" DAVE JONES LIFTS THE LID ON HIS TIME AT CARDIFF CITY "

Former Cardiff City boss Dave Jones lifts the lid on his time at 'crisis club' in fascinating personal letter to WalesOnline reporter Steve Tucker

Monday 29th June 2015

By Steve Tucker

In a remarkably frank and open letter, Dave Jones writes to WalesOnline football correspondent Steve Tucker - the man he had banned from his press conferences club on more than one occasion

When I recently penned an article reflecting on former Cardiff City manager Dave Jones on the fourth anniversary of his sacking by the club I was expecting some reaction. What I wasn’t expecting was a reaction from Jones himself.

It is well documented myself and Jones rarely saw eye-to-eye on just about anything so it was a surprise to find an email from the 58-year-old in my inbox one morning.

In my original piece I had described the man, who remains the Bluebirds’ fourth-longest serving manager, as ‘unlikable’ and, when it came to on-pitch matters, had pointed out his ‘nearly man’ status as he time and again took Cardiff to the brink of Premier League promotion only to fall at the final hurdle.

In fairness I did applaud the successes he had at the club as well and there were many. An FA Cup final appearance and, more practically, some of the superb signings he made on an often minimal budget and also the attractive playing style of his Bluebirds. The likes of which we have not really enjoyed since.

If I was expecting the worst as I clicked on Jones’ email then I was to be pleasantly surprised. Jones, who was last in the game in charge at Sheffield Wednesday before getting fired in December 2013 and who recently reportedly applied for the Ivory Coast manager’s job, accepted it was a ‘fair assessment’ of his time in the Welsh capital.

He addressed our working relationship, or lack of, and gave some fascinating insight to what things were really like at Cardiff during his days in charge and how he personally now reflects now on his six years in charge. It reveals a man who perhaps has mellowed slightly with age, but who still regains a keen appetite for the game.

The email I felt was fascinating and worthy of a wider readership than just me and so I contacted Jones and he has kindly given WalesOnline permission to publish it in full.....






" The Dave Jones letter "
Dear Steve,

I was recently sent an article you wrote by a friend of mine down in Cardiff which he thought would be of interest to me.

After reading your article which, on reflection, I thought was a fair assessment of my time at Cardiff, you say I never liked you and we never got on.

To be honest it was never that I disliked you, it was more a dislike of the stories you wrote sometimes regarding what you thought was going on inside the club.

You only knew me as the manager, I only knew you as a reporter, but there are times now when I look back and feel my response to you was not always correct and sarcasm was used to questions or articles you wrote where your information was incorrect or I felt irrelevant to situations going on inside the club.

My role as a manager was to always give an honest opinion to questions even if the answer given was not what people always wanted to hear.

As a manager the one thing you learn very quickly is you are never going to please everyone whether it be because of the team you pick, players not selected, the way you look and act on the touchline or answer questions.

My style as a manager is to win, to trust my players and staff and to protect them and the club when and where I thought needed.

The first time I walked into Cardiff I knew it was always going to be a struggle and a uphill battle just to keep the club afloat. The club was in a financial crisis with a run down stadium, no training facilities, no players and, more importantly, no funds to buy players.

It was imperative that our recruitment strategy was paramount if the club was to stay in the division and then slowly progress.

The problems I faced...
The process was to get players in on free transfers and turn these players into a valuable asset, work on the youth at the club and again use that as a source of income, the idea being to produce cheap and sell big.

The problem we always faced, as we found and produced players, was that it got us to a certain point giving us a chance to get promoted, but, as we also found to our cost, each year we had to sell our best players to survive which always felt like one step forward and two or even three steps back.

Although I had great times at Cardiff my biggest regret is not gaining promotion when I felt it was getting closer each year only to be disappointed we could never buy at the time needed, but only to sell.

Cardiff City would not be the club it is today without the daily dramas and as the old Cardiff Blues manager, Dai Young, said to me over coffee one day, both clubs where always one day away from disaster.

I am proud of what we achieved at Cardiff though, an FA cup final, near misses on promotion, reducing the debt, building a fantastic stadium, a state of the art training facility, producing some great talent through the youth system, good recruitment of players that become crowd favourites and which put the club on the global stage. This, I believe, gave the fans a club to be proud and one which their fantastic support deserves.

I wish the club, supporters and Vincent Tan all the very best in the future.

On a final note Steve this is probably the most I have ever spoken to you. (Scouse humour!)

Best Wishes,

Dave Jones.

Fair play to Jones he didn't have to write that and I think he spoke well here and we can't deny how much we have come since first getting promoted to the championship was down to Jones.

Always liked Jones, loved his interviews, lots of sarcasm but honest. Preferred them to Malkys interviews which sounded like they came straight from his media training book and well slade sounds like he is selling a dodgy second hand car.

Always liked Jones, loved his interviews, lots of sarcasm but honest. Preferred them to Malkys interviews which sounded like they came straight from his media training book and well slade sounds like he is selling a dodgy second hand car.

Yep!

Always liked Jones, loved his interviews, lots of sarcasm but honest. Preferred them to Malkys interviews which sounded like they came straight from his media training book and well slade sounds like he is selling a dodgy second hand car.

All are stuck records when it comes to interviews and speaking.

DJ Tefal was the most miserable of the 3 by far.

As they say, it was never dull!!

Saw some cracking football and some poor results - pure footballing match entertainment was better under Jones than any of his successors.

And he had a cracking knack of finding some pearls.

He had many flaws as well, but on just a football match experience, it was good fun, especially with the no money bit, he did really well there.

Shame he came across as a miserable git, but I guess he can't help his own persona - he needed to learn not to show it so much.

Is jonsey feeling alright!?

Jones stayed that year to long in my view , he did really well but didn't take us over the line and the last season he brought in players who didn't care beside Bellamy there were stories of players partying before big games like versus Mboro at home
and many of our players were hung over showing in my view Jones didn't have the respect of the dressing room any more.

Also in the last season Jones had lost his scouse sense of humour and his interviews sounded like he was blaming everyone
including us the supporters.

However I would never dislike the bloke as he did give us some great times like the FA cup final and of course the new stadium and his push for the training facilities and he did really well with little money for the first few years. I would always
say he was a good manager for us and made us into a strong championship team.

But fair play his letter to Tucker is spot on as he didn't have too reply at all

Always liked Jones, loved his interviews, lots of sarcasm but honest. Preferred them to Malkys interviews which sounded like they came straight from his media training book and well slade sounds like he is selling a dodgy second hand car.

Yep! [/I'm still a fan of Dave Jones gave us some great times top bloke

I never warmed to Jones,s personality, he always came across as he knew better than anyone else, he probably did, but it doesn't mean he had to convey that at every opportunity. However, I will say he was responsible for getting his teams to play the most exciting brand of football I have seen at Cardiff, I also believe that he would have got us promoted had he have been given the funds that Malky was given and done it in more style

I never warmed to Jones,s personality, he always came across as he knew better than anyone else, he probably did, but it doesn't mean he had to convey that at every opportunity. However, I will say he was responsible for getting his teams to play the most exciting brand of football I have seen at Cardiff, I also believe that he would have got us promoted had he have been given the funds that Malky was given and done it in more style

Agree with you.

I really wanted him gone at the time nut given a choice between Jones and Slade now I'd take the scouse netball fan over Selwyn Froggett every time.

Jones didn't really have it for me. His lack of what seemed a personality didn't help. And his failure to control some players was also a bug bear. But compared to a pissed up looking Russell Slade Dave Jones was Bill shankley Josse Marhinio and Alex Furguson rolled into one. And he did produce some cracking football at times.

Absolutely spot on assessment. And what we wouldn't give for his black book of loan candidates over Mr Slade's'

He sent me a card congratulating me on getting married and got the players to sign it. Steve Borley set it up for my best man who was a Brizzle City fan. I was made up. He's still a grump sod though and Ramsey should have started!!!

Is he paving the way for a return in some capacity ?

If the club come out with the truth of 'look we will need to sell one star player a season to balance the books and to do that we have to buy cheap' then people would have had a better understanding. The Ledley issue was treating fans like mugs and in a way the fans should be greatful to Ledley for choosing Celtic because the shortfall of that transfer money shortened the Risdale period for at least another year

Jones didn't really have it for me. His lack of what seemed a personality didn't help. And his failure to control some players was also a bug bear. But compared to a pissed up looking Russell Slade Dave Jones was Bill shankley Josse Marhinio and Alex Furguson rolled into one. And he did produce some cracking football at times.

Don't agree with that.When you shop in the bargin basement you have to take the rough with the smooth.Theres something lacking in one form or another.In the absence of facts too many on here filled in the gaps with bullshit.Jones did a very good job under difficult circumstances and was unfairly chastised just because he didn't give a certain section of the fans a blow job after every game,something Malky was an expert at.

Just my honest opinion.