Phil Jones: ‘Tough’ moment he left the Man Utd WhatsApp and why he’s training to be a coach

Phil Jones had to provide three football-related photos as part of a task for his UEFA Pro Licence coaching course. One was the former centre-back wearing an England No 7 shirt in a 2-2 friendly draw against Brazil in 2013.

“I walked into the changing room and thought, ‘Good joke, bit of banter, they’re going to swap the shirts’, but I was (David) Beckham for 60 minutes playing a No 10 role. Let me tell you now, I was terrible,” Jones says, laughing.

Another photo was of him winning the 2013 Premier League title with Manchester United, a feat the boy from Blackburn had never dreamed about.

The third picture was a league match against Wolverhampton Wanderers on January 3, 2022.

Fellow Manchester United centre-backs Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly were all injured, leading Jones, despite his knee “being in bits”, to make his return after nearly a two-year absence.

“I was so happy to get the surgery (in the summer of 2020) because I thought: ‘Right, this is putting it to bed’,” he says. “When I got back on the grass and started to pass the ball again, I thought: ‘This hasn’t worked’. People will say you have to play with a little pain, but this wasn’t just a little bit of pain. This was pain that probably needed a couple of injections to play. Towards the end of my career, it was a bit like that.”

Jones, who sympathises with Mason Mount and Luke Shaw, who have had injury struggles of late, says he felt “embarrassed”.

“You’re at Man United, the biggest club in the world. I just loved playing football like a little kid. When you have something taken away from you, it’s difficult to deal with.”

Making his comeback against Wolves was a special moment.

“To get onto the pitch — honestly, it gives me goosebumps now — was the biggest achievement because I was down and out. I’d had four or five knee operations,” he says.

“In the changing room afterwards, everyone was high-fiving, even though we lost the game 1-0. As soon as I came off the pitch, I sat there and knew that was probably one of the last games, or my last season. Towards the end of my career, I knew, in my head, I could still play. But I just couldn’t. My head was having a constant battle with my heart.”

Although proud of what he achieved, the former England international did not end his career the way he wanted. Jones was not included in United’s Premier League squad at the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign because of his inability to stay fit. At the age of 32, he ended his 12-year stint at the club when his contract expired in the summer of 2023. At the time, he did not announce what his next move would be.

Jones initially embarked on a sporting director course but has since realised that coaching is his “bread and butter”. He wants to be a manager, leading the team from the front.

Getting to that point has not been easy.

There are the simple logistical matters of leaving United’s WhatsApp group, which actually proved to be “quite emotional” and a “tough moment”.

“You’ve been in the WhatsApp (group) for years, banter, sending people pictures and all sorts, you guys would have a field day,” he says with a laugh.

“I remember sitting in the bedroom, going like: ‘Lads, it’s been a pleasure and blah, blah, blah. Some I’ve played with a lot, some I’ve only just met, but it’s been an absolute pleasure. I wish you all the best and I’ll be your biggest supporter’.”

Just like that, he left the group.

“I gave it a minute and there was no response. Gone, gone, gone, I’m gone! No one cares. But that’s it. It’s football. Things move so quickly.”

Jones now works as a coach with Manchester United’s under-18s (Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty Images)

Then there is the time it takes to detach yourself from what you once had. “I couldn’t watch a game of football. I’ve never been that guy,” he says. “I consider myself to be very humble and I have not changed since I was a kid. I would look at games and think, ‘I can do that. I’m better than that’.”

Jones found himself getting “really bitter towards the game”. “That’s not who I was, but I needed that time to come to terms with what happened and how it happened.”

But during that time of reflection, he was left directionless. That was exacerbated further by having been told what to do every single day from a young age.

“Meetings at this time, pre-match at this time, on the bus for this time, training at this time, day off tomorrow. When you find yourself at home and the Mrs is looking at you thinking, ‘Well, are you doing anything today?’. You’re so used to being active, being out of the house and travelling to and from games. It was difficult.”

Jones enjoyed the first few weeks but soon got itchy feet, so he started on the sporting director route and worked as a pundit, but coaching is where he wants to be.

“Now, I’m in a great place. I know exactly what I want to do. I’m ambitious, (just) as I was as a player,” he says.

After he finished playing for United, Jones, who praises the club’s support, spoke to academy director Nick Cox and has been working with the under-18s alongside manager Adam Lawrence.

He still has good connections at United and speaks to a lot of his friends, such as Maguire and Shaw.

Jones believes his experience as a player, especially the way he reads the game, will help him in his coaching career, but also his experience of working under so many different managers with varying styles, from Sir Alex Ferguson to Jose Mourinho or David Moyes to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

“I don’t think you can be just a head coach and I don’t think you can be just a manager. I’ve seen tremendous managers but they’ve fallen short on the grass and vice versa. You have to be both. It’s about managing players, managing people and managing egos.”

His team would be “aggressive, intense, flexible”, but ultimately he is “a winner”. “I want to win games of football and I win at all costs.”

Jones is fully aware of the years of hard work that lie ahead. He agrees players of his generation, such as England team-mates Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard, are “judged too early” in their managerial careers, but he is undeterred by that.

“I feel I’ve got too much to offer. I want to be involved. I want to be that guy now. I want to be that guy to turn fortune around.”

(Top photo: Manchester United/Manchester United via Getty Images)