Jones’ strong personality and tactical expertise can boost struggling side
Former No2 entrusted with taking charge of Newcastle is valued inside the game as an independent and trusted voice
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It will be Graeme Jones’s first match as a Premier League manager tomorrow, but he has certainly looked the part in his previous roles at Newcastle United before being asked to take charge of the team until a replacement for Steve Bruce is found.
Only a month ago, the cameras panned to the technical area at St James’ Park where Matt Ritchie was receiving instructions. Bruce started, but it was not long before his first-team coach stepped in, gently using the back of his hand on his manager’s chest to not-so-subtly take control of the tactical briefing.
To anyone without knowledge of the coaching hierarchy at Newcastle, they would have been forgiven for assuming Jones was the manager rather than the No2.
By his own admission, Jones has a strong personality and his coaching career has been built on putting his opinions across to the manager he is working with. He has not been brought into the England, West Bromwich Albion or Bournemouth set-up to be a “yes” man to the person in charge.
The bulk of his coaching career has been working with Roberto Martinez, who made him his first signing at Swansea City some 14 years ago, when he was recruited from Hamilton Academical after he had stayed at the Scottish club as assistant manager following his retirement from playing.
“I discovered that I have a strong personality. There were things happening at Hamilton that I didn’t like and that I wasn’t afraid to do something about,” he wrote on the coachesvoice.com.
His partnership with Martinez took him to the World Cup semifinals with Belgium, coaching Kevin De Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku, via FA Cup glory with Wigan in 2013 and a spell at Everton, where they finished fifth in the Premier League.
“Roberto trusted me to provide insight and feedback, and I trusted Roberto to listen to me and then make the right decision,” Jones added. “It was a powerful combination.”
For Gareth Southgate to want him for the Euros this year illustrates how highly regarded he is
So far, his managerial experience, as the man in the hot seat, has been at Luton Town in the Championship, where he lasted less than a season. Luton, who had won League One just before Jones joined, were in the relegation zone, six points from safety, when the pandemic arrived. With no paying customers and an uncertain financial future, Jones left by mutual consent and the club cited the reason as being “in order to reduce its cost base”.
There was no ill-feeling towards Jones and Luton have since flourished under the returning Nathan Jones.
The setback of leaving Luton is unlikely to have altered Jones’s determination to succeed in management. He cites being released as a teenager at Millwall as one of the
driving forces in his career. At the time, he found a job installing insulation pipes while playing non-league football.
While his managerial career has not taken off, he still has a reputation as one of the best coaches around. Players talk about him putting on excellent sessions at Bournemouth, where he assisted. For Gareth Southgate to want him for the European Championship illustrates how highly regarded he is.
So much so that he can have the air of a manager when he is instructing players on the sidelines. That
was the case at West Bromwich Albion when he assisted Darren Moore in 2018-19, notably against Brighton in an FA Cup game when players were hanging on every word of the assistant on the pitch as they received guidance for extra time.
During his season at West Brom, there was an offer to leave for Luton in January, but Jones insisted on staying. It was a difficult time, as Harvey Barnes returned to Leicester City following a loan and the decision to move Dwight Gayle to the left wing did not work out. In the end, Moore was sacked in March
and Jones followed shortly after. Last season, he was appointed first-team coach, assisting Jason Tindall, at Bournemouth before Newcastle United moved for him mid-season.
Tindall lasted only until the following month. It was a return to the North East for Gateshead-born Jones, whose first job in coaching was a community role at Newcastle, putting out cones for children in the city suburbs. He has come a long way since, which will not be forgotten when he sits in the Selhurst Park dugout tomorrow.