How Wigan Athletic legend helped pave way for 'fortunate' signing

The 54-year-old still holds the club record for the 31 league goals he scored in the 1996-97 season, which fired Latics to the fourth tier title under John Deehan.

And his return to the club as assistant manager to Roberto Martinez was even more successful, with the duo leading Latics to their greatest ever day at Wembley in 2013.

Having followed Martinez to Everton and then the Belgium side, Jones returned to club football in 2018, and has been with hometown club Newcastle for the last three years.

During that time, he worked closely with defender Paul Dummett - meaning he was the ideal person to broker a deal to help the free agent - who left Newcastle in the summer - to join Latics on a short-term contract.

"We got some great feedback from Graeme on Paul, in terms of personality," revealed Latics boss Shaun Maloney, who served under Jones as a player at Wigan and succeeded him on the Belgium coaching staff.

"He said he’s an unbelievable person as well as a player...I believe he only missed three training sessions in the last two years.

"The recommendations were really high, and I think we're pretty fortunate to get him. We thought last Wednesday we had him, then there was big interest from elsewhere which made us think otherwise.

"In fairness to him, he wanted to come here and we're very grateful he made that decision. At times we feel we're a very young group, and it's as much about what he'll bring off the field as on it."

Maloney also revealed the 33-year-old turned down more attractive offers to team up with Latics on a short-term deal until January.

"We needed cover in that left-back area," added the Scot. "We lost Luke Chambers for months, we're not even sure if we'll see him again.

"Luke Robinson's only just back from seven months out, so Paul's come in to cover the left-hand side of the defence.

"I'm delighted to have him here...it was a big choice for him, he turned down more money elsewhere to come in. He only had one session with us before Saturday, but he's exactly what we need in the group."