Phil Jones says he was ‘humiliated’ by former Manchester United manager

Phil Jones says he was ‘humiliated’ by a former Manchester United manager towards the end of his turbulent spell at Old Trafford.

The ex-defender spent over a decade at Manchester United after being signed from Blackburn Rovers in 2011, making 229 appearances for the Red Devils.

Jones lifted the Premier League trophy in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final season in 2013 and also won the FA Cup and Europa League during his spell at the Manchester giants.

Many players would bite your arm off to swap careers with Jones but he struggled badly with injuries before retiring and had the ignominy of becoming an internet meme as rival fans mocked some expressions he made while on the pitch.

United fans also expected more from Jones’ career, particularly as Fergie once bizarrely and arguably unhelpfully claimed he could develop into ‘our best player’.

That, of course, did not materialise and Jones spent the final four years of his Old Trafford career making the odd appearance here and there, including one in a 4-0 defeat to arch-rivals Liverpool in April 2022.

Ralf Rangnick’s Manchester United were without a number of first-team players ahead of that trip to Anfield, meaning Jones was drafted in for a rare start.

But he was hooked at half-time and says he felt ‘humiliated’ by United interim boss Rangnick as he ‘definitely didn’t deserve to come off’.

‘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 that’s the only time in my career that I completely lost it,’ Jones said on the High Performance podcast.  

‘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 were far worse players on the pitch that day, I was the easy one to come off. You’re an easy scapegoat. 

‘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 p*** out of me”. 

‘Everyone said, “calm down, calm down.” I get irate now (thinking about it), it really got to me.’ 

Jones went on to reveal he later apologised to Rangnick, who was replaced by current manager Erik ten Hag a few months later.

‘I just couldn’t get my head around it,’ added the 32-year-old, who earned 27 caps for England.

‘I apologised afterwards, I 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 officially announced his retirement last month and is now targeting a career in management.

‘My career finished shorter than I would have liked,’ he told BBC Radio 5 Live.

‘[I’m] glass half full. [I have] completed my A licence and I want to get out there and challenge myself in coaching.

‘Ultimately I want to take charge of a team. I am determined to get there.’

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