Swansea-born football great Cliff Jones — one of the finest players Wales has ever produced — has been awarded an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours at the age of 91.
The winger, nicknamed the “Welsh Wizard” in his playing days, has been recognised for services to Welsh football.
Jones began his career at his hometown club, Swansea, scoring 54 goals in 193 appearances between 1952 and 1958.
He then moved to Tottenham Hotspur for £35,000 in 1958 — a substantial fee at the time — where he became part of one of the most celebrated sides in English football history.
At Spurs he scored 159 goals in 378 games and is still regarded as one of the club’s greatest players.
He was a key figure in the Tottenham team that won the League and FA Cup double in 1961, and helped the club win further FA Cups in 1962 and 1967.
In 1963, Jones played his part as Spurs beat Atletico Madrid 5-1 to lift the European Cup Winners’ Cup — making them the first British club to win a major European trophy.
For Wales, he won 59 caps and scored 16 goals.
He was part of the celebrated Wales side that reached the quarter-finals of the 1958 World Cup in Sweden — the nation’s first appearance at the tournament — before being knocked out by a Brazil team inspired by a teenage Pelé.
Football ran deep in the family. His father Ivor and uncle Bryn both played for Wales, and his uncle’s 1938 transfer from Wolves to Arsenal, for £14,500, was a world record at the time.
Across an 18-year career, Jones played 580 club games before retiring in 1970, and was inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
Responding to the honour, Jones wrote on social media that he was “proud and humbled to receive this MBE”.
“It was an honour to me to represent my beloved Wales and pull on the red dragon shirt,” he said. “I share this with all my teammates and my wonderful wife Joan and family.”
Wales captain and current Tottenham defender Ben Davies, who was handed his 100th cap by Jones, led the tributes.
“It is fantastic Cliff Jones is being recognised for his incredible contribution to both club and international football,” Davies told the Football Association of Wales. “He is recognised as one of the true greats of the game at both Swansea and Tottenham and of course with Wales. To have him present me with my 100th cap was an absolute honour.”
Jones is among more than a dozen people from across Swansea Bay and Carmarthenshire recognised this year — a list led by a poignant MBE for the late Swansea councillor Robert Francis-Davies and including Swansea jazz stalwart Dave Cottle, with the full local list in our round-up.
