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Georgia's life as a daughter of former Wolves manager Dave Jones

She has spent 20 years surrounded by football and travelled to countless matches the length and breadth of the country.

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But Georgia Jones, this has been her normal way of life.

For Georgia, aged 20, from Bridgnorth, is the daughter of former Wolves manager Dave Jones.

Dave Jones with his daughter, Georgia, as a young child

Now about to embark on a new career of her own, she has opened up about life with a football manager as a dad and the love he still has for the club.

Jones, who over the last 20 years has also managed Stockport County Football Club, Southampton, Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday combined his career in football with bringing up three daughters and a son, along with wife, Ann.

Georgia said she is now more comfortable with having a famous parent - and admits that she used to keep her dad's identity a secret.

When her boyfriend James first came to the house and saw all the trophies there, she lied and said she'd won them all in ballerina competitions as a youngster - something James believed for a long time.

She said at times it was hard to bring friends back to the house, and feared that once they found out who her dad actually was they would only want to hang around with her because of it.

Former Wolves manager Dave Jones with his daughter Georgia
Dave Jones with his daughter, Georgia Jones, when she was a baby
Dave and Georgia Jones

Being the youngest by ten years, to sisters Chloe, 30, Danielle, 34 and brother Lea, 37, Georgia feels she was really lucky when it came to changing schools.

She said: "Dad always seemed to finish a job just when I was finishing school, so I wasn't disrupted much at all.

"Stability and football don't always go together, but my parents have always made a point of taking the family with them wherever that may be.

"I've never known anything different. I've been surrounded by football my whole life."

Now about to embark on her new nail business, Georgia feels the way she's been brought up and

some of the important figures she's come across will stand her in good stead to be successful.

Georgia is the only one out of her siblings who never got to see her Dad play professionally. His career was cut short by a severe knee injury before she was born.

Jones' now stands as one of the few managers to reach 1,000 games in management over his career.

Dave Jones, 58, said: "I feel my career was cut short by about five years because of that injury.

One of my friends at the time encouraged me into player coaching, and then eventually progressing into management.

"I'm very proud to say I've had 1,000 games in charge as a manager. Not many managers have an opportunity to reach that number; it's something I can definitely smile about."

He now reflects on each club fondly - especially Wolves as his family still live nearby and he spends a lot of time in the area - but believes he still has a lot to prove once a new opportunity arises.

He said: "Every club I've ever been to was in need of massive improvement. I believe I left each club in a better position than how I found them. I progressed them.

"Look at Cardiff. They were in debt when I went there, but we built an academy, got to the FA Cup final and lost in the play off final.

"The trouble was we couldn't keep any kind of consistency or stability for more than one season, due to all the financial restrictions. Payments had to be made and players had to go back to their parent clubs. We had to start all over again next season.

"I'm always ready to go back into it, I absolutely revel in the opportunity, I don't see it as pressure at all."

The Jones family have had trials and tribulations not only in football over the years. The court case in 2000, where Jones was accused of 21 counts of sexual and physical abuse against children whilst working at special school Clarence House in Formby, Merseyside, was thrown out after four days.

This had a profound effect on Jones, his career, wife and children.

He believes wife Ann, also 58, is the reason his children have been kept so grounded and sheltered from the notion of 'celebrity' and everything that comes with having a football manager for a dad and husband.

He said: "Ann brought the kids up, it was the way it had to be, I couldn't give fifty percent to both lives, it was one or the other.

"I work this way so my wife and kids can have the life they have. I know that might sound selfish in one respect, but it's a knock on effect and I've always wanted the best for my family.

"Ann cocooned them from whatever was going on at the time, not just the court case.

"We've always had a very good support system around us. We know who our true friends are and we always stayed in touch."

For Georgia, who was four when the sex abuse allegations against her Dad were made, only found out about it five years ago.

She said: "When it was actually happening I was too young to understand what was going on.

"Finding out about it when I was fourteen or fifteen didn't really affect me, because the trial itself was so long ago.

"I received some vile messages off boys at school. But I'm very lucky to have a supportive and close knit family and any abuse soon stopped."

Wolves gave Jones the opportunity to resurrect his career and he repaid them by promotion to the Premier League in 2003, a day he describes as one of the best of his and his family's lives, a feeling he would love to have again.

Jones said: "Wolves was a great club with absolutely fantastic supporters. I still get fans coming up to me talking about that day.

"I love it when the season's in full flow; it's when I'm at my best. My wife jokes it's like having a hotel in my head, I'm always trying to find solutions to all the different problems.

"I can't wait to get back involved, the sooner the better."

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