David Jones

David Frank Llwyd Jones (born 4 November 1984) is an English professional football coach and former player who is currently the first team coach at Welsh club Wrexham.

Born in Southport, Jones joined Manchester United in 1995 at the age of 10.

He made eight appearances for the under-17 side in the 2000–01 season, and signed as an apprentice on 2 July 2001, before breaking into the Under-19 side in early 2002.

He was made captain of the Under-19s at the start of the 2002–03 season, and went on to make 18 appearances, scoring one goal, as the team progressed to the final of the FA Youth Cup in April 2003, where a 2–0 victory over Middlesbrough in the second leg saw him lift the trophy at Old Trafford.

The following season saw Jones promoted to the reserve team, where he established himself as a regular in the heart of midfield.

He was named as a substitute for a League Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion in December 2003, but did not feature in the game.

Jones was allocated a squad number, 31, during the 2003–04 season and made his senior debut as a late substitute in a 1–0 home win over Arsenal in the League Cup.

He made his full team debut in Manchester United's shock 0–0 home draw with non-league Exeter City in the FA Cup third round.

Despite these opportunities Jones found it hard to break into the first team ahead of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes and spent much of the remainder of his Manchester United career either in the reserves or out on loan.

In the 2004–05 season, Manchester United introduced a second reserve team to play in the Pontins' Holiday League, in addition to the existing FA Premier Reserve League North side.

Jones was named as captain of the latter and also made regular appearances for the former.

Jones experienced a great deal of success with the reserve sides, lifting the FA Premier Reserve League North trophy and then captaining the side to victory over Charlton Athletic Reserves (winners of the FAPRL South) to take the national title.

He also featured as the reserves secured the Pontins Holiday League title and the Pontins Holiday League Cup, once again acting as captain as Manchester United were narrowly denied a fifth trophy at the hands of Manchester City Reserves in the final of the Manchester Seniors Cup.

For the 2004–05 season Jones was sent on a season long loan to Football League Championship side Preston North End to gain first-team experience making his debut at Watford on 6 August 2005.

Good performances from the bench soon saw him established as first-choice in midfield and he scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 away win at Ipswich Town on 29 August 2005.

Jones played a key role in a long unbeaten run which pushed Preston up into the Championship play-off positions, making 24 appearances, including three as substitute, and scoring 3 goals.

Jones' spell at Preston was followed by joining Eredivisie side NEC Nijmegen on a loan deal until the end 2005–06 season.

Wearing number five, he again had to spend time on the substitutes bench to begin with, but impressed sufficiently in brief appearances against Ajax and Sparta Rotterdam to be brought on at half-time against ADO Den Haag on 22 January 2006.

Jones scored two goals in a 5–0 win to secure a place in the starting line-up for the next game, where he again scored twice, this time to salvage a draw against Willem II.

One of those goals was from the penalty spot.

He started every game for the rest of the season in a left centre midfield role in NEC's 4–3–3 formation.

During a match against Heracles, he scored a goal from 30 yards.

In the match against FC Groningen, he again scored a goal from a free kick, just 25 yards out, receiving the Man of the Match award.

In the short time he was with NEC Nijmegen, he got himself placed second on their Man of the Year list, with 134 points, thirty points behind talented striker Romano Denneboom.

The team ended 10th in 2006 and Jones returned to England having signed a new three-year deal at Manchester United.

Despite his success in the Netherlands, the arrival of £14 million Michael Carrick from Tottenham meant Jones was restricted to appearances in the League Cup.

On 15 November 2006, a bid of £1 million from Derby County was accepted.

The deal would see Jones initially move on loan to Pride Park until the January transfer window – the first possible opportunity to make the transfer a permanent one.

In moving to Derby, Jones would link up once again with Billy Davies, manager of Preston during his loan spell there.

Jones' Derby career started promisingly, with the midfielder establishing himself as first choice in midfield and contributing significantly to Derby's push for promotion, including scoring a stoppage-time free-kick in the 1–0 home win against Sheffield Wednesday.

Alex Ferguson once remarked that he had sold Jones too cheaply to Derby.

Jones began his playing career at Manchester United, but struggled to get into the first team and spent loan spells at Preston North End, NEC and Derby County, before joining Derby on a permanent basis in 2007.

However, he left Derby after just one season to join Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He spent three years with Wolves before joining Wigan Athletic.

At the end of his second season there, he went on a brief loan spell with Blackburn Rovers, before joining Burnley.

After three years with Burnley, he left for Sheffield Wednesday, where he spent another three years before being released at the end of the 2018–19 season.

He joined Oldham Athletic on a free transfer but was released in January 2020.

He was without a club while football was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but in August 2021, he signed for Wrexham as a player-coach.

In June 2022, he retired from football to become a coach full-time at Wrexham.

Jones represented England at under-21 level, but he also had a parental qualification to play for Wales.