Kenwyne Jones: I wanted to repay Sunderland for their support
By Rob Stewart (Daily Telegraph)The Trinidad and Tobago international striker snubbed Spurs' overtures to remain at the Stadium of Light, where he signed a new 4½-year contract this week. He will aim to prove his worth against Newcastle on Sunday.
Jones said Sunderland were a big help as he recovered from the injury sustained during a friendly international against England last summer. "Did that contribute to me staying? Of course it did," Jones said. "It's not a good thing to show disloyalty.
"Everyone here at the club was working hard to get me back fit, firstly to get me to walk again then you have all the physios and the manager, training staff and support staff behind the scenes – everyone wants you to come back and gives you support.
"It's easy to say there are a lot of disloyal people in football but that happens on both sides. There are times when a club wants to get rid of a player and he has no choice. They do everything they can to try to get rid of him and then there are times that players want to leave.
"Most of the time they focus on the player wanting to leave and throwing fits and all of that. But you never know when a club wants to get rid of someone and what they will do when they want to do that. I think it's a two-edged sword."
Sunderland's prospects for the future were also a key factor in his decision to ignore Tottenham's advances. "Sunderland has a lot of potential to be a big club," Jones said.
"The manager has that ambition, the chairman, the owner, they all have it. I choose to be part of that and hopefully that will materialise. I think Sunderland have the potential to be a top-seven team constantly at least."
As for former manager Roy Keane's assertion that he was the best striker in the Premier League, Jones was modesty personified.
"Fair enough to him but maybe that was to build my confidence or the team's confidence," he said.
"But of course you are flattered by something like that, you are only human, When you are young and your mum say you are the best in the world, of course you are going to be smiling all day, but at the same time I know I still have a lot of work to do. You always learn in football every day."
