SPEAKING to an ashen-faced Gethin Jones in the mixed zone at Wembley in May about the changes Wanderers seemingly had to make in the summer, I think we both suspected he may be one of them.
Things had gone so horrifically in the play-off final, there was an appetite for a purge. Fans wanted a sign that another season at this inglorious level of football would not see the club heading directly down the same path.
Fingers were pointed, opinions voiced, but in the end, that great cleanse never truly materialised. Jones, like most of the first team squad disappeared on the team bus out of North London and was not seen again in club colours until those sun-kissed galleries from the training camp in Portugal.
Any uncertainty over Ian Evatt’s position was tidied up relatively quickly, Sharon Brittan coming to the wicket to outline her plans to boost her manager’s playing budget. Signings were made, and decent money spent, but in footballing terms, the whole exercise felt little more than a spring clean.
Jones had more competition with the arrival of Chris Forino and Jordi Osei-Tutu but after just a couple of weeks back on the training ground, he found himself out of the equation completely because of a knee injury.
He had played 44 club games last season, also breaking into the Australia side and playing at the Asia Cup in January, and his international commitments had extended into the summer, with a last cap coming against Palestine on June 11.
Jones was by no means the only player carrying injury baggage into the new season but the way things had been left after the Oxford game meant being side-lined carried that extra bit of jeopardy, every setback hurting that little bit more.
On Tuesday he made his playing return for the B Team against Huddersfield Town, and by the time the international break is through he will be ready to become the last man to step out of Wembley purgatory, only this time the mood will be quite different.
Bolton have been on their own journey in the four months Jones has been shelved. Their quest for reinvention stopped in its tracks after a 4-0 home defeat against Huddersfield and a week of self-reflection from the manager. He leaned back into the traits which earned success over the last two seasons and corrected his course.
Saturday’s game at Stockport may ultimately define whether we can consider this a revival, and the staunchest doubters will prove harder to win over. Unlike his long-time team-mate Ricardo Santos, though, Jones’s comeback may have been timed with an upswing in fortunes, and he may not have to suffer quite as much as a result.
Every team has a handful of players whose skills are valued more inside the dressing room than they often are on the terraces. And even though Jones has come up with some big moments in his four years with the club, not to mention experienced his fair share of personal tragedy, it has been regularly questioned whether he has reached a ceiling. And here he finds himself once more.
In my experience, Jones is one of the more reflective and considered players in the group. He has asked those same questions and continually found answers.
His versatility will come in handy. Josh Dacres-Cogley’s machine-like tendency to play week-in, week-out, is admirable, but there must surely come a time when he gets a rest. Eoin Toal’s injury also means Will Forrester is the only fit option on the right side of the back three, for now.
Moreover, Jones has the rare ability to bring more out of the players around him. Whether that is because he is a good communicator, or familiarity plays a part - I don’t know - but bringing him back into the picture for the winter push feels like a timely boost.
Just like everyone present in that God-awful play-off final, he has an unspoken debt to pay, if only to himself. And with Wanderers now hopefully over their early-season jitters, he too can start dragging himself further away from that disappointment and get the narrative back on the future. Santos has shown the way on that front, and long may it continue.
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