Today, Bryan Jones will leave his post as Academy Director. As a man who has had a history with the club that spans back to 1980 – practically my entire life – he’s had a hand in the development of every academy product from Gary Cahill, through Gabby Agbonlahor, to Jack Grealish.

Under Bryan’s direction, Aston Villa managed to get to the top level ranking for academies, ranking as number one in the country – a fantastic achievement for a man dedicated to the development of others.

In his own words, Bryan said:

“There is no ‘I’ in team. Over the years it has been a success and we have a certain philosophy of how we want to play the game.

“We pass through the team and we want to produce good technical players.

“That is what I firmly believe in and I hope that will continue for years to come.”

So, in recognition of a lovely guy who gave most of his career to the Villans, we thank you Bryan for your efforts, and wish you and your family all the best in the next stage of your life.

Bryan Jones – A Brief History

Please note the below is an excerpt from the official report from AVFC.co.uk

Born in Staffordshire, Jones began nurturing young footballers in his role as a PE teacher at St George’s School in Aston.

It was at St George’s where he taught a talented youngster by the name of Gordon Cowans, who would go on to become one of Villa’s greatest-ever players.

Jones first arrived at Villa on a full-time basis in 1980 when Ron Saunders recruited him as youth development officer.

He followed Saunders to Birmingham City in 1985 before returning to Villa part-time in 1988.

In 1996, Brian Little persuaded Jones to return in a full-time capacity. His comeback coincided with the advent of academies in English football and Jones was chosen to head up Villa’s operation.

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Matt Turvey
Matt is the owner of, and chief writer for, Aston Villa Life. He is also a columnist for the Wolverhampton Express & Star, appearing in the Kick Off pullout on Saturdays and the Final Whistle pullout the Monday after Aston Villa play, as well as every Thursday as a blogger on their website. He has previously been featured as a writer on Football365 and Life's A Pitch, and was a regular pundit for Sports Tonight TV on Sky.

Comments 49

  4. B62 Villa

    Bryan deserves his retirement, thankyou for all you have done for Aston Villa fc.
    Mark
    I would definately go for Holtby over Cleverley, Sigurdsson would have been terrific especially for £2m less!

  5. Frem

    Is he giving up because we bid 8 mill for Cleverley?

    Sounds like Valencia might be in for him now. Kea off to holland ( praise The Lord)

    TBAR saying another source has also said a take over will happen nearly September. Let’s hope. sack lambert

  6. Mark King

    good luck to KEA he always tried his best. he may not of been the best but you couldn’t fault his effort.
    b62
    I’m amazed at the amount of quality players being sold by teams.

  9. Frem

    The sooner the two clowns leave this club, the better

    Both willing to waste money on someone who we don’t even need

    What do we need? Creativity. It will show again tomorrow when we have 0 shots on tArget, but still, Lamberk wil, do nothing about it

  10. steamer

    £70,000 a week for Tom Cleverley ! you could pay the wages of four players who can actually kick a ball with that. Can’t see anybody signing him if that’s what he wants never mind us.

  13. steamer

    Yes Mark, diabolical luck, when you see some of the tripe in the England team and look at Gardners talent it shows the difference a bit of luck makes, Jack Wilshire for example.

  14. Mark King

    steamer

    totally mate, wheres ST75? has he seen a mirror for the first time and is still trying to borrow £20 from himself as he thought the bloke looked a bit thick?

  16. steamer

    One here for B6B, with the selection of Calum Chambers for England after a few minutes at Arsenal, do you see why i regard England managers with suspicion, remember Ralph Coates ? played some brilliant football for Burnley in the 60’s and couldn’t get a look in, signed for Spurs and even before his debut he was in the England team, Jeff Blockley, useless for Coventry signed for Arsenal and won his cap before starting a game for them, Theo Walcott, goes to the WC with about three EP games under his belt, does anyone think Chambers would be in the squad if he was still at Saints ?

  18. Mark King

    steamer

    hope its nothing bad mate give his brow a mop for me, album sounding good will let you know when I’ve got some.

    on players that should be playing for England I’m amazed harry Kane isn’t in the squad even as back up, him and rooney would be good together really rate the lad. with the right manager England could have a really exciting team. bit low on defenders though

  19. Frem

    All the best to ST75. If he’s struggling with the positivity on here, he should have been in the Holte against Newcastle when some twats starting singing ” Paul Lamberts claret and blue army ” Nearly jumped over the balcony.

    How are we going to score tomorrow with Lamberks 451 park the bus and Gabby and Wiemann on the pitch? How Re we even going to get a shot on target ?

    Can’t believe he’s done nothing this window to address our shambles going forwards. Last season, pre season and the 3 games this season, we’ve done nothing going forwards

  20. Frem

    And we need the win tomorrow because we won’t be getting many points in September

    4 from 9 is crap, 7 from 9 might be enough so we aren’t bottom come October

  22. Paul Pears

    Great result for Burnley, which means win, lose or draw, we will still be above the Scummers..!!!

    Gayle still showing how to do it….Bennett gifting goals…Who will we sign in the end…!!

  23. Frem

    It’s obvious Cleverley doesn’t want to come here. He can do one

    Sidguarson involved in all 4 Swansea goals this season. 6 mill. We spend 8 mill on someone who probably hasn’t been involved in 4 goals all his career. Swansea are flying. United look awful. Burnely looked excellent

    We need the win. It’s another relegation scrap coming up, because we cant score goals

  24. steamer

    Siggi would have been a better fit than Cleverley, its Keane suffering from the misapprehension that anyone who plays for Untied iswonderful.

  26. Mark King

    really interesting interview on bt sport. an agent is telling it straight. he is saying that quite a few managers, owners and directors know nothing about football and even less about players. he just said manure have bought the icing without the sponge cake to put it on, we’ve just got the baking tin 🙂

  27. Frem

    West ham have signed Song. QPR winning. Palace winning

    Not sure there is a real wink link this season. Quality of teams gets better and better every year ( apart from one and we know them well)

  30. RichardS

    I find it encouraging that we actually have around 8 million to sign a player. If we don’t sign Cleverley we could use that money to bid for players like, Holtby who would cost less, Sinclair or how much would Milner cost from City?
    A quality midfield signing and potentially an astute loan signing for a winger and we will be looking good this season, especially when Benteke returns.

  31. Frem

    We need 3 points tomorrow or that September run in could see us rock bottom

    Richard- We could get those players for 8 mill no problem, good players, creative players…..

    But Lamberk would rather spend it in someone who won’t create much

  32. Mark King

    problem doesn’t appear to be fee’s as such just the wage ceiling that has been imposed by Lerner, if one come in at 70,000 benteke, vlaar etc would kick off I’m guessing and the wage bill spirals again, he wants to leave that coice to the next owner

  33. Ian

    Hey guys. Been busy. A set of results today that shows that no one is assured points in a game. Happy for MU- 🙂
    I’ll be even happier if Martinez blows another one. I expect a tie game tomorrow but Hull just might be tired.

  42. Frem

    Mark- The guy ain’t got an ounce of fight in him. He’s a loser. He said the same thing in his first ever press conference, he said the same thing at the start of his second season, and look at us now.

    The guy needs to go, then our home record will pick up

    Better play 442 tomoz

    Think Arfa is another Zoggy to be fair, just a lot better

    We need someone like Sinclair

    Wish they would hurry up and confirm our wasting of 8 million on Cleverley.

  46. Lionheart

    Frem.. where did you hear about the Ben Arfa rumour.. the guy is seriously talented but lacks that extra motivation..

    As for Sincalir.. what is the fascination with him for some fans.. i didn’t rate him at Swansea.. was shocked he got a money spinning move to Man City.. was shite on loan at West Brom.. would only take him as a last resort and us paying only 20K of his wages..

  47. Frem

    I’m going Steamer:) Sorry
    We can only wish he will be gone this time next year if no take over happens. If it does, he won’t last long

    He’s got talent Lionheart for sure. Just twitter mate. Probably BS

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