Jones: Michael David (Mick)

1967-1975 (Player Details)

Centre Forward

Born: Worksop: 24-04-1945

Debut: v Leicester City (h): 26-09-1967

5’10” 11st 9lb (1969)

#17 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Jones’ father kept goal for Worksop, but his son soon developed the knack of scoring goals and once hit fourteen in a game for Priory Primary School. He played for Worksop Boys and Rotherham Boys and began work in a cycle factory while playing for Dinnington Miners’ Welfare. He signed for Sheffield United in November 1962. He graduated from the intermediate side through the Central League side before making his debut in a 1–1 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford on 20th April 1963. He scored his first two league goals in the next fixture, a 3–1 victory against Manchester City at Maine Road four days later. He was capped at Under-Twenty-three level, then played twice for the full England team in 1965, making his debut against West Germany on 12th May 1965, when he was just twenty, and just four days later he played against Sweden, but was substituted after seventy-three minutes and was instantly discarded by the England selectors. In his time at Bramall Lane he scored sixty-three goals in one hundred and forty-nine games. He became Leeds’ first-ever £100,000 player in September 1967 and the signing of Clarke two years later gave Jones the perfect partner. Three England caps and nine Under-Twenty-three appearances were scant reward for all the effort Mick Jones put into the game, particularly with Leeds. His partnership with Allan Clarke was a deadly formation yet was never tried at International level. The pair’s contrasting styles, Jones’ aggressive non-stop strong running and Clarke’s delicate skills, proved an outstanding attacking combination. Possessed of an innate ability to simply hold a ball, more often than not with his back to the goal, until support from team mates arrived, enabling defence to turn to attack. He was the original, definitive 'target man'. He was always in the thick of the action and although he took the brunt of what the defensive strongmen had to offer, he was never one to feign injury, exaggerate injury or retaliate. To add to this he also scored some exciting individual goals. He would have been priceless in the modern game. Leeds manager Don Revie handed Jones the number nine shirt and told him to score goals and annoy defenders. Jones went on to do just that with aplomb and authority for seven years. Leeds won the League Cup in his first season, although Jones did not feature in the campaign because he was cup-tied, and the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, with Jones scoring twice during the competition. The following season Leeds won the League Championship with Jones settling into the highest level of club football with fourteen goals. However, Revie was aware that he needed more help with the finishing up front, and in summer 1969 he paid another six-figure sum for Leicester City striker Allan Clarke to begin one of football's most feared strike partnerships. Jones, the more bruising of the two, often scored goals through individual runs using his burlier frame, and was brave enough to put his head among the flying boots to get goals of courage. Clarke was more reliant on guile and positional sense. Together they were a nightmare for central defenders as Leeds stormed towards a possible "treble" of League title, FA Cup and European Cup. Everton edged out Leeds for the League title, and Celtic beat them in the European Cup semi-finals. In the FA Cup final against Chelsea Jones was to the fore as Leeds tried to salvage something from their season. At Wembley, the game was locked at 1–1 on a bumpy, sandy pitch (due to the “Horse of the Year” show being held there the previous week) with fewer than ten minutes to play. Leeds attacked down the right flank with Johnny Giles crossing for Clarke to plant a meaty header past Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonetti. The ball rebounded off the post, evading Leeds striker Peter Lorimer who was following up. Jones, who had dropped deep to start the move, was still jogging towards the area when he saw the ball trundle towards him, and he fired a left foot shot into the net beyond Bonetti's despairing reach. Usually goals scored so late in a Cup Final would emerge as the clincher. Chelsea, however, equalised quickly due to poor marking in the Leeds defence and so the game went to a replay at Old Trafford. Leeds took the lead in the first half, when a superb run by Allan Clarke set Jones on his way towards goal, and he smashed a terrific right foot shot past Bonetti. Chelsea, however, ended up winning after extra time and Leeds ended the season without a trophy to show for all their endeavours. On a personal note, Jones had been recalled by England for their game with Holland on 14th January 1970, but it was a false dawn as it was his last Cap for England. A last-day win for Arsenal cost Leeds the title again 1971 but in 1972 some success finally came Leeds' way, though the season still had personal tribulations for Jones. While challenging for the title again, Leeds also made it to another FA Cup final and, still to win the competition, went up against holders Arsenal as second favourites. But they won 1–0, with Jones setting up Clarke for the only goal of the game, his fine cross on the turn from the byline was headed home by his strike partner. However, Jones suffered an appallingly dislocated elbow in the last minute of the game after landing awkwardly from an innocuous and accidental clash with the Arsenal goalkeeper, Geoff Barnett, while chasing a lost cause. Jones was unable to celebrate Leeds' success moments later when the final whistle sounded as he was in agony, receiving treatment from the club physiotherapist. He was in so much pain that he had to be helped, very slowly and gingerly, up to the Royal box to collect his medal, several minutes after his team-mates had done so. Leeds' central defender Norman Hunter guided Jones up the steps. Jones, his damaged limb in a tight, delicate sling, received his medal and immediately handed it to Hunter so he could use his only available hand to hold the banister and guide his way back down the steps again. He was then placed on a stretcher, from which he waved to the Leeds supporters as he was taken to the dressing room for treatment. Hunter afterwards claimed that the striker's enforced absence for the League title decider against Wolverhampton Wanderers a few days later cost Leeds the championship. Leeds lost 2–1 and the title went to Derby County. Jones played in two finals the following year, both of which Leeds again lost. The 1–0 defeat to Sunderland in the FA Cup final was notable for its shock value (Leeds were unbackable odds-on favourites and Sunderland were a Second Division side) and Jones is best remembered for prematurely celebrating a goal by Peter Lorimer which had not, in fact, crossed the line owing to a phenomenal save by goalkeeper Jim Montgomery which he had not been expected to make. Leeds subsequently lost the European Cup-Winners Cup Final to AC Milan by the same score-line. In an astonishing twenty-nine-match unbeaten run at the start of the next season, Jones bagged fourteen goals as Leeds coasted to the title. Later in his career Jones struggled with injuries and a serious knee injury ended his career in October 1975. After the title win in 1974, he had tried to rest during the summer to sort out a knee problem, but an operation was required and his rehabilitation involved serious physiotherapy and daily trips to St James' Hospital. By February 1975 he had reached a plateau and the medics gave him the go-ahead to resume light training. He played in a friendly match and also turned out in a handful of reserve games, but during a Central League match at Anfield, the end came. The knee was giving him considerable pain no matter what he did, and it was back to the doctors. This time there was to be no recovery. With Joe Jordan in the number nine shirt and scoring frequently, and the team (despite Revie's departure in the summer to take over the England job) reached its first European Cup final. Jones was a dejected spectator who didn't figure in the team at all that season. He watched disconsolately as Leeds lost the European Cup final to Bayern Munich and then retired at the age of thirty, unable to beat his knee problem. Jones fell on hard times after retiring back to Worksop but eventually began selling sports equipment on market stalls. He also worked in the pub business. He later ran a sports shop in Maltby and now lives in Worksop and sells sports wear in Nottingham.