Paul Jones (footballer, born 1986)

For other people named Paul Jones, see Paul Jones (disambiguation).

Paul Jones

Jones playing for Peterborough United in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Paul Jones
Date of birth	(1986-06-28) 28 June 1986
Place of birth	Maidstone, England
Height
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	Portsmouth
Number	1
Youth career
2001–2002	Charlton Athletic
2002–2004	Leyton Orient
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2005	Leyton Orient	0	(0)
2004–2005	→ Exeter City (loan)	23	(0)
2005–2011	Exeter City	158	(0)
2011	→ Peterborough United (loan)	1	(0)
2011–2012	Peterborough United	35	(0)
2012–2014	Crawley Town	92	(0)
2014–	Portsmouth	48	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:54, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

Paul Jones (born 28 June 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays for Portsmouth as a goalkeeper.

Career

Charlton Athletic and Leyton Orient Youth

Born in Maidstone, Kent, Jones began his career with the youth system of Charlton Athletic in 2001 before signing for Leyton Orient's youth system in 2002. Despite never breaking into their first team, Jones was thought highly of by then youth coach Alex Inglethorpe.

Exeter City

When Alex Inglethorpe was appointed manager of Conference side Exeter City in Autumn 2004, one of his first moves was to bring Paul Jones in on loan. Arriving part way through the 2004–05 season, Jones quickly established himself as City's first choice keeper, making 23 appearances. On 1 July 2005, Inglethorpe acquired Jones from Orient, and signed him to a permanent deal. At the end of the 2005–06 season, Inglethorpe left Exeter and was replaced by new manager Paul Tisdale. During the pre-season, Jones was forced to compete for his spot with then backup keeper, and former Exeter youth trainee Martin Rice. Days prior to Exeter's first match of the season, Tisdale selected Rice as his first choice keeper. Jones then became Exeter's second choice keeper. He returned to the first-team for the 2007 Conference playoff final, in which he saved a penalty – becoming the first person to do so at the new Wembley Stadium. Exeter failed to win the final though and during the next season, Jones figured mostly as an understudy to Rice's replacement Andy Marriott. He was chosen in the first team again for the play-offs and this time, Exeter managed to win the final at Wembley, with Jones keeping a clean sheet. In the 2008–09 season he played in all 46 League Two matches for Exeter City. Also he won the 2008–09 player of the season award for Exeter City after many stunning performances in goal throughout the season.

Peterborough United

On 31 January 2011 Jones joined Peterborough United on loan until the end of the 2010–11.season. He made the move permanent by signing an initial one-year contract on 24 June 2011 to join on a free transfer. He found himself picked as first choice keeper for the majority of the season, as a result Peterborough offered him a new contract but he rejected it.

Crawley Town

On 26 May 2012, it was confirmed that Jones had signed for newly promoted League One side Crawley Town. He made his debut on 14 August, starting in a League Cup match against Championship side Millwall which ended 2–2, with Crawley winning on penalties by 4–1, and Jones saving two penalties in the shoot-out. After two seasons in League One with Crawley, he was released by at the end of the 2013–14 season. He made 92 league appearances in a Red Devils shirt

Portsmouth

In June 2014 Jones signed for League Two club Portsmouth on a three-year deal. He was manager Andy Awford's first signing as Pompey boss and was the only keeper at Fratton Park when joining, after Trevor Carson's loan expired, whilst both John Sullivan and Phil Smith were released.

External links

• Paul Jones career statistics at Soccerbase