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Phil Jones parted ways with Manchester United in 2023 after his contract expired, concluding a chapter marred by persistent injuries.
His final year at the club saw him make no appearances as he continued his battle with fitness issues.
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Following his release, Jones retired from professional football and transitioned into coaching and television punditry.
He recently shared his insights on Manchester United’s draw with Crystal Palace, reflecting his ongoing connection with the sport.
In the 2021/22 season, Jones made a brief comeback from injuries, marking his first appearances since the 2019/20 campaign.
Although this return was short-lived, one particular match left a bitter taste.
Under interim manager Ralf Rangnick, Jones made eight appearances. One of these was a challenging away game at Liverpool.
The 4-0 defeat at Anfield turned out to be his final start in a Manchester United shirt. His selection surprised many fans, who felt he was being used as a scapegoat.
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The match was Jones’ first league appearance in 13 games and only his second in three years. Rangnick substituted him at halftime with Liverpool leading 2-0.
Jones expressed his anger over the decision, feeling unfairly singled out.
Jones told the High Performance Podcast: “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.
“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 halftime, 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.
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“I’m not saying I was exceptional but I definitely didn’t deserve to come off at halftime.
There were far worse players on the pitch that day, I was the easy one to come off. You’re an easy scapegoat.”
He elaborated on confronting Rangnick about the substitution in front of his teammates.
He said: “At halftime 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?’”
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“I took my boots off and I slammed them on the floor and I said ‘You’re taking the sh*t out of me. Everyone said ‘calm down, calm down’. I get irate now, it really got to me.”
Jones admitted that his outburst was out of character and later apologized to Rangnick for his reaction, although his frustration remained.
He said: “I just couldn’t get my head around it. I apologized afterwards, 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.”
After this incident, Jones made two further substitute appearances under Rangnick before the season concluded.
He did not feature in any matchday squads under Erik ten Hag due to an injury setback and was eventually released.
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