A SUNNY day at Jenner Park sometime during the current season. Barry Town are playing a League of Wales fixture. The opposition? Probably someone from North Wales. I can't remember, and in all honesty, it doesn't matter.
A Barry player has the ball just inside his own half out on the right, facing the goal in front of the social club. He plays a short ball forward and sets off on a relaxed diagonal run, right to left. Meanwhile play continues. There are a couple of passes between Barry players; just keeping possession, then a sudden explosion of quick passing to feet, and who should collect the ball as he burst into the penalty area off the left wing but the man who made that seemingly innocuous diagonal run.
I am aware that the above description of that passage of football is inadequate; a case of mundane prose trying to describe poetry. You had to be there to appreciate it. Those who were there did. The move did not lead to a goal, but the 450 Barry supporters lucky enough to have witness that vignette of quality football knew that they had seen something special and the applause duly rang out.
At the heart of that move, the one who started and finished it, was Barry Town's assistant coach and longest serving player, Richard Jones.
This is the time of year when the accolades are handed out and when it comes to Barry Town's Player of the Year, Jones has to be a prime candidate.
In his five years at the club he has played in a variety of positions. Even this season, with such a small squad, Jones has become the utility player of the team, shouldering the responsibility of leading the forward line, when Eifion Williams was out injured for example.
But filling in aside, when Gary Barnett has been able to field his strongest team, one of the highlights of the season has been Jones's ability to make runs from deep, ghosting into the opposition's penalty area and scoring a hat-full of goals.
This new role is no accident, but one which was discussed before the season started and worked on in training when Jones made the boast that, in his new role, he would scored 15 to 20 goals.
"At the time I said it, it was a bit tongue-in-cheek and one of the supporters even bet me that I wouldn't even get to 15," said the affable Jones who has known the down side of football as well as the success of recent seasons.
As any Town supporter will tell you, Jones won his bet, and in sweet style - goal number 15 was the winner against Merthyr in the FAW Premier Cup.
Richard Jones, or Dickie as he is more commonly known at Jenner Park, is the Town's longest serving player and the club's first ever professional.
He started off as a youngster with Newport, completing his YTS at the doomed Gwent club, as well as one year as a pro. Then came the stuff of dreams...and nightmares.
The then Wimbledon manager, Bobby Gould, had an �85,000 bud accepted by the cash-strapped Somerton Park outfit, but the deal fell through; Wimbledon went on to win the FA Cup that season. Jones joined Hereford.
The 'what if' scenario still plays strongly; a regret which lurks just below the surface and probably always will.
"At the time I was a very young, Wimbledon were offering me �150 a week, most of which would have gone on me paying the rent on my accommodation and my father was concerned about me being in London with no money. Now I look back and think maybe I should have gone and if I had done well, then maybe renegotiated a better contract," said Jones.
Instead, he went to Hereford and in his first season he was voted Player of the Year, playing in a position not too dissimilar to the one he has been playing in this season, but instead of Eifion Williams scoring all the goals, Hereford had Phil Stant. During his time at Edgar Street the versatility, now familiar to Barry Town supporters, was also important to Hereford and in one game at Carlisle, when the goalkeeper left the pitch due to injury, he volunteered to do a stint between the sticks, keeping a clean sheet to boot.
After five years at Edgar Street, Jones looked to move on to Wigan and it was at this point that Frank Burrows, then at Swansea, came in for him and moved him to the Vetch instead. It was while he was at the Vetch that disaster struck and he picked up a knee injury which put him out of the game for six months and out of Burrows' thinking. As he gradually approached full fitness and with Torquay and Exeter showing an interest, Jones was invited by Terry Boyle to train at Barry and it was then that he was introduced to Neil O'Halloran and Chris Aust who told him about the ambitious plans they had for the club and he became the first full professional player at Jenner Park.
He can now look back on five years of success. During his time at Jenner Park, he has won four championship medals and a Welsh Cup medal as well as playing some 12 games in Europe.
Playing in Europe has given Jones memories he will cherish forever, especially the UEFA Cup run in 1996/97.
"The high points have all been with Barry; the club has been a big chunk of my career and the 3-3 game with Aberdeen will stay with me forever," said Jones.
But it's the team performances that has given him the most pleasure, those games when he has left the pitch knowing everything had gone right.
"The team of two seasons ago was one of the best I have played in, it was like a snooker player who was always three steps ahead. I would leave the pitch and think wow! We had won by five, six, seven goals and had played like a machine. There was no need to think, everything was done instinctively.
"You play week in, week out, and you know only one thing, winning. And it brings it home to you what it's all about, that at 5pm on a Saturday you have another three points in the bag, and it's hard to do that. You have to train hard every day.
"The League of Wales is much tougher this season. Every game you now play is being watched by the opposition who are making notes of formations and tactics.
"But the character of the team has been a credit to everyone. When we have been hit on the chin we have had the character to come back. The belief within the team has been incredible.
"We have a lot of youngsters in the squad and it has been important that we play them at the right time, preferably when we are three goals up and we can send them on and say 'go out there and learn your trade' and not 'go out there and win us the game'. It is important that you put youngsters on at the right time. I still carry the scars from when I was a young player at Newport!".
Jones has taken the tentative steps towards management and, as assistant coach to Gary Barnett, describes his relationship with the Barry Town coach as Brian Kidd to Gary Barnett's Alex Ferguson..
"I am closer to the players than Gary, which can be difficult as I can find myself stuck in the middle. I have played under a number of managers and Gary rates as one of the best. He is very, very thorough. I thought I was bad, we both eat and sleep football, but Gary is in another league. We believe in letting players learn from their mistakes and allowing them to express themselves. Some managers rule by fear, but that's not his style. The players joke about his team talks going on forever, but it is all about getting the best out of each individual player.
"We both believe in playing football and have done so from the beginning. From playing in Europe we have learned how important it is to keep the ball. You have to be fit to play that way and I think that I am probably fitter now than I have ever been."
As much as he enjoys his football, Jones is also enjoying fatherhood and after training can't wait to get back home to spend time with his two young children: a three-year old daughter and a two-year old son, who he feels have brought a new maturity to the way he conducts himself. Despite having already won the league, there are still a number of objectives left this season, winning the FAW Premier Cup - and scoring 20 goals. It would take a brave man to bet against him achieving both those targets.
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This page edited by the Yellow Dragon, 1999.
This article first published in the Barry Gem, 08.04.1999
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