What they say about Dave Jones

NATHAN BLAKE has tipped new Bluebirds boss Dave Jones to transform Cardiff City's fortunes.

But the former Ninian Park favourite told City fans not to expect anything better than seeing their side beat the drop next season.

Blake knows Jones well after playing in his Wolves side that clinched promotion to the Premier League two years ago.

The Newport-born striker admitted he was surprised the 48-year-old Liverpudlian had been out of work for seven months.

He also said Jones should not be blamed for Wolves' relegation from the top flight last year.
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WORLD Cup winner Alan Ball has backed Dave Jones as "a driven winner" with the potential to deliver Sam Hammam's dream of Premiership football.

Ball knows the new City manager better than most because when Jones was an Everton trainee he looked up to the Toffee's England legend as Ball's boot boy.

That friendship, kindled behind the scenes at Goodison Park, is one that has grown over the years and the pair remain firm pals.

Yet it was at another of the pair's mutual former clubs, Southampton, that Ball was able to best observe Jones, with the 1966 hero still living on the South Coast and a keen Saints pundit.
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DAVE Jones and Cardiff City are "a match made in heaven" according to the player whose career he changed beyond recognition - Chris Marsden.

When handed his first league manager's job at Stockport, Jones repeatedly found players who had lost their way and turned their careers around - and if one man epitomises that it is Marsden.

From unremarkable beginnings Marsden became a Premiership midfielder, who saw five years of top flight action.

But things were totally different for him in January 1996 when, at the age of 27, Jones pulled him from Notts County reserves on a free transfer.
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IT is a question that remains open to speculation: what type of players will Dave Jones bring to Cardiff City?

Two weeks since he took charge at Ninian Park and the guessing games continue as Jones is still to make his first signing as Bluebirds manager.

Debate has centred mainly on whether the former Wolves boss will place his trust in younger players, untried at Championship level, or recruit reliable senior professionals who've proved themselves in the higher divisions.

Former Manchester United star Dennis Irwin - along with Paul Ince, one of the most high-profile signings Jones has ever made - believes it will mainly be the latter.

Irwin should know - the former Republic of Ireland defender was 36 when Jones signed him for Wolves in July 2002, while his former Old Trafford colleague Ince was 35 when he arrived at Molineux.
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