Phil Jones has candidly opened up on the final training session of his career, which also turned out to be Erik ten Hag’s first day in charge of Manchester United.
The 32-year-old was plagued by injuries towards the end of his career. In fact, after he penned a four-and-a-half-year contract in February 2019, he started just 16 times for United.
Jones worked tirelessly to get in the best physical shape possible ahead of Erik Ten Hag‘s arrival in the summer of 2022.
But an ongoing problem with his knee halted any further progress and after his first training session of the 2022/23 campaign, he knew his time was up.
Speaking on the High Performance podcast, Jones has opened up on that session, which turned out to be the last of his 14-year professional career.
“I came back, first day, really excited, Erik ten Hag had come in. Fresh start. You’re out on the grass. Boots back on. I was feeling my knee but I thought, it’s got to go away at some point. It’s not going to stay there forever,” he began.
“We were just doing a drill, like a circuit, passing it into the net, jog around the cones, just a little warm-up. And I kid you not, I couldn’t pass the ball with my right foot. I wanted the world to swallow me up.
I’m thinking, ‘This manager is coming in and I can’t go in from training 20 minutes into the session.’
“I got through the session. I was passing the ball with the outside of my left foot. I’d got quite good with my left foot, I was technically really good with my left foot because I had to be better.
“I played with my left throughout the whole session but I remember I just turned and sprinted and I just felt it [my knee]. I couldn’t carry on.
“I came over the physio and my words were, ‘This is my last training session’. And to this day it was my last training session. I was done.”
Image credit: Getty
When asked how it felt saying those words, Jones added: “I was ready for it. It was a relief off my shoulders that I didn’t have to put myself through the pain in my knee anymore. It was a relief knowing that I had committed to that answer.”
The former Blackburn Rovers defender also revealed his state of mind after hanging up his boots.
“After I finished, it took me a while to watch football, because I’d be bitter about it,” he added. “I’d look at games – and I’m not just talking about United – I’d look at games around the world and think, ‘I’m better than that.’
‘Like, ‘People are raving about him? I know I was better than that.’ But I couldn’t show it. I just couldn’t show enough of it. And I couldn’t watch football. For three or four months, I didn’t watch football.
“Your mates would come around to the house, and I’d be like, ‘Don’t switch the football on. I’m not interested.'”