Notts County were rewarded in the best possible way for their 2023 Oxford United gamble | OneFootball

Notts took a gamble to sign Jodi Jones in January 2023, that gamble has paid off in spectacular fashion.

When Notts County signed Jodi Jones on loan from Oxford United during the January 2023 transfer window, few could’ve foreseen the impact that he has had at Meadow Lane.

Injuries had ravaged Jones’ promising career, to the point that he had featured in just a handful of league games for several years before making the switch to the Magpies.

Notts took a gamble by taking Jones, and it’s proved to be a masterstroke for both the club and the player, as Jones has re-established himself once again as one of the most dangerous players in the lower leagues.

After playing a starring role in Notts’ successful National League play-off campaign, the winger made his loan move to Nottingham a permanent one, and has continued to go from strength to strength, having broken several records last season.

Crucially for Stuart Maynard's side, he signed a new multi-year deal earlier this season, meaning Notts’ rewards for their gamble could still continue to get significantly bigger.

Notts took a huge gamble in signing Jones

When Notts first brought Jones to Meadow Lane, it’s fair to say he was a shadow of the player he is today.

The winger’s promising career had been heavily disrupted by a catastrophic run of three anterior cruciate ligament injuries in the space of three years, a run that saw Jones fail to start a single league game between November 2017 and February 2023.

Jones became Dagenham and Redbridge’s youngest ever senior player when he made his first team debut back in 2015, and pretty quickly his talents attracted the interest of Coventry City.

Jones moved to join the Sky Blues on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee in July 2016, after previously spending time with the club on loan.

When Coventry were relegated into the fourth division for the 2017/18 season, Jones dazzled in the early stages of the campaign. He notched five goals and four assists from 19 games in League Two, including an opening day hat-trick against Notts, before the first of his three ACL injuries brought his season to a premature close.

He then made just 17 league appearances across the next three seasons combined, before being released by Coventry, with the Sky Blues now a Championship side.

Jones had featured nine times for Mark Robins’ side in the second tier, but found himself back in League One for the 2022/23 season with Oxford United.

However, after struggling for gametime under Karl Robinson (Jones had made just five appearances in the league by January), he took the opportunity to drop into non-league and help Notts with their promotion push.

Notts’ gamble on Jones has paid off to extraordinary levels

It’s fair to say that Notts took a big gamble signing a player with an injury record as unfortunate as Jones’.

However, the club always back themselves to identify talented players and provide them with the environment to showcase their ability and that’s exactly what Jones has done.

Notts’ gamble has paid off in the ultimate fashion, with the winger playing a key role in their promotion and then proving to be unplayable in the fourth division last term.

Jones’ initial impact at Meadow Lane was fairly understated, but his impact since has been anything but.

The Malta international came off the bench to send the Magpies to Wembley in 2022/23 with a 120th minute strike to down Boreham Wood in a nerve-shredding semi-final. He then also netted his penalty in the shootout during the final, which Notts eventually won thanks to heroics from substitute goalkeeper Archie Mair.

Last season, with Notts and Jones back in League Two, he hit a new level altogether. A staggering 24 assists in the league saw him smash the English professional record previously shared by Kevin De Bruyne and Thierry Henry.

Jones, whose impressive season saw him top a list of illustrious names, also scored six times on his way to becoming the PFA and EFL League Two Player of The Year.

This year, the 27-year-old's campaign has been affected by the first long-term injury he has suffered at Notts. He has spent over three months of the season sidelined after suffering a small fracture in his shin, but is gradually nearing a return to his best.

The success of this move for both Notts and Jones was highlighted back in September, when he penned a new two-year deal to keep him at Meadow Lane until the summer of 2027.

And while this season hasn’t gone as expected for Jones, both he and Notts will be delighted with the way their January 2023 deal has played out.