Craig Jones (born 20 March 1987) is retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Previously, he was club captain at Bury. He is a three times

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

champion. He previously played for Welsh clubs Airbus UK Broughton, Aberystwyth Town,

Rhyl Rhyl (; , ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd. To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south-east Rhuddlan ...

, TNS and

Connah's Quay Connah's Quay (), known locally as "The Quay" and formerly known as Wepre, is a town and community in Flintshire, on the River Dee and next to the border with England. With a population of 16,771, it is the largest town in Flintshire. The ...

Club career

Jones' career started with Airbus UK Broughton and Aberystwyth Town. He joined

in the May 2007, winning a Welsh Premier League championship medal with the club and representing them in Europe. He then joined

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints () or TNS FC, are an English professional football club that play in the , but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They a ...

in May 2009. He played for the club in qualifying rounds of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, against clubs such as

Helsingborg Helsingborg (, , ), is a Urban areas in Sweden, city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Scania County, Scania (Skåne), Sweden. It is the second-largest city in Scania (after Malmö) and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, ninth ...

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

, and

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

scoring in both home legs against the Belgian and Irish champions. In July 2012, he played his final matches for

playing a significant role in both legs of the second-round qualifying matches of the

against Swedish Treble-winning side (comprising Super Cup, League and Swedish Cup titles)

. In total he scored 25 goals in 111 appearances for the club. In January 2012 he went on trial with

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

for seven days. After attracting interest from several English League and European Clubs, Jones signed a two-year deal with

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

club Bury in August 2012, after Bury paid out an undisclosed fee for his services from TNS. He was released by Bury at the end of the 2017–18 season. In August 2018, Jones returned to the

signing for

Connah's Quay Nomads Connah's Quay Nomads Football Club () is a Welsh professional association football, football club based in Connah's Quay, Flintshire. They play in the . The club was founded in 1946 as Connah's Quay Juniors and adopted the Connah's Quay Nomads ...

. Jones made six appearances in all competitions for the Nomads, including playing in a

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

where he assisted the winning goal. He departed the club three months later after struggling to attain the required level of fitness.

International career

Jones won 9 caps for Wales at the semi-pro under-23 level, and captained the side once. He was selected for the senior semi-pro team for the 2008 Four Nations, scoring a hat-trick against Gibraltar.

Personal life

His father Brynley was also a professional football player, having played for Chester City in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

, as well as

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club () was a Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. Founded in 1876, Bangor City have been founder members of the North Wales Coast League, the Welsh National League, the North Wales Combination, the W ...

and Oswestry Town.

Career statistics

Honours

;with Rhyl *

champion: 2008–09 *

Welsh League Cup The Cymru League Cup, currently known as the Nathaniel MG Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a cup competition in Welsh association football, football organised by the Football Association of Wales. The competition was established in 1992 and is c ...

runner-up: 2008 ;with The New Saints *

champion: 2009–10 & 2011–12 *

runner-up:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

winner: 2012 *

winner: 2009, 2010 & 2011 Individual *

Young Player of the Season: 2009–10 * Welsh Premier League Team of the Year: 2008–09, 2009–10

, 2011–12

References

External links

* (contains errors)
Profile
on the official Bury FC website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Craig 1987 births Living people Footballers from Chester Welsh men's footballers Wales men's under-23 international footballers English men's footballers English people of Welsh descent Men's association football wingers Aberystwyth Town F.C. players Airbus UK Broughton F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players The New Saints F.C. players Bury F.C. players Cymru Premier players English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen