Kenwyne Joel Jones CM (born 5 October 1984) is a Trinidadian professional football manager and former player who played as a forward. He was most recently manager of the Trinidad and Tobago women's national team.
He began his football career with Joe Public in his native Trinidad and Tobago. He moved to W Connection in 2002. In 2004, he joined Southampton, where he was converted to a striker. He was later loaned to Sheffield Wednesday and Stoke City during the 2004–05 season.
In 2007, he joined Sunderland for £6 million where he spent three seasons before he signed for Stoke City in August 2010. In his first season at Stoke, Jones scored 12 goals and played in the 2011 FA Cup final. Following the arrival of Peter Crouch in August 2011, Jones struggled to hold down a regular place in the side, and scored just four more league goals in the next three seasons. In January 2014 he joined Cardiff City in a player-exchange with Peter Odemwingie. While with Cardiff he spent time out on loan at AFC Bournemouth and Al Jazira before moving to Atlanta United in the summer of 2016. Jones retired from football in November 2017.
Jones has been capped at under-18, under-20, under-23 olympic team and the Trinidad and Tobago national team.
Jones was born in Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago, to Lydia and Pamphile. and he attended St. Anthony's College in Trinidad along with his future Sunderland teammate Carlos Edwards. His uncle, Philibert Jones, was also a footballer as a prolific forward for Strike Squad that came within a point of qualifying for the 1990 World Cup and was a similar player to Kenwyne both in style and celebration.
He had earlier had trials at Manchester United and Middlesbrough in 2002, and further trials at West Ham United and Rangers in 2004. Jones revealed in an interview with Simon Bird that he had to travel around Europe looking for a football club, or face a career in the Trinidad army. "It was hard because I'd just had my son and it was make it — or join the army. I had a family to support and at that time, it was either this is it... or I go into the services. I was ready for that life." Jones began his professional career with Joe Public in his native Trinidad and Tobago in 2002. He soon moved to W Connection where he played for two years.
In July 2004, Jones signed for Southampton from W Connection for a nominal fee after a trial. W Connection's Chairman David John Williams described Jones's move, saying: "When Kenwyne Jones was transferred to Southampton, I told you all that he is going to be the biggest thing in Trinidad and Tobago football since beside Dwight Yorke". In December 2004, while on loan to the Football League One club Sheffield Wednesday, he scored seven goals in seven games, and returned to Southampton in January 2005, where he played in games against Liverpool and local rivals Portsmouth. He joined Championship side Stoke City in February 2005 on loan where he played 13 times, scoring three goals.
Before the start of the 2006–07 season, Jones scored a hat trick against Anderlecht in Southampton's last pre-season game. Meanwhile, in the Football League Championship Jones scored two goals against Birmingham City on 29 November, which ended 4–3 to Southampton. On 26 December 2006, he received the first red card of his career for a push on Mark Hudson in the match against Crystal Palace. He scored another two goals against Southend United in a 4–1 win on the last day of the season to ensure a place in the play-offs for Southampton, following this, Jones was injured for the play-off semi-final defeat at Derby County but finished the season with 16 goals.
On 11 May 2007, Southampton manager George Burley stated that "Kenwyne is another Didier Drogba in the making — as far as physical attributes, his strength and power in the air are second to none". This followed news that Derby County wanted to sign Jones for around £5.5 million. Jones submitted a transfer request to Southampton on 24 August 2007 and went on "strike" until a move could be agreed, requesting not to be selected for the forthcoming league match against Stoke City.
On 29 August 2007, it was confirmed that he had joined Sunderland in a deal valued at £6 million with fellow Trinidadian Stern John moving to Southampton. Jones made his debut for Sunderland on 1 September in a 1–0 defeat to Manchester United and scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 home win over Reading on 15 September.
Jones was linked with a £12 million player move to Liverpool in November 2007, with Peter Crouch moving to Sunderland. Jones was again linked with high-profile clubs on 21 December 2007, including Chelsea and Liverpool, but Sunderland manager Roy Keane insisted that he would be going nowhere. Jones scored his fifth goal at the Stadium of Light, with a header from the near post from a corner kick, in Sunderland's 3–1 win over Bolton Wanderers on 29 December. Chelsea captain John Terry praised Jones, saying he was probably the "best in the air in the Premier League" after Chelsea had won the match 1–0 on 15 March 2008.
On 1 June 2008, Jones suffered a knee ligament injury in a collision with goalkeeper David James in the seventh minute of Trinidad & Tobago's 3–0 defeat against England. He made his first appearance of the 2008–09 season playing for 60 minutes in Sunderland reserve team's 2–0 victory against Wigan Athletic., followed by a return to Sunderland's first team in the Tyne–Wear derby on 25 October 2008 as a second-half substitute, when he helped Sunderland to secure a 2–1 victory over their local rivals. His first goal following his return came on 12 November in a 2–1 League Cup defeat against Blackburn Rovers. He continued his recovery from injury with a goal, again against Blackburn, on 15 November 2008 as Sunderland won 2–1.
Jones put an end to speculation linking him with a move to Tottenham Hotspur by signing a 4+1⁄2-year contract at the Stadium of Light on 27 January 2009. After a spell of six games without a goal, Jones scored against Manchester United in a 2–1 defeat. On 22 August Jones contributed to Sunderland's 2–1 victory over Blackburn Rovers by scoring two goals. Jones again contributed with two goals for Sunderland when they were at home to Wolves on 27 September, in a 5–2 win. One goal being the highlight of the game, curling the ball in from 22 yards out. Jones scored his fifth goal of the season with a header against Manchester United, outjumping Ben Foster to give Sunderland a 2–1 lead but in the dying moments of the match at Old Trafford, Patrice Evra's shot was deflected in for an own-goal by Anton Ferdinand to level it up and end the match as a 2–2 draw. Jones scored his sixth goal of the season with a close-range header against Manchester City, which City won 4–3. On 6 February, Jones scored his seventh goal of the season with another header against Wigan Athletic which ended up 1–1 at the Stadium of Light. Jones then scored again against Manchester City bringing his tally to eight, with a spectacular header at the Stadium of Light, which ended up 1–1. He also opened the scoring against Wolves on the final day of the season, netting after a strike deflected off Jody Craddock after 8 minutes, but Wolves would go on to win 2–1.
On 11 August 2010, Jones signed for Stoke City on a four-year deal for a club record fee of £8 million. Jones took a wage cut in order to join Stoke. "We need goals in our team and we also need strong competition among our strikers if we are to continue improving at this level."Kenwyne will give us that. It's no secret that I am one of his biggest admirers, he did a smashing job for us when he was here on loan. "He was very young back then but I believe that he has the best years ahead of him as a top striker."
Jones took over the number 9 shirt from the departing James Beattie who had joined Rangers. He made his second debut for City against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 14 August 2010, he made a bright start hitting the crossbar with his first shot. However, after falling awkwardly from a challenge from Jody Craddock on 14 minutes Jones was forced to come off. On 13 September, Jones scored his first goal for Stoke on his home debut against Aston Villa in a 2–1 win. Jones followed this by scoring against West Ham United, Fulham in the League Cup and Newcastle United. He scored the second goal on 13 November in a 2–0 win against Liverpool at the Britannia Stadium.