Phil Jones on Jose Mourinho, Sir Alex Ferguson, Nando's and becoming Manchester United's 'best-ever player'
After a rollercoaster run things are finally starting to look like they’re all going right for the England centre-half at Old Trafford
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Your support makes all the difference.It was a remarkable thing to say about a young player, especially given the man who said it, but then Phil Jones’ reaction was arguably all the more remarkable. Back in 2011, on signing the versatile young centre-half from Blackburn Rovers, Sir Alex Ferguson of all people claimed that he could end up as Manchester United’s best ever player. That would have excited most teenagers, if also created some expectation - but not Jones.
“Yeah, but at the time you are young, and you just read the comments, but it goes straight over your head, you’re not interested,” he surprisingly says. “[Six] years ago, whenever it happened, you think ‘oh that’s good’… and you go out to Nando’s with your mates.”
Really? “The manager says nice things but I don’t like to sit there and think ‘that’s nice’ because football is a very, very strange game, you can be up there one minutes and down there the next. You just have to - it sounds stupid - take each day as it comes and every day is a different day.”
It’s also not like Ferguson ever directly said the words to him. “No, never… gave me the hairdryer treatment a few times.”
That probably dictated Jones’ attitude as much as anything, and it was probably the right response, given that his general assessment of the game has so far come closer to describing his career rather than Ferguson’s. He has always been good and solid for United, but has never quite thrived, given that his runs in the team have been curtailed by injuries and simply the preferences of some managers.
He was also in media for the wrong reasons recently after receiving a ban for using abusive language towards a doping-control official after the Europa League final - although Jones rejects some of the accusations - but, in general, things are finally starting to look like they’re all going right for him at Old Trafford. He’s had an injury-free pre-season, started the new campaign at centre-half, and Jose Mourinho has talked about him having all of the ideal attributes for the position.
“Yeah, I feel good, happy and strong. I want to keep playing and play as many games as I can this season. I have seen those comments and it’s nice to hear that from the manager but I am under no illusions. It’s a long season ahead and things can change very quickly in football and I need to keep doing what I am doing in training and in matches as well.”
It might mean he finally establishes himself as a first-choice centre-half, something he accepts should have happened by now.
“I agree, totally but it’s not about what has happened in the past now… it’s weird. I feel like I have done a lot at United, I still have developed as a player and grown into myself, seen a lot of faces come and go. Some might say in pre-season ‘he might go here, he might go there’ then you look at all the faces that have gone and you think to yourself I can’t be doing too bad if I am still here at the best club in the… one of the best clubs in the world, so I have won the Premier League, the Europa League even though I was on the bench in the final, I have been involved in big games in the Champions League, so…
“When times are tough I am not one for just throwing the towel in. It was difficult towards the end of the second season under [Louis] Van Gaal but…
“Sometimes your face fits, sometimes it doesn’t. That’s the same in football and in every walk of life, that’s just the way things are. I took it with a pinch of salt and made sure I could get myself in the best possible shape as I could. I had a good pre season and I always said to myself that if I can be strong and mentally strong I would have a chance under the new manager and thankfully he has given me that. And last season I didn’t start so well but then towards the back end of the season I played a lot of games, felt good, felt strong and I feel the same this season.”
Mourinho has also followed Ferguson and Sam Allardyce in so talking him up, and Jones does insist that helps.
“I don’t want to disrespect the other managers I have played under because I have the utmost respect for all the managers I have worked under and their opinions and whether you think they are right or wrong you still have the respect for them, but I just feel in general that those are the managers that have made me feel so wanted at the club and need me as one of their main players. Any footballer would tell you that if that’s the case then you are going to get the best out of you.”
He does state that the very versatility that marked him out wasn’t always a virtue in terms of securing a regular place.
“Playing in midfield is a different ball game. You have to be on the half-turn all the time, have a different picture in your head of what is behind you and in front of you. Playing at right-back is different again. When I was switching around in my early stages, people underestimated how difficult it was just to go from playing centre midfield to right-back to centre-back to right-back to centre midfield. It's not easy, especially at a big club, but I adapted to it, I did it and I think I'm seeing the benefits of that now.”
“I've just become more experienced as a player as I've got older. You need to be sensible on the pitch and sometimes I don't need to go for balls I would have done five or six years ago. It's just experience and having a better understanding of the game and who is around you.”
Jones also insists he has never looked around in terms of other clubs, and has always wanted to stay at United, regardless of speculation.
“It’s never really crossed my mind. It’s been documented in the papers now and again but it never really crossed my mind that I needed to leave. I said to myself if I can stay fit and if I am playing well I will play games and hopefully I can carry on doing that.”
That has meant he has seen some proper legends - some of the players that are unquestionably among the club’s greatest - depart, with the latest Wayne Rooney.
“He's done everything he can. What more can he do? He's done all the records and been a fantastic servant and in my eyes he's a legend for England and a legend with United. I don't see how anyone can criticise him. He's done everything in the game. Yeah he has his moments, which everyone does, but what a player.
“You look at Vida [Nemanja Vidic], Rio [Ferdinand], Patrice [Evra], Giggsy, Scholesy. It's mad to think how many people have come and gone during my time at the club already and it makes me proud to feel that I've been there so long, albeit having not played as many games as I'd like, and I'm still there.”
United are still at the top of the table after three games, and it helps as a starting centre-half that they haven’t conceded a single goal.
"Yeah, it’s what we wanted to do at the start of the season. As a defender you want to stop goals going in and so far we have been able to do that. Some people would say we’ve not played Man City or Chelsea or Arsenal but there are no easy teams in the Premier League whether you play home or away, so it’s positive but we are not getting too carried away with things. We have a long way to go.”
Jones, as ever, isn’t getting carried away - even if he doesn’t quite have the carry-out from Nando’s to illustrate it.
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