Former Liverpool and Barnsley striker Lee Jones speaks exclusively to the ECHO ahead of Monday night’s FA Cup third round tie between his two former clubs
Darwin Nunez signs for Liverpool FC at AXA Training Centre(Image: 2022 Liverpool FC)
When Liverpool welcome Barnsley to Anfield in the FA Cup third round on Monday night, former Wales international Lee Jones will be one of the more interested observers as two of his old clubs lock horns.
The 52-year-old spent five years with the Reds in the 90s, but the striker found himself behind the likes of Ian Rush, Robbie Fowler and Stan Collymore in the pecking order.
Departing for Tranmere Rovers in 1997, where he’d play under Liverpool legend John Aldridge, he then spent two years with Barnsley at the turn of the Millennium before returning to Wrexham for a fourth stint with his boyhood club, having moved to Anfield from the Welsh outfit in 1992 in the first place.
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Jones is looking forward to seeing Barnsley take on Liverpool. And with Wrexham already through to the FA Cup fourth round, courtesy of a penalty shoot-out victory over Nottingham Forest on Friday night, is already hopeful of being mixed allegiances again in the next round.
“Yeah it’s a really good tie, isn’t it? As a football fan, everybody looks forward to the FA Cup third round,” Jones said in an exclusive interview with the ECHO. “I think it’s a really exciting tie and obviously both teams will fancy their chances on the day.
“It’d be nice if Wrexham actually got either Liverpool or Barnsley in the next round. Obviously, that’d be two games that have involved two former teams of mine, so they’re both fixtures that I’ll look out for.
“I would probably say (I’d back) Wrexham first and foremost. Obviously Liverpool is close to my heart because I spent five years there, which was a large chunk of my career.
“But Barnsley as well, I really enjoyed my time there. I was at Tranmere when I’d finished at Liverpool, and Dave Bassett phoned me up just towards the end of my career there.
“He said Craig Hignett was leaving and they were looking for a replacement. At the time, they’d just missed out on promotion to the Premier League by getting beaten by Ipswich in the Play-Off final.
“It was a move I couldn’t turn down. I had a couple of options. I just thought to myself it was an ideal opportunity to try and get back in the Premier league.
“But I always look out for the three scores: Wrexham, Liverpool and Barnsley, and also Tranmere Rovers who obviously I used to play for as well.
“My first 12 months at Tranmere were probably the most I’ve enjoyed my football. And if you can’t learn off a goalscorer like John Aldridge, you’re never going to learn anything in football!
“Every day, he constantly strived for you to get better and he took us forwards for finishing practice every single day that we were there. He was still the best finisher, even at 38 at the time. He was a fantastic player.”
Jones has fond memories of the FA Cup from his own playing days, having been part of the Wrexham side that famously knocked out First Division champions Arsenal in 1992 before scoring in the next round against West Ham United.
Joining Liverpool in a £300,000 deal only a few months later, Jones believes such occasions ultimately opened the door to his move to Anfield.
“I’ve got a couple of highlights in the FA Cup,” he recalled. “I was involved at Wrexham when we beat Arsenal in 1992.
“We were bottom of the English pyramid, 92nd in the football league and Arsenal were the current champions and we beat them 2-1 at the Racecourse.
“And then in the following game, I came on sub for Wrexham against West Ham and scored to equalise at 2-2. Unfortunately, we got beat 1-0 in the replay. But, yeah, I’ve got some good memories.
“I got the move to Liverpool based on the FA Cup goal against West Ham, I think. Graeme Souness came to watch me about three or four weeks later, playing for Wrexham and then ended up signing me.
“I believe our game against West Ham was in January and then I ended up signing in the March at Liverpool. So I must have done something quite well in between to get the move to Liverpool!
“An absolutely fantastic club, played for some fantastic coaches and with some unbelievable players as well.
“It was a surreal moment to join Liverpool. We were on a day off. I played on the Tuesday and scored, and then on a Wednesday I was at my girlfriend’s house in the evening.
“My mum phoned and said could I get home ASAP? And then I remember walking back around five in the evening and the chairman’s car was parked outside my house. And no one ever really spoke to the chairman!
“I walked in and the manager and the chairman were both there. They said to me, ‘Liverpool want to sign you, we’re not going to push you out, you don’t have to go, but it would help us financially hugely if you did. We are under a little bit of stress in terms of finances’.
“And I just felt, they were obviously one of the biggest clubs, if not the biggest clubs in the world. I couldn’t say no to Liverpool.
“And it was a sort of by-product of helping Wrexham financially as well and giving me my chance in football.”
Jones has enjoyed a varied career since hanging up his playing boots in 2013. He joined Altrincham as assistant manager last October, having previously held the same role at Wealdstone.
But prior to that, he had enjoyed stints in charge of Tranmere Rovers’ academy, as well as scouting positions with Burnley and Middlesbrough.
But coaching is always what he wanted to do. And while National League North side Macclesfield made the biggest headlines in the FA Cup third round this weekend, knocking out holders Crystal Palace, he is eyeing a push for the National League play-offs with Altrincham next season ahead of any domestic cup romance of their own.
“I’m really enjoying it. I spent around six months as assistant manager at Wealdstone with Neil Gibson,” he said. “And then we got the opportunity to go and Altrincham them as interim manager and assistant manager.
“We picked up, I think it was four wins and a draw in our first six games and then took the job permanently. Our contracts are for another 18 months.
“We’re just trying to change a few things around at the club at the moment in terms of players in and out.
“So hopefully we’ll get it right and we can have a push on for the play-offs next season.”
He continued: “My post-playing career has been fantastic. I’ve always wanted to stay in football. Coaching was always something that I wanted to stay in.
“When I finished, when I retired, I set myself a target to become a Pro licence holder in the first five years. I accomplished that around 2012, so I’ve always been a Pro licence holder since then.
“And then an opportunity came along to do a little bit of recruitment. And it was just a bit of a break from the day-to-day norm and the pressure of having to win on a Saturday.
“It was nice to obviously go out, watch players, spend probably two or three years abroad in terms of where I was watching my football. So my network increased hugely over that period and it’s benefited me now in terms of going back in as a coach.
“I can call on people and when we’re looking at players, I can obviously tap into those people and hopefully we can bring one or two players in for Altrincham.”
Now a coach in the National League, the players he would be able to help recruit for Altrincham are admittedly from a rather different talent pool than the players he was scouting for Burnley and Middlesbrough.
Former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez was one player on Jones’ radar during his time with the Clarets. But while it is one thing identifying a talent, it is another matter entirely seeing your club actually go on to sign them.
“There’s absolutely loads I spotted,” he recalled. “For instance, we were watching Darwin Nunez when he was at Benfica, when I was at Burnley.
“Tijjani Reijnders, who’s now at Man City, Mohammed Kudus, who was at West Ham and is now at Tottenham. So there’s absolutely loads that you look at when they’re young.
“And then you see them going along their different career paths, now playing in the Premier League.
“You do spot some gems to be fair, but obviously at the time it’s whether the club can afford them and whether the player actually wants to come to Burnley, as it was, or Middlesbrough.”
