Tommy 'TG' Jones - Help needed for research

Years ago I met "TG" in Bangor, he had been swimming in Bangor baths and had done 50 lengths or more. We had a chat and he spoke to my son who was about 6/7yrs old. He asked Tommy if he played football with Alan Ball, Tommy smiled and said he played a bit before him.

I believe he had a paper shop near Bangor pier. Also used see him waiting at Chester station for players to board the coach when Bangor City were playing away games in the Cheshire League (I think). He was a true Blue Legend.

Lovely man.

I saw him quite a few times in the late 40s when I first started watching the Blues, he was an immaculate footballer, seemed to take a lot of the free kicks, never went to ground, always keeping his eye on the ball.

They didnÂ’t have the pitches we have now, lots of them quagmires, Tommy went to the pitch without a stain on his kit, while other players would be full of mud.

He had some sort of problem with a team mate and he wasnÂ’t picked after that; I donÂ’t know the full story or even who was in charge of Everton at the time, either Theo Kelly or Cliff Britton.

I think TG was still at Everton when they played the 1950 FA Cup Semi-Final versus Liverpool but Tommy wasnÂ’t selected; Ted Falder played centre half that day. Whatever the problem was, it was most definitely EvertonÂ’s loss that TG when he left the club.

TG who my dad and his mates spoke fondly of had left Everton a year or two before it was my turn to become one of the chosen.

TE Jones had taken over from TG and was our centre half in my first few years and I remember he was a good unÂ’.

I am from the town TG was born in — Connah’s Quay. TG is still remembered as one of the founding fathers of our local team, The Nomads. He was the main driving influence in re-establishing the Connah’s Quay Juniors team in the Welsh League which went onto win the Welsh Youth Cup. If you contact the Nomads Club, I am sure they will help you with more information, photos etc.

Me dad said he was one of the best players heÂ’d ever seen. He was part of that legendary team of the late 1930s that was robbed of stardom by Adolf, wasnÂ’t he?

Strange writing about TG Jones after all those years.

I was living in Teulon Street, just off Walton Lane, when I started collecting Everton players' autographs in 1937 and canÂ’t remember the number of hours I stood outside the Players' Entrance on Goodison Road.

I well remember all the players, having met them and got their autographs many, many times. These were: Ted Sagar, Billy Cook, Norman Greenhaulgh, Cliff Britton, Charley Gee, Jock Thomson, Albert Geldard, Joe Mercer, Torry Gillick, Stan Bentham, Alex Stevenson, Tommy Lawton and Dixie Dean.

These were the players who never ever refused giving an autograph to a kid. Sometimes, they would look through your autograph book and tell you they had already signed but then they would sign again.

If you look closely, you will see two names missing: Wally Boyes and TG Jones. Very rarely Wally Boyes would relent and sign but I only knew one boy who had TGÂ’s autograph. This was because Mr Ernest Green, EvertonÂ’s Chairman in the late 1930s, was a school teacher at Walton Lane School at the top of Fountains Road where I attended.

Mr Green informed all the kids that he would get the autographs of the complete team for the best 14-year-old pupil who would be leaving school that year. Not me, IÂ’m afraid, I was too young.

Even though TG would never sign, he was still held in the highest esteem by the kids who just regarded him as a challenge. But I did have Boyes's autograph as one day he asked me to go on a message for him to a Walton Lane shop, a newsagent at the top of Spellow Lane, and when I returned he signed my book.

Sorry to say I lost all my autographs when we were bombed out of Teulon Street on November 18, 1940.

This story is a kidÂ’s perspective of a player but I well remember when I saw him play, how cool calm and collected he was as he stood head and shoulders above the opposition centre-forward. You mustnÂ’t forget we won the first division in 1939 and held the title for the following 6 years. Maybe the war had something to do with that, but it still sounds good.

Thanks for asking for stories. Writing this has revived some pleasant memories for me .

Thanks for sharing such great memories Eric, it really was a different time wasnt it. Imagine one of the modern day players asking a kid to nip to the newsagent for him.

My Dad, who is now 88 years old, says TG was the best centre-half he ever saw at GP.

He remembers he was big mates with Tommy Lawton until he got a bit too close to Lawton's wife.

He tells me the entrance fee was threepence then.

I think the players got ٠ a week and had to pay their own bus fare to the ground.

A bit different now eh!