ENL feature – Chris Jones

BLACKBURN, UK – There’s a well known saying which tells us the only way to stay ahead of sadness, is never to stay in one place too long. In the case of Chris Jones and Flintshire Freeze this probably rings true.

Telford Titans’ new signing left Freeze in December, having been with club since 1994. The 23 year old forward worked his way through the junior system at Deeside, going on to make his debut for the senior team in ENL North in 2003. He played 123 games for the club, scoring 98 goals with 58 assists and topped the team’s scoring charts in 2011 with 45 goals. Jones and Freeze had high hopes they would mount a serious challenge for promotion from ENL2 this term, with the appointment of former Telford Tigers defender Karl Creamer seen a coup for the club. Creamer quickly made Jones an assistant captain, but the relationship between the pair soon turned sour. As someone who’s racked up over 500 minutes in penalties in his career, it’s clear Jones has an ‘edge’ which might not endear him to everyone. He describes himself as “opinionated” and someone who’s “not afraid to speak his mind” and it seems this was a factor in the fall-out with Creamer. “The coach was very old school,” said Jones. “I think he found it difficult to deal with someone who voiced their opinions and couldn’t cope with it.” Jones admitted he’d been partly to blame but felt his former coach had “over-reacted”, but made it clear he’d rather look forward than dwell on the matter. When asked for his version of events, Creamer also stressed his wish to move on saying, “I’ve no regrets. It’s good to hear Chris is doing a good job for Paul Shuttleworth and Telford Titans. I’ve nothing more to say. It’s all in the past now.” Jones signed for Titans after former team-mate Mike Jones (no relation) persuaded him to join. They’d narrowly avoided relegation last term and were widely expected to struggle this time around, but started the season well. They fell out of the play-off places after a run of one win in seven, but have won six on the bounce since his arrival to move back up to third place. With 12 goals to his name already, including four against Blackburn Hawks, Jones has settled in well at Telford and his new coach was full of praise for the impact he’s made. “Chris is a great asset to the Titans”, said Shuttleworth. “He’s bonded well with the rest of the boys, has an amazing work rate and is everything a coach could ask for.” Having finally broken his ties with Flintshire, Jones said he was relishing the challenge of testing himself in ENL1 and admitted he’d love to see if he could make it even higher up the scale. He’s already been invited to train with Telford’s EPL team, but is committed to Shuttleworth’s Titans play-off push this term. From the sadness of seeing his love affair with Freeze end so abruptly, Jones is happy how things have turned out and with his new club on the up and Flintshire struggling to stay in contention for promotion, their loss appears to be very much Telford’s gain. Contact the author at: michael.black@prohockeynews.com