Man Utd cult hero Phil Jones reveals next career path after ‘stripping everything back’ and finding his purpose
PHIL JONES has revealed his next career path after he had to “strip everything back”.
The former Manchester United star retired from football in August.
The 32-year-old has struggled with injuries throughout the latter half of his career, which saw him not play at all for more than two years before he announced he was hanging up his boots.
The ex-defender has since opened up on the mental health struggles he faced and has now lifted the lid on how he reflected on himself and what he wanted to do as his next step.
Writing in an emotional column for BBC Sport, Jones explained how this saw him find a renewed purpose in his career and family life.
He said: “I only announced my retirement in August but I knew for a while before then that I would be finishing.
“To come to terms with that, I had to re-evaluate everything and unpick myself personally and professionally, with therapists and psychologists, to find myself.
“I’ve talked quite a lot recently about how that worked for me and helped me deal with the issues I faced mentally, but it’s important for anyone reading this to know that the process is the same in every aspect of life, not just sport, if your circumstances change or things are not going well for you.
“For me, that meant stripping everything back to understand who I was and where I wanted to get to next in life, and then thinking about the challenges I would face to get there.
“Part of the purpose I have found is as a husband and a father, because I always wanted to be the best I could be at both for my family, but it applied to my future in football too.
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“It meant going away and trying to almost rediscover what had got me to that point in my career in the first place, and thinking about what I had actually achieved, before I was able to take the next step.
“I have had some difficult times, but I am ready for anything now.”
Jones later explained in his column how he would hide his injuries from team-mates due to the shame he felt.
He added: “Unfortunately there were times when I was at United when I did not look for help.
“My coping mechanism when I had any problems was to stay silent, and that was probably my downfall.
“I didn’t open up to anyone, and I would hide my injuries from other players and the staff. I put a shield up so no-one knew what was going on, apart from my close family.
Why NOBODY is the right man to replace Erik ten Hag at Man Utd
SunSport's DAVE KIDD says Erik ten Hag's time at Man Utd is up… and explains what's wrong with all the potential candidates to replace him.
THIS is a mid-table squad at an underachieving club, with a lot of unwanted players on big money.
And Ratcliffe is an instinctive cost-cutter who may not pay top dollar to the next manager.
If this club wasn’t called ‘Manchester United’, it wouldn’t be an especially desirable job.
The good news for United is that their new sporting director, Dan Ashworth, is a very decent judge of a manager.
He has been instrumental in three previous managerial appointments — Gareth Southgate for England, Graham Potter for Brighton and Eddie Howe for Newcastle.
None were wildly popular at the time, all were conspicuous successes.
Interestingly, Ashworth’s No 1 choice for the Newcastle job was Unai Emery, who turned him down to stay at Villarreal but has since proved that judgment right by excelling at Aston Villa.
Emery may well deliver the coup de grace to Ten Hag on Sunday — especially with Bruno Fernandes suspended and Kobbie Mainoo an injury doubt.
And the Spaniard would be an excellent fit for United — yet there is next to no chance that he would abandon Villa’s Champions League campaign to take the Old Trafford job, not least because he isn’t a stark raving madman.
Howe would be another good candidate to succeed Ten Hag but, although he has become frustrated on Tyneside, the Saudis would surely not allow Ratcliffe to poach Howe, as they reluctantly did with Ashworth.
Potter is available but his Chelsea experience and lack of charisma would make him a tough sell.
Which brings us to Southgate, who remains close with Ashworth and is an excellent man-manager who was seriously considered by United last spring.
Yet, despite having led England to two of their three major finals, Southgate’s reputation for over-caution was only enhanced during the Euros.
Mauricio Pochettino, passed over twice by United, is out of the equation having taken the United States job.
Thomas Tuchel would be a popular and gettable option but, despite being a fine coach and a very engaging man, he is considered something of a loose cannon.
Likewise, Roberto De Zerbi, now at Marseille after his brief Brighton stint sparkled then fizzled out.
Kieran McKenna — a gifted former United coach who has won back-to-back promotions with Ipswich Town — is an intriguing candidate but the imminent vacancy may come a year or so too soon.
Marco Silva, the extremely under-rated Fulham boss, has been on United’s radar and should not be discounted.
Sporting Lisbon’s Ruben Amorim, last season’s ‘next big thing’, was passed over by West Ham as well as Liverpool this summer and is not an easy man to pin down.
Zinedine Zidane, who has taken over from Alan Curbishley as a 20-1 shot for every Premier League job, is a ‘figurehead’ manager and not an Ashworth type.
Ruud van Nistelrooy, the former United goal machine who joined Ten Hag’s coaching team in the summer is the bookies’ favourite. Simply because he’s in the building and he’s Dutch.
So, yes, getting rid of Ten Hag is the easy part.
“I only spoke about this for the first time on a podcast last week, but one of my lowest moments was when I was trying to play through the pain of my knee injury, when it had got to a point where the doctor had to inject my knee before every game I played so I didn’t feel it.
“I was on the bench for a game at Brighton but one of our centre-halves was struggling in the warm-up, so I thought I would be pro-active and get the injection before kick-off.
“It was embarrassing for me because I didn’t want anyone to see that I was struggling, or in pain – I was meant to be a tough guy as a defender, remember – so I went into a cubicle in the changing room just as the manager started his pre-match talk, and got the doc to inject me in there.”
He first tore his meniscus as an 18-year-old at Blackburn and, although Sir Alex Ferguson signed him for United, it was the beginning of his injury nightmare.
As the injury absences became longer, Jones became the subject of horrific abuse and ridicule both online and face-to-face in the street, which he opened up about in an interview with SunSport.
But Jones is now excited for his future in management, having spent last season working with United’s Under-18s and going through his various coaching badges.
Help for mental health
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support.
The following are free to contact and confidential:
- Samaritans, www.samaritans.org, 116 123, jo@samartiands.org.uk
- CALM (the leading movement against suicide in men) www.thecalmzone.net, 0800 585 858
- Papyrus (prevention of young suicide) www.papyrus-uk.org, 0800 068 41 41
- Shout (for support of all mental health) www.giveusashout.org/get-help/, text 85258 to start a conversation
Mind, www.mind.org, provide information about types of mental health problems and where to get help for them. Email info@mind.org.uk or call the infoline on 0300 123 3393 (UK landline calls are charged at local rates, and charges from mobile phones will vary).
YoungMinds run a free, confidential parents helpline on 0808 802 5544 for parents or carers worried about how a child or young person is feeling or behaving. The website has a chat option too.
Rethink Mental Illness, www.rethink.org, gives advice and information service offers practical advice on a wide range of topics such as The Mental Health Act, social care, welfare benefits, and carers rights. Use its website or call 0300 5000 927 (calls are charged at your local rate).
Heads Together, www.headstogether.org.uk, is the a mental health initiative spearheaded by The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales.