QPR's Jones A Young U

The Colchester Evening Gazette has today revealed, in light of the recent passing of QPR forward Ray Jones, that the England youth star nearly joined Colchester United as a youngster.

The world of football had been shocked and saddened by the news that Jones, who would have been 19 today according to the report, was involved in a tragic car accident last weekend which caused his death.

Although it is well known that Jones was being courted by Colchester United last summer as a possible replacement for the departed Chris Iwelumo, now of Charlton, the newspaper quoted reserve-team boss Joe Dunne as saying that he was a young trialist in Essex.

"Ray played for 15 minutes against Reading reserves and we offered him a scholarship," said Dunne. This was when Ray was 16.

"But we found out that his birth date was not spot on and that he was a year ahead of what we had believed him to be," he added in the Gazette.

"That meant he would have only been a one-year scholar, which is not something we offered players at the time."

Vital Football would like to express its sincerest condolences to Ray Jones and his family.

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