Cliff Jones

Clifford William Jones was born on 7 February 1935 in Swansea, Glamorgan, into a footballing family. His father Ivor, uncles Shoni, Emlyn, Bryn and Bert, brother Bryn, and cousin Ken all played the game. He grew up in the Sandfields area, attended St. Helens Mixed Junior School, and later Oxford Street Secondary Modern, where he joined the school team. At twelve, he was selected for Swansea Schoolboys, captaining the side in 1950 and winning the Welsh Shield and English Schools Trophy. A schoolboy friend of Terry Medwin, who would later become his Spurs teammate, Jones also worked as an apprentice sheet metal worker at The Prince of Wales Dry Dock while at Swansea Town.

Jones signed for Billy McCandless’ Swansea Town in 1952 at age 17, joining his brother Bryn. He made his league debut against Bury in October 1952 and scored his first goal two games later against Leeds United. Initially an inside forward, he moved to the left wing in the 1953–54 season. He netted 47 goals in 168 league appearances and 54 in all competitions for the club.

In February 1958, Jones joined Tottenham Hotspur for a record £35,000. He debuted on 22 February 1958 away to Arsenal at Highbury. After a slow start, he broke his leg in a pre-season tackle with Peter Baker in summer 1958, returning to the team in December that year. He became a prolific scorer, hitting 25 goals in all appearances in the 1959–60 season.

A key member of the 1960–61 double-winning side, he scored 19 goals that season. He also featured in the 1962 FA Cup Final and the 1963 European Cup Winners’ Cup Final, and earned a medal as a non-playing substitute in the 1967 FA Cup Final. In 1962, Juventus offered a world-record £125,000 for him, but Spurs turned it down. Jones played on both wings—right in the double-winning season, left in later years.

His final Spurs appearance and goal came against Manchester United on 9 October 1968. He remains one of the club’s top scorers, with 159 goals in 378 games (135 in 318 league games).

Jones moved to Fulham in 1968, scoring twice in 25 league appearances over two seasons. He then played for King’s Lynn, debuting on 15 August 1970 against Romford and finishing with 27 appearances and 13 goals after his final game against Dover Athletic. He later played for Bedford Town, Wealdstone, Cambridge City, and Wingate.

Internationally, Jones made his senior Wales debut against Austria in May 1954 after just 25 games for Swansea. In his second cap, on 22 October 1955, he scored the winner in a 2–1 victory over England at Ninian Park. He scored three goals in the 1958 World Cup play-off against Israel in February 1958, securing Wales’ first World Cup qualification. He played all five of Wales’ games at the 1958 tournament, reaching the quarter-finals, where they lost to Brazil on a Pelé goal. He made 11 World Cup qualifier appearances between 1957 and 1968, and played his final Wales game in October 1968 against Italy. In total, he earned 59 caps and scored 16 goals over 15 years.

Jones married Joan in 1955, and they have four children, nine grandchildren, and seventeen great-grandchildren. Among his grandsons are former footballer Scott Neilson and football coach Matt Wells. After retiring, he taught PE and managed the school football team at Highbury Grove School in North London for 29 years, retiring in December 2000. In February 2025, he celebrated his 90th birthday at the Tottenham Stadium. He has been inducted into the Tottenham Hotspur Hall of Fame, the National Football Museum’s Hall of Fame, and the Supporters’ Trust Wall of Fame outside the Liberty Stadium, and received an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Wales.

Honours include the Football League First Division (1960–61), FA Cup (1960–61, 1961–62, 1966–67), FA Charity Shield (1961, 1962, 1967 shared), and European Cup Winners’ Cup (1962–63) with Tottenham, as well as the British Home Championship (shared 1955–56, 1959–60) with Wales.