Former Manchester United defender Phil Jones has been looking back on his career, and one moment which caused him particular pain.
Phil Jones was released from Manchester United in 2023 after his contract expired. His final year at the club did not yield a single appearance, amid an ongoing battle with injuries.
Jones subsequently retired, and is now working in coaching and as a television pundit, recently discussing Manchester United’s draw with Crystal Palace.
In 2021/22 he did return from injuries to make his first appearances since 2019/20. It turned out to be a last hurrah, but one game left a real sour note.
Phil Jones angry with Ralf Rangnick for humiliation
Phil Jones made eight appearances under interim manager Ralf Rangnick. One of these was a very unhappy match away at Liverpool.
The 4-0 loss at Anfield turned out to be his final start in a Manchester United shirt. It was a major shock at the time that Jones was selected in the first place, with many fans feeling the defender was being treated as a sacrificial lamb.
The game was Jones’ first league appearance in 13 games, and just his second in three years.
Rangnick substituted Jones at half-time, with Liverpool 2-0 up, and the centre-back admits he was left angry by the manager’s decision, feeling he was unfairly singled out.
Jones told the High Performance Podcast: “I’ve never lost my head in a dressing room and I’ve never been emotional enough to lose myself in the dressing room, and I think thats the only time in my career that I completely lost it.
“I was absolutely raging. Raging. That he humiliated me. Humiliated me in front of an Anfield crowd first and foremost, fearsome rivals, and the fans and my family and the players.
“We were 2-0 down at half-time, weren’t great, I don’t think we had a shot on target first half. Nothing was coming off. And I’d actually done alright in the game. Considering where I’d been, what I’d been going through, knee and injury-wise. I’ll look back at the game and I’ll highlight anything, I didn’t give the ball away, I was calm under pressure.
“I’m not saying I was exceptional but I definitely didn’t deserve to come off at half-time. There was far worse players on the pitch that day, I was the easy one to come off. You’re an easy scapegoat.”
Explaining more about how he reacted, Jones admitted he called Rangnick out on the decision in front of his teammates.
He said: “At half-time I remember Ralf came in and said ‘I’m going to make a change, Phil’s going to come off’.
“I remember the whole dressing room went like [eyes open] as if to say, ‘is he bringing Phil off here?'”
“I took my boots off and I slammed them on the floor and I said ‘You’re taking the ___ out of me. Everyone said ‘calm down, calm down’. I get irate now, it really got to me.”
Jones admitted his outburst was out of character, and he did apologise to Rangnick for the context of his comments, even though his frustration still remains.
He said: “I just couldn’t get my head around it. I apologised afterwards, said ‘it was out of character for me, I shouldn’t have done that, at that moment that was not what was needed in the dressing room’, but you can understand I was pretty peeved off.”
Jones went on to make two further substitute appearances under Ralf Rangnick before the season wound down. He never made a matchday squad under Erik ten Hag, after experiencing an injury setback, and was eventually released.
Phil Jones on how he wants to be remembered
Phil Jones prides himself on his professionalism, despite his overwhelming frustration getting the better of him on this one occasion.
Jones told in the interview how Sir Alex Ferguson convinced him to sign, and his pride at becoming a Manchester United title winner.
The former centre-back was asked how he wishes to be remembered, and responded: “I was brave and I gave everything to the cause and every badge that I wore I respected and wore with pride.
“I loved playing football, I was honest I was tough and ultimately I was a good player.
“I want people to remember I was a good player good professional, unlucky at times but had a good career and hopefully has got a lot to gift on the other side of the game.”
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