Leon Jones - First Interview

“I wouldn’t come here if I didn’t think I was good enough to play. I want to contribute to the team and the success this season.

After the signing of a Lithuanian internationalist, a Turkish goalkeeper, a Bulgarian striker, an English midfielder and being taken over by German investors, Dunfermline Athletic further expanded its cosmopolitan look this week signing a Scottish youth internationalist from Kentucky who has aspirations of play for Hong Kong or China.

On signing a one year deal at the Pars, twenty three year old Leon Jones today revealed that he was impressed with the facilities and the stadium but the greatest impression was Peter Grant’s non stop expression of his aspirations for the season:-

“He wants to every game, he wants to win the league, he wants to dominate teams and basically batter teams so that they are begging to come off the field before the game is over.

“Obviously it is the new gaffer’s first season at the club as well and I think coming here with the plans and the way training has been set up, it is really exciting. He has told me that I am going to have to fight my way into the team and really push. That is the only opportunity that I really need from the manager. I am happy that he has shown that kind of confidence in me.

“He has been really positive on training and I think he is a manager that really likes to talk to his players, he always has his door open if you have any questions. The same goes for his backroom staff, Greg and Steven - when you have a question whether about on the field or off the field - you have that confidence in going to them.”

After being at Hearts from the age of seven, Leon left the Tynecastle club for Kentucky where he played for the Wildcats, he explained how it all came about:-

“Growing up, I never really thought about America. I was at Hearts for a long, long time but in my final year at Hearts my coach at the time, Jon Daly, told me that he wasn’t sure if I would get offered an extension.

“He told me that this scholarship option had come through and he wouldn’t hold me back from going over and trying the showcase. I went and tried out and was offered a four-year scholarship at Kentucky.

“I was still at Hearts at the time and, when it came to March, they did decide to offer me an extension and it was a choice between a one-year extension and four years in America. So I took the four years.

“I went over there in the summer of 2017 and it was a big, life-changing decision. I had never been away from my family, I was 19 and I had to commit for four years.

“I’m not the type of person to think - ‘If I don’t like it, I’ll come back after a year.’ I knew I was going to commit for the long run. In the four years I was there, there was only one time that I managed to get back home. So, you do start to feel homesick, particularly around the holidays.

“You don’t really get the time to think about being homesick — but Christmas is a different thing. You are with someone else’s family but it’s not your own.

“My mum was always really big on my education — my dad was the football one! But part of the agreement when I went over there is, you have to do school.”

During his scholarship at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Jones worked towards a degree in chemical engineering and it was constantly school and football:-

“I wanted to do something I knew would be worthwhile and, if I had to use it, then I could. Chemical engineering really fitted that category. I was good at maths and chemistry at high school. A very small number of players do make it, so it is good to have that fall-back.”

After graduating with a bachelors degree in chemical engineering and a minor in mathematics, the number one priority for Leon was always to become a football player.

“Kentucky Wildcats had a lot of other international players and we all really tried to embrace the experience and I really enjoyed it.

“Coming from Scotland you think of playing for a University team as Strathclyde University or Heriot-Watt! It’s nothing really big, but when you go over there, it’s a totally different world and in some places college sports are bigger than professional sports.

“In Kentucky, there is no professional baseball, basketball or American football team, so college sports is the thing. The American football team pull in 60,000 for a game, the men’s basketball team in the number one programme in the country and they pull in 25,000.”

Kentucky did not miss out in any of the covid restrictions and Leon claimed it was hard over there during and it was nice to get back and be close to family. He gave assurances that his football had not suffered as a result:-

“People might say ‘oh he’s been away in America for four years’ and not look at the standard favourably — without actually watching any games over there.

“So, coming back over, I wouldn’t come here if I didn’t think I was good enough to play. I want to contribute to the team and the success this season. If I can get on the field, I believe I can help the team do that.”

Leon will have two or three team mates who he has crossed paths with before. He played with Nikolay Todorov at Hearts and although he was a younger got to know him quite well and they both stayed in digs in Edinburgh.

Kevin O’Hara was in the same Victory Shield squad when he encountered Dom Thomas a few times as an opponent with the Hearts U20s;-

“It’s really good when to have someone you know before from your time in Scotland. It certainly helps me settle in. These are boys who you can chat to and learn a bit about the club from.

“Nikolay has spoken really highly of Dunfermline and told me: ‘This is a club going in the right direction. If you get the opportunity to sign then this could be something that is very good for you.”

It will be extremely good if Leon can make a mark at Dunfermline and fulfils an ambition to attract interest from the Far East.

“Growing up, I was fortunate enough to be involved with the Scotland youth sides 15s, 16s and 17s —so I’ve played for Scotland, was born in Scotland and my dad is Scottish.”

However his mother is from Hong Kong and her parents were born in China, he continued:-

“It’s only recently I’ve really considered what might happen if the opportunity to play for Hong Kong or China arose. If that did happen, it’s something I would definitely talk about with my family and be quite eager to do.

“Even in the four years I have been in America, you can see a lot more games are getting put on TV, crowds are getting bigger and that’s exactly the same all around the world and in countries like Hong Kong and China.”

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