R.I.P. Former Chelsea defender Joey Jones dies at the age of 70

Chelsea official obituary

Chelsea Club learned with great sorrow that our former player Joey Jones died at the age of 70.

As a pure defender and fan favorite, Jones played for Chelsea for three eventful seasons in the early 1980s and won a secondary championship medal that added to his previous honors elsewhere.

Jones is one of the great men who once wore our jerseys. Not only that, he deserves credit for the brakes he played when the club was in a free fall down and then helped push us back onto the upward track.

Jones was signed by John Neal in 1982. The Blues coach is already very familiar with him. Neal trained him to become a professional player when the two were in Wrexham.

Jones is also well known to Chelsea fans. He became famous as a member of Liverpool's first Champions League victory in 1977, and after moving to Chelsea, he became our only active international at the time. He made 72 appearances for Wales.

When Chelsea was at its lowest point, Neal knew that he was bringing in an extremely devoted player with a commendable spiritual power, even though Jones had brought him endless off-court trouble when he was young.

Jones' start at the new club was not smooth either. At first, the signing wasn't popular with fans, who remembered Jones' past confrontation with Chelsea. A shocking FA Cup defeat at Stamford Bridge actually ended his career at Anfield.

Jones was sent off for Chelsea's debut, which didn't help him, but he quickly won the hearts of fans.

As competent in all positions in the backline, he admits that he is far from the best defender in his skilled position - "I'm here to tackle", but it's obvious that Jones is a never-say fighter who is ready to stick with the game while bleeding and hurts, and puts supporters first. Many people think that the team lacked at the time was these traits.

Neal also signed several other strong players as role models in the sluggish secondary league lineup. Although the impact was not immediate, the Blues set the lowest league ranking in the 1982/83 season, Jones continued to heat up through his on-court efforts and a ritual that clenched his fists before the game and a ceremony that called for their support (while his other hand carefully covered his Liverpool tattoo).

Jones said at the time: "I feel very sorry for Chelsea fans because we didn't give them enough reasons to cheer. Our away fans are as many as Liverpool and should give them more rewards."

The bearded fighter was elected Chelsea Player of the Year the year when the team barely relegated.

In the 1983/84 season, Chelsea won the second league championship like a phoenix, and Jones was the first choice left-back. He started all league games except for 8 games.

He scored his second of two goals in a 5-3 win at Fulham as the memorable season began to heat up. The mid-season signing Mickey Thomas, Jones's youth friend in Wrexham, another enthusiastic activist, brought further momentum.

Thomas's dynamic wing-playing style is in harmony with Jones, and the team proves invincible for the rest of the season, and off the court, they will commute from North Wales to West London together, sometimes spending the night on the physiotherapist's sofa. Jones had difficulties in moving to London because he was unable to sell his house and was cautious about the metropolis.

also encountered obstacles in renewal, so in order to return to life after the top league, the club introduced the tall Doug Rugwi from Scotland as the new left back.

This reduced Jones' playing time, even though he won back his position in the second half of the season and was temporarily placed as right-back in a famous League Cup battle against Xie on Wednesday.

When Neal's health problems led to his assistant coach John Hollins taking over the head coach's duties in the 1985/86 season, the new coach had a low tolerance for commuting and training arrangements for the pair of Welsh partners, and their era was over.

To many fans, Jones was transferred to Huddersfield Town before the start of the next season. He made 91 appearances for Chelsea, and his status as a true Blues legend was established.

Jones later returned to Wrexham for the third time, and then naturally transitioned to their youth training academy as coach.

All Chelsea staff extended their deepest condolences to Joey's family and friends.