Buckley&District Reds

Lee Jones

 

Diminutive forward Lee Jones enjoyed a record four different spells with his hometown club during which he wrote his name in Wrexham FC folklore and earned a place in the club’s history books. His name conjures up numerous memorable moments for Dragons fans which include crucial goals against West Ham in 1992, Shrewsbury in 2003 and a 5 goal haul against Cambridge in 2002.

Lee’s start in the game was unconventional. It was only while he was re-sitting his GCSE’s at Yale College and playing for the college side that he was spotted and taken on by Wrexham. This was in 1990 at a time when Brian Flynn was re-building the club, its youth policy and giving youngsters deemed good enough a chance to also prove that they were old enough.

Lee soon got a chance and his debut was a baptism of fire, a start in the European Cup Winners’ Cup 2nd Round 2nd leg match against Manchester United at the Racecourse Ground. Though Wrexham were knocked out of the ECWC Lee impressed enough to make the squad regularly as a sub, building up his experience.

Though small and slight, Lee had pace to burn and an accurate eye for goal which made him an effective presence when coming off the bench, a constant threat to goal. By the end of his debut season, 1990-91, he had notched 6 goals in 16 appearances.

The next season he grabbed headlines during the famous 1991-92 FA Cup adventure. Though not involved in the famous Arsenal game, he scored an equaliser at Upton Park in the 4th Round against West Ham which brought Wrexham a further money-spinning replay and Lee to the attention of bigger clubs.

In March 1992 he made a dream move to Anfield as Liverpool and Graeme Souness bought the 18 year-old for £300,000, which would be doubled depending on his progress. It was an astronomical amount at that time for a raw teenager, equalling the record fee Wrexham had previously received in a transfer deal. Many Wrexham fans couldn’t believe their luck.

A regular in the Wales Under-21 squad Lee continued his development in Liverpool’s reserve teams, apart from a spell out on loan at Crewe Alexandra in the 1993-94 season. When there was an opening for Lee at Anfield with fellow striker’s either succumbing to injury or being sold, he found himself in the treatment room himself with a broken leg.

He did however make two substitute appearances for Liverpool in September 1994, one in the Coca-Cola Cup against Burnley, the other his Premiership debut against Wimbledon.
In Lee’s absence, another of Anfield’s hotly-tipped young strikers, Robbie Fowler got his chance, and with Fowler scoring first-team goals at a record-breaking rate Lee would get few chances. When Roy Evans took over from Souness, Ian Rush was still going and Stan Collymore was bought at great expense.
Halfway through the 1995-96 season Lee returned to the Racecourse Ground on loan going on to score 9 goals in 20 games as he built up his fitness, confidence and sharpness in front of goal. Back at Anfield he made two more subs’ appearances in the Premiership early in the 1996-97 season, against Arsenal and West Ham.

However, by January 1997 he was back on loan at Wrexham. His stay was brief and though he failed to score or hold down a regular place Brian Flynn tried to re-sign him permanently. Though he failed to tempt Lee back, Flynn managed to bring back Gary Bennett to contribute to our fast-becoming legendary 1996-97 FA Cup run team.

Lee instead went out on loan to then ‘Championship’ level Tranmere Rovers in March 1997 where he had more success in front of goal, bagging 5 goals in 8 games. His impact was such that the Prenton Park faithful set up a petition to persuade him to stay which ended with John Aldridge writing a cheque for £100,000 to keep him there.
In March 1997 Lee became a full Wales international winning his first cap as a substitute in a friendly against Scotland. With 2 minutes to go he replaced current Wrexham manager Dean Saunders. He added his 2nd and final cap against Turkey that August in a World Cup qualifier. Again he was a replacement for Wrexham boss Saunders in a game that Wales went on to lose 6-4!

Though his goals to games ratio with Tranmere was respectable, Lee made nearly as many substitute appearances as he did starts and proved very injury prone over the next 3 years. By the turn of the Millennium and the summer of 2000 he had picked up a free transfer and had moved to Barnsley.
Lee’s time at the struggling Oakwell club was blighted by injury, mainly his hamstring, and he found goals hard to come by. In March 2002 his contract was cancelled by mutual consent , Lee was supposed to sign for Oswestry Town but there was a problem with registration from England to Wales and they were used as a "BUFFER " club to get him back to Wrexham.

 

With Wrexham facing relegation to the Football League’s basement division, manager Denis Smith snapped Lee up on transfer deadline day. His subsequent outings showed him to be not the player he was, but on the day relegation was confirmed in April 2002, he achieved a remarkable feat.
At home to Cambridge United (who followed Wrexham down) Lee went on to net all 5 goals in the 5-0 victory. His ‘nap-hand’ put him in the record books alongside Wrexham goalscoring legend of the early 1930’s, Tommy Bamford, for most goals by a single Wrexham player in a league game. Juan Ugarte has since equalled the record too.
Even if Cambridge’s defending that day left a lot to be desired Lee’s goals were well-taken and it’s an incredible achievement no matter what the context.

 

The then Dragons ‘Chairman’ Mark Guterman was rumoured to have been so smitten by Lee’s predatory touch that day, that he insisted on tying him to a 2-year contract on the spot. It seemed quite a commitment to make to a player suspect to injury and loss of form, but then Guterman was that kind of ‘Chairman’…

Wrexham began the 2002-03 season with Lee in the side but his injury curse soon struck and he was sidelined. He came back to score twice in league games and twice in the LDV Vans Trophy before Christmas but was on the periphery for most of the season.
With Smith’s preferred strike force of Morrell and Trundle in fine form Lee was competing for the role of ‘super-sub’ with Hector Sam. In April 2003 Wrexham were in white-hot promotion winning form.

 

Away to rivals Shrewsbury Town at the old Gay Meadow, Wrexham were being held 1-1. Lee had been introduced in place of Trundle and the score was still frustratingly level going into the dying seconds of the game that night.
Then, a beautiful trademark long-ball from young Craig Morgan picked Lee out and with his pace he evaded the Shrews’ defence and was through. His finish in front of the masses of Wrexham fans behind the goal gave ex-Dragons goalkeeper Mark Cartwright no chance and the celebrations were wild. It was a vital 3 points, Wrexham ultimately went up, Shrewsbury went down.

 

Later that month promotion was sealed ironically against Cambridge United at the Racecourse a year after being relegated in the same fixture. Spookily Wrexham won 5-0 again, Lee starting in place of Trundle (absent for personal reasons), but he only grabbed the one goal this time, another neat finish.
The next season began well for Lee as Denis Smith’s new strikeforce: the returning Chris Armstrong, and Chris Llewellyn were soon hit by injury and poor form. He enjoyed a run in the side and scored 5 goals in a 6-game spell before he too picked up a long-term injury before the turn of the year, his hamstring again.

Once back to fitness he featured sporadically in the latter stages of the season, mainly from the bench, as Hector Sam hit one of his purple patches of form. At the end of that 2003-04 season Lee was handed a free transfer along with 5 others.

He was entitled to say that given his form earlier in the term he hadn’t been given a fair chance after his injury, but with what was happening off-the-field Smith wasn’t able to afford to give him a further opportunity.

Despite rumoured interest from other Football League clubs Lee joined Welsh Premier outfit Caernarfon Town under former Wrexham team-mate Waynne Phillips, featuring alongside many other ex-Dragon team-mates including Steve Watkin and Martyn Chalk.

During the 2006-07 season Lee moved on with Phillips and Watkin to fellow Welsh Premier side NEWI Cefn Druids where he continued to score goals.
At the age of 35, Lee has recently decided to hang up his boots and retire from playing. Instead he is currently taking his first steps into management as joint-manager of Druids with Waynne Phillips, trying to ensure that the Wrexham area continues to be represented in Welsh football’s top-flight. Wrexham fans everywhere will wish the duo the best of luck with that challenge.

On hearing news of his retirement though, I’m sure most Wrexham fans will have thought back nostalgically upon some of the important goals Lee Jones scored at crucial times, and smiled.