Manchester United's Phil Jones: it's flattered to be compared with Duncan Edwards
As Phil Jones pulls up a chair beneath the black and white images of Manchester United’s youngsters from previous generations, it becomes impossible to avoid the elephant in the room.
A youthful Ryan Giggs dominates the backdrop, there are pictures of Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Gary Neville and, in the corner, a portrait of the Busby Babes with the imposing frame of Duncan Edwards standing out from the crowd.
“If you talk to Bobby Charlton,” says Paddy Crerand, Charlton’s team-mate in United’s 1968 European Cup winning team, “Phil Jones reminds him of Duncan Edwards with his power and build.”
At 19, four months after arriving at Old Trafford in a £16.5 million transfer from Blackburn Rovers – a move which enabled Jones to move out of his parents’ Leyland home for a central Manchester apartment – the England Under-21 defender is perhaps shouldering an impossible burden by evoking comparisons to Edwards, a name which occupies sacred ground at United and who, at 21, lost his life as a result of injuries suffered in the Munich air disaster.
But despite the pitfalls of such a nod to the past, given an emotional charge by Charlton’s advocacy, Jones accepts it as though he is, well, intercepting a pass in front of 75,000 people at Old Trafford.
“It’s brilliant for me to even be considered as being a player who could become as good as Duncan Edwards was,” Jones said. “It is flattering and, for young lads like myself and my team-mates to be compared to great young players of the past, it is an amazing feeling.
“People have told me about Duncan, facts and figures about him, but I obviously know what he means to this club. When you come into training in the morning, knowing that people are talking about you in the same breath as players of the Busby era, it is fantastic, but I can’t let it affect me. I have to play my own game and continue to do what I have been doing so far.”
However unfair, premature or misplaced the comparisons to Edwards might be, there is little doubt that Jones shares with his distant United predecessor a sense of being mature beyond his years.
Having lured Jones from Blackburn at the end of last season, United manager Sir Alex Ferguson admitted that the sight of the then 18 year-old directing his Rovers team-mates and attempting to cajole them into a response while trailing 7-1 at Old Trafford last November prompted an unsuccessful bid to sign the teenager in January.
Jones’s leadership qualities shone as Blackburn were dismantled by United and they left a mark on Ferguson, yet off the field, the defender speaks and acts like a man with a greater understanding of the world than most would expect of a 19 year-old.
The stable and supportive upbringing provided by parents Mark and Helen, Jones insists, is the central pillar of his outlook on football and life beyond the pitch, yet his character has also been shaped by the trauma of seeing two school friends lose their lives in tragic circumstances within the space of four years.
In 2006, Ryan Masterman was killed when he was knocked from his bicycle, while Matthew Miller died after falling from a motorway bridge in 2010.
Jones helped raise funds to provide a memorial for Ryan at Balshaw’s High School in Leyland and he admits such tragedies contribute to a wider perspective on life.
“Matthew was in my French and Spanish classes and he sat next to me, while Ryan was in my tutor group.” Jones said. “It was hard for us to go through it when it happened, it was very difficult.
“But we all pulled together and got a memorial garden set up for the lad, Ryan. He was a lovely lad, everyone got along with him really well, so it was terrible.
“Bad times are an eye-opener and, when things aren’t going well, I always remind myself that I have my family, my friends, my girlfriend.
“People like that will always be there with you, so I always try to take the positives out of things. That’s the joy of football, though, in that one minute you can be up there and the next, down here.”
After this interview Jones is off to visit patients at Francis House Children’s Hospice with United team-mate Chris Smalling.
“It’s horrible for people in those situations and we want to give things back,” Jones said.
“Football is hyped up these days and it is an amazing game that people quite rightly get excited about, but there are soldiers in Afghanistan and people fighting for their lives in hospital and sometimes we have to remember that.”
On the pitch, Jones’s greatest challenge after nine appearances in a United shirt appears to be living up to the hype that his performances for Ferguson’s United team have generated.
Although the timing of his move to Old Trafford in June surprised many, it has since emerged that United, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Everton had all been courting him for months.
Ferguson’s interest was such that one senior figure at Ewood Park admitted privately that the Scot was “always talking about Phil whenever he came here”.
Blackburn rejected a £10 million bid for Jones from Arsenal in August 2010, but United secured his services by triggering a £16.5 million release clause in the player’s Ewood Park contract, despite intense competition from Liverpool.
Jones said: “It was brilliant when I heard of United’s interest, an incredible feeling.
“The whole experience – speaking to the manager on the phone, meeting him in person, going through the whole process of signing – was fantastic.
“Lots of clubs showed an interest in me, but United just felt right; the whole club, the set-up. It wasn’t the fact that it was United, it was that I walked in here and met people, the staff and physios et cetera, and it just felt right.
“At Blackburn, when I knew there was interest from bigger clubs, I said to myself that if it [a move] happens, then it has to feel right and this felt right.”
A delay in completing the transfer, caused by suggestions that Blackburn’s Indian owners, Venkys, were attempting to secure a greater fee for Jones prompted speculation that the deal was on the brink of collapse and that Liverpool were prepared to outbid United.
Jones insists, however, that he flew to Denmark with England Under-21s for the European Championships unconcerned by the failure of the two clubs to sign off the deal immediately.
“I was never concerned that it wouldn’t happen,” Jones said. “I was always confident because I knew it was happening. Rumours were flying around and people were talking about all sorts of things, but I knew 100 per cent that it would happen.
"There was talk of the Blackburn owners not willing to sell for a certain price, that they wouldn’t sell at all, but it wasn’t the case.
“There were even rumours on Twitter that I had failed a medical, which was simply not true. I was seeing all this on Twitter, knowing the reality of the situation, but I decided not to get involved and respond to it.
"I was laughing at some of the tweets, though, because people really didn’t understand what was going on.
“I spoke to [Blackburn manager] Steve Kean over the phone and he was great to me.
“When it all went through he called me and wished me all the best and told me that I should be going to United as the number one because I was good enough to do it.”
Injuries to Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic have enabled Jones to justify Kean’s faith and belief earlier than many had anticipated.
A series of confident performances in United’s defence, both at right-back and centre-half, have left Ferguson facing a selection quandary when Vidic returns from his calf injury and Ferdinand draws a line under his fitness problems.
But while Jones admits to being surprised by his early progress at United, he does not feel as though his elevation has come too soon.
He said: “I wanted to come here and play. I didn’t want to come from playing every week at Blackburn to becoming a bit-part player at United, but I knew I probably had to do that at the start.
“I wanted to come to United because I felt that the club was right for me, so if I had to wait, I was prepared for it.” And the hype and star billing?
“One of my strong points is that, no matter what anyone says about me, it will not affect me,” Jones said. “It’s because I believe in my ability and what I can achieve.
“I know I am good enough to be here, otherwise the manager wouldn’t have paid the money he spent to bring me to the club.
“It doesn’t matter what anyone tells me, I know that I can rely on myself. It comes from my parents. They are the same strong-minded people as I am and I just don’t let anyone bring me down.
“I want to be a successful player. I want to be remembered one day as a great player, good athlete, good professional. I don’t want to be a player that people don’t remember, but I have to work hard for that. I have to do some grafting, but it is something I am willing to do.”
Jones’s emergence appears to have set the clock ticking on Ferdinand’s career with both United and England.
The 32 year-old’s injuries have handed his younger rival an opportunity which Jones has grasped at Old Trafford, while Fabio Capello believes Jones and Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere can provide the bedrock of England’s team for the next decade.
For now, however, Jones must settle for under-21 duty while he waits for his senior debut.
A call-up into Stuart Pearce’s squad for this month’s Euro 2013 qualifiers against Iceland and Norway suggests he will miss out on a call-up for the Euro 2012 decider against Montenegro next Friday.
Despite an admission that a place in Capello’s Euro 2012 squad is a target, Jones insists he is not aggrieved by his continuing presence in the under-21 picture.
He said: “The under-21s is still a big thing because it is a massive honour to represent your country at any level. The under-21s are no different. The lads and the coaching staff are great and I am still learning. Any international football is a learning experience.
“Euro 2012 would be great, but I have to keep performing well for United if that is to happen.
“I was in with the seniors for the last game, against Wales, and that was a brilliant experience.
“Once you get a taste you want more and I want to be pushing for senior recognition. Just because I am 19 doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t be challenging for a place in the England squad.
“If I keep doing well and my performances are showing that, then I don’t see why not.”
How does Jones compare with Edwards?
Phil Jones has earned comparisons to Manchester United icon Duncan Edwards during his brief time at Old Trafford, but why is the 19 year-old being bracketed alongside one of the greats of the Busby Babes?
What are the similarities?
Edwards was equally adept at playing in defence or midfield and his powerful physique belied his age, even as a teenager. Jones, having made his Blackburn debut as a 17 year-old, is bestowed with similar physical attributes.
How good was Edwards?
Sir Bobby Charlton has described Edwards as the best player he ever played with or against, a born leader who could, according to Charlton, score goals, defend, tackle and head the ball better than any of his contemporaries. Stanley Matthews described Edwards as being “like a rock in a raging sea”.
What had Edwards achieved before being killed at Munich?
Edwards was 21 when he died due to injuries suffered at Munich. By that age, he had been capped 18 times by England and had won two league titles at United having made 177 appearances for the club.
