team photo in 1957 Jones signed for Manchester United as an apprentice on leaving school in 1948, and also worked an apprentice bricklayer for a while afterwards. He made his first two senior appearances for United in the
1950–51 season, aged 17, and by the time of United's title glory in
1955–56 he was a regular first team player, although he often found himself out of the team in favour of
Jackie Blanchflower (who was originally a wing-half or an inside-forward), having previously been understudy to the veteran
Allenby Chilton. By the time United won the league title in 1956, he was a regular member of the first team, and collected another league title medal the following year. He missed the
1957 FA Cup Final defeat to
Aston Villa because of an eye injury, although he did collect a second successive league title medal that season and helped United reach the semi-finals of the
European Cup. He played a total of 120 first team games for United (103 of them in the league), and scored once. He was selected in an England senior squad once, but did not take to the field. Many observers believe that he would have been capped by England had he not died at Munich. He came close to international action, having been selected on the substitutes' bench, but his hopes of a breakthrough were not helped by the fact that his career coincided with that of
Billy Wright. He was seen by many observers as a likely successor to Wright in the centre of the England defence. ==Legacy==