Preston born Manchester United star Phil Jones announces new adventure

The 31-year-old, who grew up in Clayton-le-Woods and attended Balshaw's CE High School in Leyland, had 169 appearances for Manchester United between 2011 and 2023.

Phil left the club in May 2023 and since September has became involved in United's youth teams training sessions at Carrington, hoping to earn his coaching badges.

Taking to Instagram last week, the defender announced he was taking some official steps to furthering his coaching career by returning to education.

Posting a slideshow of pictures of himself at training sessions, Phil wrote: “Start of a new journey. Great to begin the global football sport directorship course with the PFA business school, learning new things about the game, whilst also continuing to push ahead with my A licence and badges at the club that gave me so much. Excited to get started.”

The Global Football Sport Directorship Course is a postgraduate diploma (a level higher than an undergraduate degree) which runs for two years and costs £5,900 a year.

The course information reads: “This programme aims to provide aspiring sporting directors with specialised training in the most complex and technical subjects that have never been covered in any training programme previously. Its ultimate goal is to prepare future sporting directors for the challenges that the football industry presents on a global scale.”

Phil’s post was flooded with comments by Instagram users offering their congratulations and good luck wishes.

This included fellow former Manchester United players Jesse Lingard, who sent a heart emoji, and Tom Cleverley, who wrote: “Love that jonah”