He was appointed Port Vale's trainer-coach in June 1962, introducing revolutionary intensive training sessions for the players.[10] He had to be taken off the pitch during his first match with the club after being struck by a bottle thrown from the crowd at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground.[10] In his autobiography, Colin Grainger claimed that Jones were extremely unpopular with the squad and that the bottle had been thrown by a player.[11] His approach of strict discipline was not favoured by the board either and he resigned his post at Vale Park for domestic reasons in October 1962.[10]