Isaiah Jones is back in love with football again with Luton following mental health struggles at Middlesbrough that made him think about quitting the game.
The 25-year-old suffered with depression during the 2022/23 campaign when, tragically, seven family members died, while his partner was also pregnant. Despite his past struggles, he revealed the impact that Michael Carrick had on him after his brief post-match reunion with his former Boro boss last Saturday.
Town’s 0-0 Championship draw against his old club was Jones’ first encounter with the former Manchester United midfielder since he moved from the north-east to Kenilworth Road in January, with the pair were seen chatting after the final whistle.
Having previously cleared up false rumours of a Teesside rift with Carrick, the Guyana international said: “Michael’s helped me in the last two years with things I had going on, off the pitch in my personal life. He helped me through that.
“He gave me the confidence to come back on the pitch and start playing football again, so I owe him a lot. So we just had a general chit-chat, catch-up, whatnot, and he’s just happy for me that I’m playing.
“I remember the first conversation I had when I was going through it. He just said, ‘I can give you a much time off as you need’. And I feel like I needed it at the time, with what I was going through.
“Those times, I wasn’t in the match-day squad, everyone was asking why? I had a lot of things going on, personal things going on with my missus, family and whatnot.
“That time in my in my career, it was a dark time, but I’ve seen the light for the last couple of years now, last year and a half, I’m just happy to be back playing football and doing what I love.”
Boro fans also helped his recovery when they created a banner, saying ‘Izzy we will always support you’ which they displayed at the club’s Rockliffe Park training ground.
Jones said: “Big respects out to them for doing such a gesture at the training ground. As a footballer, it’s not easy when you’re going through stuff off the pitch and fans and people don’t know about it.
“It’s tough because when I was playing, my standards were bad. They weren’t up to scratch. I felt like every time I was on the pitch was I felt like I was in quicksand.
“Games were going by past me, so it got to a stage where I had to speak and speak up to the gaffer. When I told him what’s going on, had a couple months out of the limelight. And when I saw what the fans did for me, it made me respect them even more and appreciate them even more.”
Now, Jones is aiming to impress a new set of fans and he has featured 11 times for Town since his January transfer. He is beginning to find his feet with the Hatters, with regular game time paying dividends after restrictions to his minutes at Middlesbrough thanks to the emergence of Liverpool loanee Ben Doak.
“I wasn’t paying as much as I liked, but at the same time you got to look at your competition at the team at the time. Ben Doak was doing fantastic and he’s gonna have a top, top career in the future,” he said.
“I wanted to play more, and I feel like I could have played more but, at times, you’ve got to be selfish and think about yourself. When Luton came with the offer, I couldn’t refuse. I wanted to play football, at the end of the day.”
Jones grew up in London and he was spotted by Boro playing non-league football for Tooting and Mitcham in the Isthmian League as a teenager.
“I didn’t know where Middlesbrough was when I first heard about it. I thought it was just outside London, on the outskirts, at the beginning,” he joked.
“But when I knew how far it was, I think at the time, it was best for my career, less distractions or whatnot, and just moving away from home, which is hard for any teenager, at the time.”
Though he went into Boro’s youth set-up, it was Neil Warnock who gave Jones his chance with Middlesbrough’s first team.
Jones said: “Under Neil Warnock, I give him the most praise for giving me a chance and luckily, I took it.
“I speak to him here and there. When I moved to Luton, he reached out to me, saying he’s happy to see me playing football again. So, the last time I spoke to him was in January.”
On his move back down south, Jones said: “Middlesbrough was all I knew. It was basically my home, coming from non-league to Middlesbrough. All I knew was Middlesbrough.
“But, there’s stages in your career, you’re going to have to close that chapter and unfortunately it was January to close the chapter. But I’m happy to be at Luton now and happy to be part of this family and hopefully I can give them success on the pitch.”
Be the first to comment