brief suggestions of an unlikely title bid after an impressive Anfield win over defending champions Arsenal at the end of January moved Souness’s side up to third, defeat to Chelsea on home soil three days later saw First Division form fall away alarmingly and a final league position of sixth, the club’s lowest since 1965.
Hopes of salvaging the season rested with the FA Cup where, after returning to Gresty Road to see off old club Crewe in the third round, Jones and his team-mates struggled past second-tier Bristol Rovers and Ipswich Town after replays and beat Aston Villa at Anfield in the quarter-finals to set up another encounter with a Second Division side Portsmouth in the last four at Highbury. Another humiliating exit loomed when Darren Anderton broke the stalemate to put Pompey ahead in the second period of extra-time before Ronnie Whelan saved the Reds’ blushes three minutes from the end by following in John Barnes’ free-kick which had hit the post and rolled along the goal-line, Liverpool’s campaign being thrown into further turmoil straight afterwards when manager Graeme Souness revealed he required an immediate triple heart by-pass and would miss much of the run-in.
Boot Room stalwart Ronnie Moran took over as caretaker boss and his charges eventually saw off Portsmouth in the Villa Park replay after a penalty shoot-out although much of the shine was taken off that when two days later - on the third anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster - Souness caused outrage after being pictured celebrating his side reaching Wembley on the front page of the S*n, the national newspaper boycotted then as it still is today across Merseyside and beyond for its repugnant and untruthful allegations about the behaviour of Liverpool supporters during the 1989 tragedy in which 97 Reds fans were unlawfully killed. Amid calls for him to be sacked, the manager issued an apology but it only added to the sense the stability and professionalism which had been Anfield’s by-words for decades was rapidly falling away.
Before the Wembley showdown with yet another Second Division side, Sunderland, Liverpool had a chance to end their Anfield season on a high by ending Manchester United’s fading title hopes. Ferguson’s men had looked odds-on to end their long drought but defeats to Nottingham Forest and already-relegated West Ham in the week preceding their trip to Merseyside meant another loss to the Reds would hand the championship to Howard Wilkinson’s Leeds United. Ian Rush, with his first goal against the Red Devils at the 18th time of asking, and substitute Mark Walters late on secured the win which sparked jubilant celebrations on the Kop with Jones - whose stunning debut campaign so far had lacked only his first Liverpool goal - helping keep a second clean sheet against United that campaign but also drawing a sadly accurate prediction during the televised Sunday afternoon encounter.
“We played some superb football that afternoon”, he recalled. “I was enjoying getting forward at every opportunity and got a bit carried away when I hammered a shot that almost flew out of the ground! The match was live on ITV and when I watched it back I had to laugh at my rush of blood. The late Brian Moore was the commentator and summed it up perfectly, saying ‘Rob Jones.. ohhh.. he’s never scored for Liverpool and with shooting like that, he never will’. Little did he know how right he would be!”
However Jones would miss the final league match, a goalless draw away at Sheffield Wednesday, after feeling intense pain in his shins in the hours after the United win and was forced to rest right up until the day before the FA Cup final, at one stage fearing he would miss out on the next ‘biggest game of his life', one he was desperate to play in having first experienced Wembley when his grandfather Bill managed to wangle two tickets from LFC for the-then 14-year-old and his dad to see Kenny Dalglish’s 1986 Double winners lift the trophy against Everton, an unforgettable day for him for more reasons than one.
“I’d always loved cup final day and tickets were like gold dust so it was a real treat. At half time it looked like we may end up disappointed but a fabulous second half revival saw us lift the cup and make history. The stream of incessant red filing out of the stadium afterwards carried along to the soundtrack of You’ll Never Walk Alone should have been one of the high points of the day but proved to be one that haunted me for weeks after. We were distracted by the jubilant songs and excited chatter about the game and didn’t realise we had been forced towards a solitary exit before it was too late. There were supposed to be two ways you could go but for some reason the police had blocked one of them. It meant all the fans were funnelled down this one way and I can tell you, I s*** myself.
“I was squashed up against some lads in front of us and I could tell by my dad’s face he was worried. The police horses were pushing everyone and it was getting to the stage where it was difficult to breathe. I was close to dropping to the ground when dad managed to pick me up and lift me on to a nearby wall. I was relieved to be out of it but he was still trapped. Everyone was going mad and it was ridiculous we were being forced into this situation. I don’t know if another exit was opened or how they resolved it but just when it seemed there would be nowhere to go, the pressure began to subside. Eventually space started to open up and dad was able to break free and take me down off the wall. We walked back to the car in silence. It had been a truly frightening experience and the triumphant mood had fallen flat. As we began the long drive home, we were just pleased to have made it out of the ground safely. It was a moment that drifted to the back of my subconscious until that FA Cup semi-final in April 1989, one of the darkest days in English football history and one the authorities should have been held accountable for from the start but instead chose to lay the blame elsewhere. Those who died and my own experience in 1986 were my last thoughts as we got the call after the wait in the long Wembley tunnel to walk out and try and win the FA Cup for Liverpool.”
A pale-looking Souness was back on the bench for the first time since his heart operation flanked by the club doctor with Ronnie Moran leading the team out and, following a nervy start when Jones survived a penalty shout after a challenge on former Manchester United forward Peter Davenport, goals from Michael Thomas and Ian Rush secured the club’s fifth FA Cup triumph and a dream end to a fairytale first season in the big time for 20-year-old Jones. The cherry on the cake should have been a place in the England squad for that summer’s European Championships in Sweden with the youngster’s startling progress after beginning the campaign in the Fourth Division already having been rewarded by manager Graham Taylor with a first senior cap in a friendly the previous February against France, a match which also Alan Shearer make his international bow and score in a 2-0 win.
However, despite another outstanding debut in which he kept superstar striker Jean-Pierre Papin quiet, Jones soon began to experience problems with shin splints - an injury which stems from too much running on hard ground which often afflicts tennis players - and, having been advised rest was the only cure, missed increasing numbers of Melwood training sessions as Liverpool staff tried to manage the problem and keep him available for matches where he had already become close to indispensable to Souness’s struggling side. After making Graham Taylor’s preliminary Euro 92 selection, Jones joined up with the England squad after the FA Cup final and was confident of making the plane to Sweden but had to admit to the manager - who had heard rumours of the young defender’s shin complaint - that he was struggling.
“I’ve always described it as like having glass in your shins”, he said. “Not pleasant. Whenever I was putting my foot down I was getting a sharp pain. Taylor consulted his medical team and the decision was made to send me to a London hospital for further examination. I spent the day having tests and scans on my shins and when the results came back Taylor pulled me aside. He told me it was bad news and I needed a lot of rest. The doctors told him my shins were inflamed and weren’t going to heal overnight. He looked genuinely distraught over it and told me I’d been integral to his plans but he couldn’t chance taking me to Sweden if I was going to break down with injury. It was a bitter blow after such a sensational start to life at Anfield but I tried not to let it get me down. There would surely be more tournament to come in the years ahead, wouldn’t there?”
Jones, along with 20-year-old Kirkdale-born winger Steve McManaman who he’d quickly developed a strong relationship with on and off the field, had been one of the shining lights of Liverpool’s rollercoaster season and the hope was a summer of rest would enable him to continue his remarkable rise but it would only be after another operation deep into the 1992/93 campaign that the shin splints problem would eventually be rectified and the rotten luck which would ultimately pock-mark his career became evident when he missed the start of the new season after picking up a bizarre infection usually only found in farmyard animals from drinking water during the Reds’ pre-season Scandinavian tour.
He would go on to make 37 appearances despite the continued problems with his shins but Liverpool never recovered after losing two of their opening three games in the new Premier League era, Souness’s future coming under serious doubt when the season was effectively ended by third-tier Bolton Wanderers in mid-January after they stunned Anfield to conclude the defence of the FA Cup at the first hurdle. The unthinkable prospect of relegation even briefly loomed on the horizon with the Reds only three points above the drop zone in March and, although they scrambled to a sixth place finish, the manager’s absence from the final-day 6-2 home win over Tottenham prompted heavy speculation he was about to be replaced.
He was handed a reprieve at an Anfield press conference the following day with Roy Evans being promoted to assistant manager - director Tony Ensor resigning in protest at chairman David Moores’s decision to persevere with the Scot - but, despite being being backed in the transfer market and bringing in Nigel Clough, Neil Ruddock and Julian Dicks, the decline in standards made all the more painful by Manchester United’s rise to prominence showed no signs of abating and when lower-league Bristol City won an Anfield FA Cup replay to again end Liverpool’s trophy aspirations in January, Souness was sacked and replaced with Roy Evans, Jones - while grateful to the man who had plucked him from the Fourth Division and made his dreams come true - able to see as a supporter why the axe had fallen.
“I have no doubt I’d have voiced my concerns if I was still stood on the Kop”, he admitted. “If you look at the squad he inherited and the one he left behind then it was obvious the latter was far weaker in overall talent and ability. He made some good signings but also some poor ones and I think he’d be the first to admit that. He’s gone on record as saying he wanted to change things too soon and off-loaded a few players who could still have played an important role and had a lot to offer Liverpool. He did a great job bringing through some of us younger lads and if you speak to Macca, Robbie Fowler, Jamie Redknapp and myself we could only be grateful to him. It was the more senior players who thought he could have used their experience a lot more who had an axe to grind. They felt he showed them a lack of respect particularly when he appointed Mark Wright captain not long after he’d arrived from Derby County. He didn’t listen to the advice of Barnes and Rush and that was a big mistake. He should have got them all on his side but he came in and stamped his foot down. If I’m completely honest, I don’t think he had the full support of the dressing room at any point during his spell in charge, there was a definite split.
“I think his interview with the S*n on the anniversary of Hillsborough was the real beginning of his downfall. We won the FA Cup weeks later but that article meant he lost the backing of the fans after that which was virtually unheard of at Liverpool. I don’t know why he did it and I know there were a lot of fans that still haven’t forgiven him. It was a huge error of judgement and I’m sure he’s looked back and thought ‘what the f*** did I do that for?’ There were more than a few players in his squad who’d been at Hillsborough and I know it upset them. It irritated me too. I was young and still a relative newcomer to the side so I just kept my mouth shut and didn’t talk about it. But one of my mates died at Hillsborough. His name was Christopher Devonside and he had played in the same football team as me at Meadow Junior School. He was a great lad who lost his life as a result of a terrible injustice. I still see his dad, Barry, every now and then and you only have took into his eyes to see what that tragic afternoon has done to him and his family.
“Souness insists to this day he was unaware the picture would be published in the anniversary and you could see he was distraught about how it happened and wanted to try and repair the damage. But it was done. Once you do something like that then as soon as results aren’t going well you are in trouble and looking back I think it was always only a matter of time before he left. At the end of it all he was the one who took a chance on me and gambled in a massive game that ultimately gave me the opportunity to play football at the highest level and I will always appreciate that.”
The new manager, brought onto the coaching staff in the early 1970s by Bill Shankly after a short-lived playing career with his boyhood club and hailed as the ‘last of the Boot Room boys’ by chairman David Moores when he took over, adopted a 3-5-2 formation at the start of his first full campaign in charge, with the wing-back role proving perfectly suited to Jones’s rampaging style. After three years of demoralising decline, optimism began to abound again at Anfield and, although the Reds never threatened to enter the title race, a domestic cup double was on until Jurgen Klinsmann’s last minute Kop end goal sent Tottenham through the FA Cup semi-finals. They bounced back a few weeks later by beating Bolton Wanderers in the League Cup final at Wembley to bring silverware back to Anfield for the first time in three years and return to Europe although Jones would miss the final weeks of the campaign after requiring an operation to remove three wisdom teeth, his third hospital stay within a year after having appendix and cartilage problems, which meant he had to sit out that summer’s Umbro Cup, a post-season mini-tournament held ahead of the following summer’s European Championships being held in England. Although the Liverpool man had started six out of Terry Venables’s first seven games in charge of the national side, his absence saw Manchester United’s young right-back Gary Neville handed his international debut and Jones would never play for his country again, finishing with just eight caps.
He recovered from the latest setback and showed his versatility the following campaign by moving over to the left flank after Evans slotted in new signing Jason McAteer - who had made his name at Bolton as a central midfielder - on the right, playing his part despite growing discomfort in his back in what promised to be another campaign of real progress at Anfield. With Evans’s attacking young side bolstered by the British record transfer acquisition of £8.5m Nottingham Forest striker Stan Collymore, Liverpool recovered from an autumn slump to show themselves by the early months of 1996 as one of the sides genuinely capable of challenging the dominance of Manchester United who they had already taken four points from, a 5-0 January win over Leeds at Anfield taking the Reds up to second and being another of the many games Jones came desperately close to breaking his scoring duck in.
“Fans always say to me, ‘I used to put a pound on you to score – you lost me so much money!’”, he revealed. “I was so close so many times and must admit I cocked some of those chances right up but I hit the post a couple of times, the crossbar and I remember one, Man City away and I just had no luck, Ian Rush had a shot, it hit the keeper, and it came to me five yards out and I slid in to knock it in and a City player come in and he sat on it – on the line – it just wouldn’t go in!
“Against Leeds, we were leading 1-0 when I got in on the left flank and was clean through on goal. I thought the moment had finally come when Gary Kelly came from nowhere and hauled me down. The referee pointed to the spot and sent him off, I remember trying to talk him out of it as Kelly was a good lad and I felt a bit sorry for him although he had cost me my moment of glory! I just never had the luck but a big thing for me was getting forward and creating chances for other people. It would have been nice to get one, though!”
The Leeds victory came midway through a 20-game unbeaten run which cemented the Reds in third behind runaway league leaders Newcastle United and chasers Manchester United, their free-flowing style having them touted amongst many as the best football-playing side in the country, a reputation only enhanced when their epic 4-3 win over Kevin Keegan’s side in early April suddenly put the Reds in with an outside chance of the Double having only days before beaten Aston Villa to reach the FA Cup final. Abject defeat at relegation-threatened Coventry three days later soon put paid such hopes and the following month, after Alex Ferguson’s side had overhauled Newcastle to clinch their third Premier League title in three seasons, it was the Old Trafford side who won the Double when goalkeeper David James’s limp punch from David Beckham’s 86th minute corner felt to Eric Cantona whose volley from the edge of the box flew through the packed penalty area and past a number of players on the goal-line including Jones into the net.
“I didn’t react in time”, he admitted. “When I see the slow-motion replay now I always expect myself to chest it away or get my leg high enough to deflect it to safety. But it’s in the net before I react and you can see the dismay on my face. I’ve had fans ask me why I moved out of the way and I always explain I was trying to lift my knee to block but couldn’t react fast enough, there’s no way I’d have ever tried to get out the way of a shot and the suggestion is quite frankly disrespectful to a professional. The only other option would have been to handle it, get sent off and hope Jamo saved the penalty but it all happened in a split second. Jamo even tried to blame me after the game because he didn’t want people questioning his poor punch from the corner. He would often try to do that and we quickly got wise to his inability to take criticism for errors.
“It was Rushie’s last season with us and we all wanted to send him off with a winners medal, also Bob Paisley had passed the previous February and the older generation of supporters felt it would be fitting to dedicate an FA Cup triumph to his memory. If that wasn’t enough of a burden to carry, we set ourselves up for an almighty fall with those infamous white suits. They were an absolute joke and I think we all regretted them within minutes of turning up for the fitting. Maybe Roy should have taken a look and said ‘there’s no way you’re wearing them’ but it’s easy to point fingers now. What I found a bit unfair about the whole ‘Spice Boys’ label was United had players like Lee Sharpe, Beckham and Giggs who were pin-ups linked to celebrities but the difference was they were winning trophies. We were always on the cusp of winning something but never truly realised the potential we had. I think we had the most frightening attacking players in the country and we certainly played the best football on our day. We just didn’t produce when it mattered most.”
The agony of such a positive season ending in bitter defeat at Wembley was compounded during the summer when the back problems Jones had been suffering from throughout the campaign revealed a cracked vertebrae that would require months of complete rest and forced him to miss Euro 96. He made his comeback in the January League Cup semi-final defeat at Middlesborough, being replaced late on by young debutant Jamie Carragher, but featured only twice more as a series of inevitable niggles after such a long lay-off affected his availability, Evans being reluctant to risk him with Liverpool putting in a credible title challenge for much of the campaign before again displaying their fatal flaws to finish fourth in a two-horse race.
Jones trained by himself all summer and felt back to full fitness by the start of the campaign but within weeks began to feel the discomfort in his left knee that would ultimately prove fatal to his career.
“I was told by a specialist that I had patella tendonitis - 'jumpers knee’ - an injury that athletes get from landing on hard surfaces. Firstly, I had my knee scraped and cleaned which proved unsuccessful and I was even told by another specialist who later performed keyhole surgery on me that scraping the knee actually does more harm than good as they rip the top off the tendons and they never grow back. As a final resort, I even had a part of my knee cap removed as it was catching my tendons. However, that didn’t help either and my knee failed to heal. I was doomed and sadly like Owen Hargreaves and Ronaldo it would eventually be the cause of finishing my career.”
After finishing a distant third to Arsenal in 1997/98, French coach Gerard Houllier arrived at Anfield initially as joint-manager and Jones soon realised the understanding over his injury problems he had received under Evans would not continue under the Frenchman.
“My relationship with Houllier was non-existent”, Jones said. “I remember him coming into the treatment room once and told me all my injuries were in my head and if I forget about them, then I would be all right. I was quite upset by that and told him he was far from the truth and I would like nothing more than to join the other lads out on the training field. In an interview he did with the press a few days later he said all my injuries were in my mind and I was 'acting' injured. I was furious and had showdown talks with him straight away.
“Prior to my knee injury Liverpool were willing to offer me a new three-year contact but when Houllier found out the true extent of my problem he soon withdrew the offer. I think if Roy was still in sole charge there would have been a possibility that they would have kept me on, I'm not saying they would have given me the same deal, but I'm sure Roy would have told me to sort my knee out and then the club will look at the situation, instead of, what felt like a 'see you later' from Houllier. Roy had a bit more class than Gérard but was ultimately let down by the club after 35 years of service.”
With Houllier now in sole charge, Jones was released by Liverpool at the end of his contract in the summer of 1999 and briefly joined West Ham where a five-year deal from Harry Redknapp was on the table if he could prove his fitness over three months but he was only able to struggle on with his irreparably damaged knee for six weeks before having to admit defeat and retire from professional football at the tragically early age of 27.
“In total I had six operations on that knee but nothing could be done to save my career. It just wasn’t meant to be. My knee kept ballooning up and they said it had got worse. I went through some dark times after I finished but I had a good family around me. I just thought I was getting on with normal life but my wife tells me that she could see that I was clinically depressed for probably two years. I wasn’t getting out of bed or I was going out partying, which I wouldn’t normally do.”
Jones would go on with his wife Sue to set up a highly successful franchise-based business of children’s nurseries across the UK which has also extended into the United Arab Emirates and in October 2013 took up a coaching role with the LFC Academy where he is credited with beginning the process of converting a young Trent Alexander-Arnold from youth-team midfielder to the player now considered by many to be one of the best right-backs in the world.
“I can remember the first game we put him there”, he recalled. “I think it was against Manchester City at Anfield, and the poor lad had never played that position and, to be honest, he didn’t have the best of games. I think people think that you can go from midfield to right-back and because you’re a brilliant midfielder you’ll just step in, and that’s not the case. But all credit to him over the months that came after and to the coaches, everyone worked with him to specifically be in that right-back spot and now he’s the best in the world, isn’t he? I can’t think of anyone better at going forward. He’s worked on his defending and it’s all credit to him and all the coaches that he’s done so well. I offered advice to him here but once he moved to right-back and did well, he was off! He’d gone to Melwood and then you don’t see them. I keep in touch with him and wish him well and stuff, but once they’ve moved up then I move on to try to bring the next one up because we don’t just want one Trent, we want five!”
Those who enjoyed Jones’s stellar rise and lamented his cruelly cut short career will appreciate the poignant irony in his early influence in Alexander-Arnold’s career with many feeling the accolades now the Reds current right-back receives could easily have gone his way. Steve McManaman, who regularly invited Jones over to Spain in the early months after his premature retirement following the winger’s move to Real Madrid and helped him come to terms with life after football, felt he would have gone down as one of the greatest right-backs the country had ever produced but for his injury problems.
“As far as I’m concerned Rob Jones is the best right-back England never had”, he wrote in his pal's book. “He’s also the finest player to have ever represented Liverpool FC and not score a goal and it was a real tragedy his career was cut short at 27. To perform like he did on his debut at Old Trafford within days of arriving from a Fourth Division club spoke volumes. He was great at reading a situation, always solid in defence and a fine attacker too. His pace meant he was a superb asset for the team and when he did get in behind the full-back his crossing ability was excellent. He was the quintessential full-back and it’s hard to identify anyone who played in that position who was better than him. Gary Neville achieved great things in the game but Trigger was a better footballer, without a shadow of a doubt. He was stronger going forward and certainly quicker. I think he was a better player on the ball with more of an ability to take people on too. I was fortunate to play with some great players at Liverpool and with England as well as the likes of the Brazilian Ronaldo, Raul and Zinedine Zidane at Madrid but the biggest compliment I can pay Rob is I’ll always regard him as one of the best team-mates I ever had the privilege to line-up alongside.”
Jamie Carragher, who replaced Jones when making the first of the 737 appearances which puts him behind only Ian Callaghan in the all-the standings, also agreed Gary Neville may never have come close to the 85 international showings which makes the former Man Utd man England’s most-capped right-back but for his former Liverpool team-mate’s misfortune.
“When you look at the best Liverpool full-backs of all-time - not just right backs - Rob Jones has to be up there. It says much about his quality that he was able to switch to left wing-back when Jason McAteer arrived and comfortably adapt. I’ve played that role and know how hard it is when it isn’t your favoured side. Many supporters would point to Phil Neal as the club’s best right back ever because of the medals he won and crucial goals he scored in European finals but if Rob had stayed fit he could well have been part of the Treble-winning team and maybe even Istanbul which would have given him the medals to go along with his outstanding performances. I was always amazed he never got his goal for Liverpool because he was so attacking and always got into great positions but the ball just wouldn’t go in for him. I think Gary Neville would have had a real job in his hands to have kept hold of the England right-back jersey if Rob had been injury-free. That’s no disrespect to Gary because he’s enjoyed great success in the game and was great servant to England but Rob was a better all-round full back. He could easily have gone down as the best right-back in Europe during that era and I’d have loved to have played a lot more matches with him.”
Jones admitted he found it hard to even watch Liverpool matches on television in the immediate years following his premature retirement but Istanbul rekindled his passion and he did finally get his long yearned-for first Reds goal when turning out for the LFC Legends side, old team-mate Robbie Fowler returning the favour after the dozens of goals the right back set up for him.
“Robbie was clean through but he pulled it back for me to slot in. I’d waited a long time for that goal”, he smiled. “Liverpool fans I meet always tell me I was robbed of my career and of course you sometimes wonder what you could have gone on to do if you had stayed fit but over the years I’ve learned to appreciate what I did do. It’s great to have ex-players and fans say I could have gone on to do more but I look at the positives. I loved my days as a player, Liverpool was my team and I got the chance to play for them and for my country. I made 243 appearances and had some amazing times. I played in major cup finals and won the FA Cup and the League Cup. I was so lucky to do what I did. A lot of kids growing up would give their right arm for that so I’m happy.”
READ NEXT:
- Jurgen Klopp dismisses seven-year theory over Liverpool struggles amid Premier League title admission
- Arsenal summer signing misses training ahead of Liverpool clash as Mikel Arteta without midfield duo
- Liverpool game at Arsenal will provide the answer to one of three major questions
- Jurgen Klopp sent Arsenal warning as Liverpool training ground insight shared
- 'You can see it in two ways' - Jurgen Klopp issues new Liverpool demand ahead of Arsenal
