Joey Jones, the former Wales, Liverpool and Wrexham defender is no more having passed away at the age of 70.
Joey Jones, a 70-year-old veteran defender for Wales and Liverpool, passed away. Jones played 100 games during his trophy-filled tenure at Liverpool, where he won a league title in three years, two European Cups, and a Uefa Cup.
The left-back, who was born in Llandudno, started and finished his career at Wrexham after stints at Anfield, Chelsea, and Huddersfield. He gained 72 caps for Wales.
Jones’s former Wales teammate Mickey Thomas posted on X: “This morning I lost my best friend and soul mate, Sir Joey our memories will never fade – Today my heart is broken. Love you Sir Joey RIP. My condolences are with Janice and all the family.”
Fans unveiled the “Joey ate the frogs legs, made the Swiss roll, now he’s munching Gladbach” banner during Liverpool’s 1977 European Cup final triumph over Borussia Mönchengladbach, immortalising Jones’s contribution to the team. The banner was an homage to the team’s quarterfinal and semifinal victories over FC Zürich and Saint-Étienne.
“I guarantee the Germans would have known every player in our team apart from me – just one of the lads who has come off the Kop,” he said of the banner, which after 20 years in his garage is now in Liverpool’s museum. “I guess that’s why the fans identified with me because I’d give it my all and I was one of them. I never considered myself to be skilful but I was the type of player I think any team needs. I think as much of that banner as I do the winner’s medal.”
Jones helped Wrexham advance to the FA Cup quarterfinals in 1974 and won the Welsh Cup with the team. After undergoing heart surgery in 2002 and suffering a small stroke in 2015, he returned to the Racecourse Ground as a youth-team ambassador in 2021, and he briefly served as caretaker manager.