Cliff Jones

Clifford William Jones (born 7 February 1935) is a Welsh former footballer. During his career, he played as a winger and was a crucial member of Tottenham Hotspur's 1960–61 double-winning side. He is now the last surviving player from the Welsh team in the 1958 World Cup.

Early life Jones was born on 7 February 1935 in Swansea, Glamorgan, to a footballing family. His father Ivor; uncles Shoni, Emlyn, Bryn and Bert; brother Bryn; and cousin Ken were also all players. He was also a schoolboy friend of Terry Medwin, who would later become his teammate at Tottenham Hotspur. He was brought up in the Sandfields area of Swansea, and attended St. Helens Mixed Junior School. When he was eleven, he attended Oxford Street Secondary Modern, where he joined the school's football team. When he was twelve, he was selected for the Swansea Schoolboys team, which he captained in 1950 and won the Welsh Shield and English Schools Trophy.

Club career

Swansea Town Jones was signed to Billy McCandless' Swansea Town in 1952 when he was 17, joining his brother Bryn who also played for the club. For a time at Swansea he also worked as an apprentice sheet metal worker in The Prince of Wales Dry Dock. He scored 47 goals in 168 league appearances for the club. He made his debut for the club on 22 February 1958 in the away match against Arsenal at Highbury. For a while Jones didn't play at his best at Spurs, and he then broke a leg in a tackle with Peter Baker during pre-season training in the summer of 1958. He returned to the team after his recovery in December 1958. He became a prolific goalscorer for the club, scoring 25 goals in all appearances in the 1959–60 season. He was also part of the successful Spurs sides in the 1962 FA Cup Final and 1963 European Cup Winners Cup Final, and he also won a further medal as a non-playing substitute in the 1967 FA Cup Final. Jones then moved on and played for Bedford Town, Wealdstone, Cambridge City then Wingate.

International career Jones was called into the Welsh national side after playing only 25 times as a winger for Swansea. He made his senior debut playing against Austria in May 1954. In his second appearance for the national side on 22 October 1955, he helped Wales beat England 2–1 at Ninian Park, scoring the winning goal.

Jones scored three goals in the 1958 FIFA World Cup play-off in February 1958 against Israel to win 4–0 on aggregate, allowing Wales to qualify for the World Cup for the first time. He made a total of 11 appearances for them in World Cup qualifiers between 1957 and 1968. He played his final game for Wales in October 1968 in the World Cup qualifier against Italy. In total he played 59 times for Wales in 15 years, scoring 16 goals.

Personal life Jones married his wife Joan in 1955 and they have four children, nine grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren.

After retiring from football, Jones taught PE and managed the school football team at Highbury Grove School in North London for 29 years, retiring in December 2000.

Honours Tottenham Hotspur Football League First Division: 1960–61 FA Cup: 1960–61, 1961–62, FA Charity Shield: 1961, 1962, 1967 (shared) European Cup Winner's Cup: 1962–63

Wales British Home Championship: 1955–56 (shared), 1959–60 (shared)