A night with the legendary Joey Jones and those who love him most

Despite the frailties of an ageing mind and body, Joey Jones can still wow a crowd like he did in his prime as the European Cup-winning darling of the Kop.

While those bitterest of rivals, Liverpool and Manchester United, clash on Sunday at Old Trafford, legends from both clubs felt it natural to cross the great divide so they could honour one of their generation’s favourite cult heroes.

From Merseyside, Graeme Souness, Alan Kennedy, Sammy Lee and John Aldridge. From Manchester, his great mate Mickey Thomas and Martin Buchan. Representing Wales, Barry Horne and Brian Flynn.

The biggest cheer of the night at Friday’s tribute dinner at Hotel Wrexham came when Joey carefully climbed out of his seat at table eight inside the giant marquee to deliver the trademark fist pump he was known for in a colourful 20-year career with Wrexham, Liverpool, Chelsea, Huddersfield and Wales.

Though suffering from signs of dementia and requiring extra care from family and friends, he still retains the charisma that inspired one of the most iconic banners ever unfurled on a football terrace.

The slogan ‘Joey ate the Frogs legs, Made the Swiss roll, Now he’s Munching Gladbach’ is still talked about as a major part of Liverpool’s historic victory over Borussia Monchengladbach in Rome in 1977 — the first of six European Cup victories the visiting fans will no doubt taunt United with at Old Trafford.

At 69, Joey is not always who he was but, surrounded by former team-mates and admirers who paid £150-a-head to be in his company, he spent much of the evening beaming at the outpouring of love from those who wanted to pay tribute and help raise funds.

Organisers had accepted beforehand he might need to leave early if the large gathering made him feel anxious. But at half-past 10, when the main speaker, his old Liverpool team-mate Souness, had finished answering questions on the main stage, Joey was still there enjoying every moment.

‘I am seeing the same Joey Jones as I knew as a player. He is in great nick, you fraud!’ said Souness with a smile.

‘When I arrived at Liverpool in January 1978, I quickly realised he was a special and unique character. He was a warrior. The Kop responded to the shaking fist every time.

‘He was a very good footballer but, even more, a thoroughly good human being. I’ll be embarrassing the life out of him saying that.

‘Those times were so good. Nowadays you hear the word legend used for someone who stays one season and scores 10 goals. F*** off. We have proper legends here.’

Wrexham is an appropriate host city. Jones played for them in three spells and coached later on. His life story would make a Hollywood movie to impress the club’s current owners and it’s no surprise that if Joey attends matches at the Racecourse, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney make a beeline for him. 

Growing up on the north Wales coast, Jones the youth was in the ‘Bad Gang Parrots’ famed for punch-ups. Football was his salvation. A committed left back in the Stuart Pearce mould, he joined Liverpool from Wrexham and, aged 22, won the league championship and the European Cup, only denied a Treble by Manchester United in the FA Cup final.

If Kevin Keegan provided Liverpool’s brain, Jones was its heart and soul. Goalkeeper Ray Clemence said at the time: ‘Joey just loves to be happy and gets enthusiastic about the slightest thing.’

Sammy Lee, who was breaking through at the time, told Mail Sport at Friday’s event: ‘Joey was part of my growing up. For me, he was part of what Liverpool is all about — family.

‘He embodied everything: spirit, effort, a passion for the football club. We were very close. He’d stay with my family, we’d go out together. He was the man.

‘We should be honouring him like every other Liverpool legend, because he is a Liverpool legend.’

There was a rascal side to him as well. There was a punch-up with team-mate Ray Kennedy. After an FA Cup defeat at Chelsea, he accidentally struck manager Bob Paisley while struggling to put on his tracksuit.

For the 1978 European Cup final, he was on the bench while a young Alan Hansen took his place. Later that year, he was sold back to Wrexham.

The friendship with Thomas, a former United star who entertains guests in the corporate lounges at Old Trafford, has endured since they met as £7-a-week apprentices at Wrexham, racing each other up the floodlights to see who could reach the top first.

When they later played together at Chelsea, they preferred to commute together from north Wales instead of living in London, even though it meant a 6am start to make training. If they did have to stay overnight, they’d sometimes put their head down in the physio’s room at Stamford Bridge.

When Mickey was jailed for a counterfeit currency scam, Joey visited him in prison. He was a support when Mickey fought cancer. Now Joey is ailing, Mickey visits him and his wife Janice every day, does shopping for them and takes Joey out for a coffee or to football.

Usually the first to arrive and last to leave The Racecourse, Joey can now find the crowds overwhelming and sometimes doesn’t want to stay the full 90 minutes.

Mickey served United with distinction between 1978 and 1981 and played in a charity golf event for Sir Alex Ferguson’s former player, David May, before hotfooting it across the border to sit with Joey.

In his autobiography, Kick-ups, Hiccups, Lock-ups, Thomas movingly describes their relationship: ‘We became known as the terrible twins. We were brothers. A couple of football-mad scallywags No-one could get the better of us.’

Mickey is older than his 69-year-old comrade but has extended the role of friend and ‘sibling’ without fuss. ‘We’d do anything for each other,’ he says simply.

Sometimes they are joined by a third, younger member of the gang, another ex-Wrexham and Wales player, Neil Roberts.

‘I played schoolboy football with his son, so was lucky to have Joey watching us from the sidelines. My parents made sure I knew he was Mr Wrexham,’ says Roberts.

‘He always had time for people and this is a moment we give something back and try to support him in some small way.

‘Joey was the assistant manager when I played for Wrexham. He’s genuine, reliable, honest and loyal. He doesn’t fully realise how important he is as a football person but as a man.

‘He makes people believe they can achieve anything. He’d teach us you can make up for deficiencies with work-rate, fitness, attitude and application, all of those things. When Joey speaks, you really listen. He’s been there, done it and got the T-shirt a number of times over.’

Roberts regularly takes Joey to visit the wine bar Vault 33 he co-owns on Wrexham High Street. There is a mural inside of the great Wales team, Mickey and Joey lining up with world-class players like Neville Southall and Mark Hughes.

If they weather is good, they sit with Mickey at a cafe across the road. ‘You wouldn’t believe how many people stop to speak to them, of all ages,’ says Roberts. ‘He and Mickey talk about old times. It’s both sad and beautiful.’

Everyone at Hotel Wrexham has a Joey Jones story to tell. Carl Griffiths, whose father Bryce owned the club, recalls a match against Charlton where Joey got struck in the unmentionables.

‘He eventually got up, checked everything was intact and lifted one finger to the crowd, then two, and then gave the most emphatic clench of his fist in celebration. The whole place went wild!’ recalls Carl.

Horne, a top Welsh international in his day, bid £600 in the auction for a beautiful portrait of Joey painted by his nephew Josh.

Speaking for the United ‘enemy’, Buchan — captain of the ’77 team that beat Joey’s Liverpool at Wembley — summed up the universal respect the game has for one of its great characters.

‘As soon as I knew we were honouring Joey, I wanted to be there,’ he said.

‘I always liked him, even as a rival. He had fight, he had spirit. I bet most Premier League teams today wish they had players with his heart — including United.’