FEATURED | Former Hereford United player Mark A Jones back at Edgar Street

Former Hereford United player Mark A Jones watched Hereford FC defeat Marine 4-0 yesterday afternoon in National League North.

Jones made 157 appearances and scored 2 goals for Hereford United between 1987-1991. He was a consistent right back who was extremely popular during his time at Edgar Street with players and supporters alike.

Jones had previously played for Aston Villa, Brighton and Hove Albion, plus a stint at Birmingham City.

He also was part of the Villa squad who won the European Super Cup. The two legged tie was contested between the European Cup holders Aston Villa and the Cup Winners Cup holders Barcelona. The match took place over two legs in January 1983. The first leg was won by Barcelona 1–0 at the Camp Nou stadium, but Aston Villa won 3–0 at Villa Park in the 2nd leg after extra time to take a 3–1 aggregate win. Jones started the first leg, but was injured on 36 minutes and was substituted. The injury meant he didn’t make the starting eleven for the 2nd match.

Due to winning the 1982 European Cup (Now the Champions League) Villa also faced Penarol from Uruguay in the World Club Championship. Jones wore the number 2 shirt as they lost 2-0 in front of 63,000 supporters at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

Jones spoke to Matt Healey and told him how the move came about to Hereford United “I signed for the manager at the time John Newman in 1987. I moved my family over to Leominster from the West Midlands and I’ve stayed here ever since, we had a great group of lads, the one season we had four players with Jones as their surname, there was Richard and Shane, we even had another Mark Jones who was a midfielder that Ian Bowyer signed from Walsall, so I was known as Mark A Jones as my middle name is Anthony”

Jones scored his first goal for Hereford in a 3-1 home defeat to Rochdale on the 4th November 1989. The highlight of his time at Edgar Street was winning the Welsh Cup in 1990.

“We also played Manchester United in the FA Cup that season, it was packed at Edgar Street that day, its a shame they pipped us 1-0 at the end with Clayton Blackmore scoring, as a replay at Old Trafford would have been a brilliant experience”

Jones remained at Hereford until May 1991, but was surprisingly released by Colin Addison after playing in every single league and cup game which totalled 61 that campaign.

“I was a bit shocked to be fair that I got released, I remember the Hereford Times pointing this out at the time that I had been an ever present. But that’s football and I needed to get a new club. I didn’t want to uproot my family so I wanted to stay fairly local. I nearly signed a deal for Cheltenham Town, but I ended up linking up with Worcester City in the Beazer Homes League, my former playing colleagues at Hereford Paul Tester and Colin Robinson were there. The highlight of my time at Worcester was winning player of the year.

Jones added “I did well at Worcester and then signed for Merthyr Tydfil in the GM Vauxhall Conference, there was a connection with a former Hereford player in Ian Benbow who was at Merthyr, he lived close to me in Leominster and we car shared down the Heads of the Valleys road to Merthyr together, but to be honest I didn’t enjoy it, it was around 120 mile round trip, and by then I had enough and lost the love for the game so I packed it in. I remember coming home from a match and said to my wife “That’s it” and we mutually cancelled my contract, I think I only made around ten appearances for the club”

Jones continued “I gave up football. I must have been around 32/33 when I hung up my boots. I then started doing some training courses and got a 9-5 job, I’m still working now, but semi retired”

Jones still has great affection for his former club Aston Villa “Those were great times at Villa, I get invited back occasionally to do matchday hospitality, and I was devastated when Gary Shaw recently passed away, he was a great player and a gentleman. I attended his funeral and I still speak to Tony Morley who was a fantastic player for Villa”

Jones’s grandson though is a big football fan “He’s really getting into it and plays for a local side, its great to come down and watch Hereford FC with my family, my grandson loves seeing photos and footage from my playing days and its been a great trip down memory lane”

*Photos supplied by MH Archive