--- source: thedugout.football generated: 2026-10-24T01:36:59.229Z last_updated: 2026-10-23T06:00:00+00:00 data_provider: API-Football canonical: https://thedugout.football/clubs/norwich-city/news/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZWRwMjQuY28udWsvc3BvcnQvMjY2NjA4MTAuZHlsYW4tam9uZXMtdGVhY2hpbmctY2l0eS1tb3ZlLW5vbi1sZWFndWUtZWR1Y2F0aW9uLz9yZWY9cnNz --- # Dylan Jones interview: - **Source:** - **Published:** 23 Oct - **Club:** Norwich City - **Original URL:** https://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/26660810.dylan-jones-teaching-city-move-non-league-education/?ref=rss 0 Comments Skip to next photo 1/1 Show caption 1/1 Share 0 Comments This article is brought to you by our exclusive subscriber partnership with our sister title USA Today, and has been written by our American colleagues. It does not necessarily reflect the view of The Herald. Dylan Jones thought his footballing dreams had been extinguished at 16. Years later, he was teaching gymnastics when a phone call arrived to tell him Norwich City wanted to sign him. The journey between those two moments was anything but conventional. Released at 16, Jones was working towards an entirely different career and playing non-league football to reconnect with friends, rather than viewing it as a route back into the professional game. Jones is speaking via video link from Tranmere Rovers, where he is currently on loan after playing a prominent role in Norwich's pre-season preparations, having worked closely with head coach Philippe Clement. At that point, Jones' future appeared more likely to be in a classroom than at Colney. But a hot run of form for Plymouth Parkway in the Southern League Premier Division South changed everything, prompting interest from professional clubs. A subsequent trial at Norwich, where he scored twice against Crystal Palace's youngsters, opened the door he thought had closed years earlier. "In and around November time, I was doing well for Plymouth Parkway, and there was a couple of teams that wanted me to trial. I went and trialled for Brentford in December, got my name out there, and did really well," he said. "Then a couple more teams, one of them being Norwich, got in contact again. Norwich were brilliant, obviously asked when I could trial, said come up then. A game got cancelled. Obviously, I come up to trial in January, and then I was meant to play a game, but it got cancelled. So I was like, oh no, what's happening here? But it was a blessing in disguise, because then the rescheduled game that I was going to play in was the Crystal Palace game, which I obviously scored two in. "It was just a blur. I remember because I was obviously in Uni, I was teaching gymnastics at the time, and my agents phoned me and said ‘Norwich have offered a contract’. And I'm like, ‘I need to go back and teach and then go and do that’. "So literally the whole two months from December to late January when I signed was just a blur. But as soon as I trialled for Norwich, as soon as I got there, I felt really good about it. Dylan Jones didn't take the conventional route to join Norwich City. (Image: Jordan Blyth/Reverb Digital) "Everyone was welcoming. Training facilities are unbelievable, nothing that I've ever seen before. Then as long as I'd done my thing on the pitch, it was always going to be Norwich and they wanted me. Then there was no looking back." The teaching element wasn't simply a fallback plan or a case of keeping options open in case football didn't work out. For Jones, it had become the plan after his first shot in the professional game ended with his release from Exeter at 16. "I got released from Exeter at 16. Then I gave up for a bit and then I played on Sundays with my friends at Plymouth Parkway U18s, which is like the Devon County League," the young striker said. "I had no intention to become a footballer. I went into sixth form, and I knew that I needed to do this to get into Uni and then be a teacher. I was driven on being a teacher. Then this popped out of nowhere. "Then I was like, football's not there forever. So just, just go for it. Teaching's always going to be there. So, I just put all my eggs in one basket and then hopefully made the right decision when I look back in 20 or 30 years." Jones featured heavily in pre-season for City, including against Swiss giants St Gallen. (Image: Philipp Kresnik/freshfocus) So much money goes into professional academies in this era of football, with extensive scouting networks and data a regular feature of recruitment. That makes talent hard to miss. But the story of non-league stars rising up the pyramid has become more widespread. Jamie Vardy is the prime example, and while it didn't consciously spur Jones on, he feels it played a small part in ensuring he never closed the door. "I was playing, not for fun, obviously playing to win on a Saturday because there are still three points on the line. But I wasn't like, I want to be like Jamie Vardy," Jones said. "But looking back, I definitely think it consciously would have given me a bit of hope, definitely seeing stories like that. Because obviously all my mates and my family, they're always going to tell you that you can do it. But deep down, I was like, can I? "But now looking back, probably in the back of my mind, then those stories, if they weren't there, maybe I would have not even bothered, but they were there. They probably did give me a bit of hope, without me knowing they gave me a bit of hope, if that makes sense. Because at the time I wasn't thinking about football." Not even Jones could have predicted what would follow after hanging up the phone and heading back to teach gymnastics. Dylan Jones found himself named in a Championship squad for Norwich City months after completing his move to the club. (Image: Paul Chesterton/Focus Images Ltd) A few months later, Johannes Hoff Thorup named him on the bench for City's defeat to Millwall in April 2025, before Jack Wilshere included him again for his two matches in interim charge at the end of that campaign. "I don't know whether it's naive, but I didn't really understand what I'd done. I was playing against 300 people, three months later, I'm playing against 30,000 at Carrow Road," he recalled. "Obviously I know I didn't get on, but you're still there. You're still looking around and you're like, wow. But I didn't really process it at the time. I probably didn't give myself the credit due. "But now I look back, I'm thinking, wow, like you've done good there type thing. It was a mad situation, a lot to get your head around after." Jones accepts there were gaps to bridge after missing those formative academy years, but believes his unconventional development brought benefits too. He felt raw when he arrived at Colney, yet also possessed qualities that differentiated him from players developed entirely within academy football - which he is now feeling the benefits of at Tranmere. Dylan Jones is now enjoying a developmental spell with League Two side Tranmere Rovers. (Image: Holly Naylor/Tranmere Rovers FC) "Coming into Norwich in the under-21s, I definitely thought I was, like they say in football, a lot more raw, having not been coached through an academy at 17, 18 or 19, to play the typical game, how it is now. "I thought I was definitely a different player. It didn't make me worse, didn't make me better. I just thought it probably played into my favour a little bit. I definitely felt different, but not in a bad way. Just I can bring something different to the table here. "I think there's a lot more coming through that sort of rank now, which obviously I'm nothing massive, but hopefully I can, if I inspire one person that's in non-league to do the same as me, then, I'll be happy."