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STEVE JONES

Born: 17 March 1970, Cambridge

Signed: Billericay Town

Date: 8 November 1992

Fee: £22.500

Appearances: 18/15

Goals: 5

Transferred: AFC Bournemouth

Date: 9 November 1994

Fee: £250,000

Transferred: Charlton Athletic

Date: February 1997

Fee: £400,000

A lifelong Hammers fan, Steve Jones supplemented his income by combining his job at Yarley’s soap factory in Basildon and as a part-time footballer with Billericay Town. Jones scored a massive 120 goals for the Essex non-league side which alerted a few clubs, who run their eye over the striker, but it was the Hammers who blinked first when Jones scored four goals in a 5-3 win over a West Ham XI containing the likes of Julian Dicks and Stuart Slater in a pre-season friendly. Manager Billy Bonds plucked the Cambridge-born part-timer from the New Lodge club on 8 November 1992 for a bargain £22,500.

Instead of standing in his usual spot in the North Bank for the Anglo-Italian Cup match against Reggiana, he was sitting on the bench in the Upton Park dug-out as an unused substitute. ‘Jonah’ made his initial first-team bow on 8 December 1992 in place of the suspended Trevor Morley in the same competition; the Hammers secured a 1-0 victory over Cosenza at Stadio San Vito.

His League debut came on 30 January 1993, as a substitute against Leicester City at Filbert Street in a 2-1 victory, and ended West Ham’s promotion winning season with eight appearances, scoring twice within four days against both Barnsley and Peterborough United at Upton Park.

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On Monday 24 January 1993, in the Premiership match against Norwich City, Sky TV was on hand to capture Jones scoring West Ham’s first-ever goal in front of the new Bobby Moore Stand, in a match that ended 3-3 and the former soap worker - delighted the tabloid headline writers whenever he scored.

1994 was a pivotal year for Jones; he scored in the 4-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, it proved to be his fifth and final goal as the rigours of Premiership football were considered just too big a jump from non-League.

Having initially gone to AFC Bournemouth on loan in October 1994, "Cherries" boss Mel Machin, continuing a tradition of frantic trading between the two clubs and saw his value to the Dean Court side and decided to snap him up permanently for a fee of around £250,000 on 9 November 1994. Money well-spent as ‘Jonah’ fired 21 goals to help them to Division two mid-table security.

Harry Redknapp had no hesitation in bringing him back to Upton Park in the summer of 1996 for £150,000 with Mark Watson going the other way. However, he failed to find the target in his second spell before he was sold to Charlton Athletic the following February in a double-yer-dough £400,000 deal that partly helped finance the arrival of John Hartson and Paul Kitson.

Jones later played for Bristol City, Brentford, Southend United, Wycombe Wanderers and Hornchurch. Today he is a Club Ambassador on match days at London Stadium.