FOOTBALLERS are often criticised for cashing in on short careers. But no-one could ever deny that Steve Jones has earned his crust.

As a 23-year-old, the newlywed sweated and toiled in a Rochdale warehouse to make ends meet, while clinging to the hope of one day becoming a full-time footballer again.

It was perhaps ironic that the company he worked for supplied nuts and bolts used in building football stadiums.

But, thanks to his hard graft, Jones didn't have long to wait before he was assembling the framework of his football career, carefully nurtured by Crewe Alexandra manager Dario Gradi.

Now he has drawn a line under his five-year spell with the Railwaymen and aims to continue his learning curve by agreeing a three-year deal with Burnley.

But, six years ago, such a contract seemed a distant dream for the amiable Irishman, who spent his days lifting heavy objects and driving vans and his nights training with Chorley Football Club.

"It was diffcult," said the 29-year-old.

"I'd work all day then, twice a week, I would go straight to training. Very often I wouldn't get home until 11pm.

"But it was all worth it in the end.

"When I was 24 I thought it would be too late to get into football professionally. Certainly to earn good money.

"So I jumped at the chance when Crewe came along."

It wasn't Jones' first taste of life in the Football League though. In his mid-teens he was signed by then Blackpool boss Sam Allardyce before joining Stan Ternent at Bury a year later.

"I was a bit of a nomad when I was younger," said the Londonderry-born striker.

But team-mate Nicky Reid, the former Blackburn Rovers midfielder and Burnley physio, helped him to establish some roots when he became the player-manager at Sligo Rovers.

"He offered me first team football and I was there for three years," said Jones. "But I came back to England, got a full-time job and played part-time for Chorley, when Dalton Steele was the manager.

"I had three months there but in my last game we played Leigh RMI, I had a decent game, and they signed me after that."

It was clear from a ratio of 48 goals in 100 appearances, over a two-year period in which RMI won promotion to the Conference, that he had plenty to offer at a higher level.

Gradi and his backroom staff were impressed by the flame-haired front man, signed him for £150,000 in the summer of 2001, and he hasn't looked back since returning from a month's loan at Rochdale to get first team experience midway through his first season at Gresty Road as he went on to score 45 goals in 130 appearances.

"John Hollins, who took me on loan at Rochdale, asked about signing me permanently if Crewe would let me go.

But luckily for me they didn't and I established myself in the side," said Jones, who classes keeping Crewe up by scoring the winner against Coventry on the final day of last season as a major career highlight.

Others include scoring twice on his Alex debut and making his Northern Ireland bow against Italy in 2002.

"It was a surprise when I got called up because I didn't even know that people had been watching me," he said.

"But it's fantastic and I've got 25 caps now.

"Coming on as a substitute against England at Old Trafford last year, in front of 57,000, also has to go down as a highlight."

But Jones' meteoric rise from the UniBond League to the Championship hasn't all been plain sailing as the father of three suffered a parent's worst nightmare two years ago when youngest son Milo was born four months premature.

Weighing just 1lb 6 grams and measuring the length of a pen, he was given virtually no hope of survival.

But, like father like son, the youngster never gave up, and two years on, Jones' brave battler is thankfully making fantastic progress.

However, the trauma of his early life is something that put football into sharp perspective for the whole family.

"The doctors gave him no hope at all," said Jones.

"He was practically still a foetus because he was so premature.

"He was born in Crewe but had to be transferred to Liverpool Women's Hospital because they have a regional unit for premature babies.

"They said he could even die on the journey.

"He made it there. But lots of times after that, they gave him no hope.

"He is strong-willed and strong-minded though, and he's getting bigger and stronger all the time.

"Luckily I don't think he will ever know much about it, which is a blessing.

"He was on oxygen 24 hours a day, but he's just on it at night time now."

On top of that, Milo had to have laser eye surgery to prevent him from going blind because he was so under-developed at birth.

"They had to cut away parts of his eye to help other parts to grow and thankfully they saved his sight," said Jones, who, while all this was going on, was still finding the strength to carry on playing football while also providing much needed support for his family - particularly wife Lisa.

"We were living at the hospital for three months," he said.

"I slept on the floor in my wife's room.

"They said that having us around him and talking to him all the time might help him, and it seems it did work.

"I could have had time off, and I did have the odd day here and there.

"But football was a bit of a release for me.

"I wasn't eating or sleeping properly. We lived an hour and a half away from the hospital so that was difficult. But football helped me and I finished that season as top scorer with 13."

Now the whole family are looking forward to a new chapter in their lives as Jones bids to make a name for himself at Burnley.

"I'm delighted it's all sorted," he said.

"Quite a few clubs showed an interest in me but when I came to Burnley I knew that was it.

"The manager sold the club to me, I had a look around the ground and the stadium looks magnificent.

"He's trying to build the club up and we're all hoping to do well next year."

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