Musselburgh signing Andy Jones completes county clean sweep

The midfielder’s move to Olivebank means he has now spent time with all six of East Lothian’s senior football clubs, having previously been on the books of Preston Athletic, Ormiston, Haddington Athletic, Tranent Juniors and Dunbar United.

To top it all off, Jones does not live in any of the towns or villages!

He said: “It’s not something I ever planned!

“Being from North Berwick, it is quite funny because they did not even have an amateur team. They have got a new team now but being close to home was quite important in terms of starting out.

“I have been at each of the clubs and each of the clubs are different.

“There are different standards when it was the Juniors and then all the clubs came to the East of Scotland Football League and it changed again.”

“I have had good times at all of the clubs but Tranent Juniors was difficult because of Covid and playing positions I was not used to, but Haddington, Dunbar and Ormiston – I loved it.

“Hopefully, I will really enjoy it at Musselburgh.

“The squad they have got is really good and they are adding a couple.”

Andy Jones. Image courtesy of Dunbar United

The 28-year-old actually began his career far away from East Lothian... in Nebraska.

The former North Berwick High School pupil made the switch to the USA on a football scholarship and spent four years in the country.

Upon returning, he was faced with a dilemma in terms of continuing playing football.

A connection with his former secondary school saw him come to the attention of Colin Jack, a teacher at the school and the manager of Preston Athletic.

A brief spell at the Pennypit, where Jones played in friendlies and was named on the bench, was followed by a loan spell at Ormiston.

Jones said: “I moved on loan to Ormiston, which was really good.

“I went for a month and loved it and signed for a year and played first-team football.”

His impressive showings meant he followed manager Brian Johnston from Recreation Park to the Millfield home of Haddington Athletic.

Andy Jones in action during his time with Haddington Athletic. Image: Garry Menzies

There, he caught the eye of Tranent but Covid struck and saw him eventually make the move on loan to Dunbar United.

The Seasiders were relegated from the EoSFL Premier Division at the end of last season but Jones was quick to stress that he had enjoyed his time with the club.

He said: “One of the main reasons for going to Musselburgh was Joe Hamill [the manager].

“Dunbar was a brilliant time but I have moved to Broxburn and life circumstances, along with a couple of other things, have made me really need to be closer to home.

“Musselburgh train at Oriam at Heriot-Watt University and it is a lot easier.

“We had a really positive first half of the season at Dunbar and had a really good Scottish Cup run.

“We were in the top three and started really well but coming back from Christmas we had a few injuries, people not there some weekends and we had a bad run of form and never got it back.”

Musselburgh also finished the Premier Division season in poor form as they slipped down the table to finish in eighth spot.

Jones, who found the net 18 times for Dunbar last season, is already counting down to pre-season getting under way.

He said: “Pre-season starts in a couple of weeks.

“I am buzzing to get going and I know a few of the boys from playing against them.

“It is a smaller league and the goal for any player is to be at the top of the league.”