The Cannonball kid Dave Hickson at Goodison v Spurs -
For @Major Gowen -
TG Jones
Everton and Wales footballer of the 1930s and 1940sRoma launched an extraordinary, £15,500 bid in 1948 to make Everton's Thomas George "TG" Jones, who has died aged 86, among the first foreigners to play in Italy. At the 11th hour, the deal collapsed over currency details. Jones, the prince of centre-halves, an unruffled, elegant defender, remained at Goodison Park.
Jones bestrode the First Division and the Welsh national team in the 1930s and 1940s. Born in Connah's Quay, Flintshire, after six first-team games with Wrexham, he was signed by Everton in 1936 for £3000. At Goodison Park, Jones linked up with youngsters like Joe Mercer, and later Tommy Lawton, but initially struggled to arrest Everton's decline.
He made one appearance in the 1936/37 season, but the following year established himself in place of the sometime England centre-half, Charlie Gee, a traditional, uncomplicated centre back. Jones was a defender with the skill and composure of an inside forward. Cool and relaxed when in possession, few defenders of his ilk had been seen before. A forerunner of Franz Beckenbauer, Jones's forte was dribbling out of trouble, and spraying the field with passes.
Along with Lawton and Mercer, he was instrumental in Everton's renaissance, lifting the 1938/39 League Championship. One of the most attractive and youthful sides of their era, Everton looked set to dominate English football into the 1940s.
War changed everything, and Jones worked in a factory, while still turning out for Everton during the seven years that the Football League was suspended. He also added 11 wartime appearances for Wales to the 17 caps he earned prewar.
When normal play resumed in 1946, Everton had lost Lawton to Chelsea and Mercer was on his way to Arsenal. The departure of his friends (Jones was best man to both) was a blow to him and Everton, who plummeted into mediocrity.
Jones continued to illuminate Goodison Park, but differences with the management, dating back to the war, when a director falsely accused him of feigning injury, saw him in and out of the team. Occasionally, the situation became so dire that he was unable to even make the reserves, instead turning out secretly for Hawarden Grammar Old Boys. Finally, in January 1950, Everton agreed to his release. It was an inauspicious ending to the career of the man Dixie Dean described as "the best all-round player I've ever seen".
On leaving Everton, Jones became Pwllheli part-time manager and ran a hotel. In 1962, as manager of Bangor City, the Welsh Cup winners, he ventured into the European Cup Winners' Cup and, incredibly, won the home leg 2-0 against Italian giants Napoli, losing 1-3 in Italy. Alas, there was no away goal rule, and, at the replay at Highbury, Bangor fought gallantly, but lost 3-1.
Later, Jones ran a newsagents' shop in north Wales, and filed a weekly column for the Liverpool Daily Post. His wife Joyce died last September. He is survived by his two daughters, Jane and Elizabeth.
· Thomas George Jones, footballer, born October 12 1917; died January 3 2004
I would have loved my late father to have read this book, as the stories he told us about him - it's a fantastic read -
Man City v Everton -1981: Mike Lyons and Dave Bennett do battle in a 1-1 draw -
Whos this lucky little lad? 1966 homecoming - Labby & Brian Harris do the honours -
1966- FA Cup Trophy outside St George's Hall - I remember my late mother sewing me that blue stripe on ordinary my white football shorts felt ace at school -
1966- FA Cup Trophy outside St George's Hall - I remember my late mother sewing me that blue stripe on ordinary my white football shorts felt ace at school -
Everton manager Harry Catterick offers Lord Mayor Cowley Champagne from the FA Cup at the Homecoming in 1966-outside St George's Hall -
Captain Labby trying to prise the cup away from the Catt - he never let go of it much did he - it was glued to the Catts hands lol -
Gordon Watson 1980 - pub Landlord - did his spell as Ground tour like Dave Hickson for peanuts as it was an honour for them both - pity today's players dont do that honour at an affordable price ....
Colin Harvey & Bally celebrate -
Stevie Nicks Bootleg
Player Valuation: £8m
Why do you keep getting that fact wrong? It was the “prelim round“of the cup winners cup, not the semi final. TG had zero credentials to be Everton manager, other than being a legendary player.
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Stevie Nicks Bootleg
Player Valuation: £8m
Definitely…it’s up there with the likes of The Football Man, The Ball is Round and Inverting the Pyramid, among the best books on the sport there’s ever been.
To make light weight of this achievement is ridiculous - Napoli were no push overs in fact if the old away goal rule had been in force they would have knocked them out - it would not have gone to a replay they would have gone through .... & we turned his manager's application down & appointed a PE Instructor Ian Buchan who was a disaster for us .....
T.G.’s impact as manager of Bangor in the 1950s and 1960s. In the North Walian university city he ended a six-decade barren spell in the Welsh Cup and led the Cheshire League part-timers into three epic European Cup Winners' Cup encounters with Italian giants Napoli.
I was hooked and, armed with Dafydd’s collection of press cuttings, I set out to document T.G.’s life and times. My research led me to Connah’s Quay – a short hop across the Dee estuary from England. His legacy in, this, his hometown, was the formation of the football club now known as Connah’s Quay Nomads. With the Welshman not having kicked a ball competitively for well over 50 years, I raced against time to collect first-hand memories of seeing T.G. play. My late father’s recollections of T.G. were corroborated by Toffeeweb contributors such as the Harold Matthews who dubbed T.G. “Like Pirlo in a number 5 shirt.” Evertonians of a certain vintage (and contemporary match reports) were almost unanimous in their opinion that T.G. was the ultimate ball playing centre-half –
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