On this day in 2007 we signed Kenwyne Jones from Southampton in a deal which saw fellow countryman Stern John go the other way.
The transfer to sign Kenwyne involved a trade with cash, with Southampton filling the Trinidadian void left by Jones with fellow countryman Stern John. Jones came in under Roy Keane and flourished under Roy’s management style.
In his first season with us he ended the campaign as our highest goalscorer - granted it didn’t take much, with seven goals being enough for top spot. Alongside that he also picked up ten assists, so as far as debut seasons go it was great. We managed to claim a 15th place in the Premier League during the 2007-08 season thanks to those valuable goals and assists. Kenwyne also picked up the Sunderland Player Of The Year award too, which was much deserved.
During this impressive campaign he was already attracting interest from ‘the big six’ just a few months after signing for us, with a deal from Liverpool involving a swap for towering striker Peter Crouch coming here. Chelsea were another team interested in taking him off of us, after he impressed in a 1-0 defeat which led to John Terry calling him the "best in the air in the Premier League." Despite all the interest and potential profit Keano put his foot down and stated that he wouldn’t be selling his star forward.
The season after wasn’t as productive, he was still our top goalscorer of the season with 12 goals in all competitions, ten in the league. His assist numbers had dropped off but during this season he had missed a few games through injury and Roy Keane, who he said got the best out of him, had resigned midway through the season.
In January of 2007 Kenwyne was tied down to a four year contract much to the delight of all of us, we were keeping our big man and if anyone wanted him they’d have to fork out a pretty penny with such a lengthy contract.
The 2009/10 season was one we all look back on with joy, we had Fraizer Campbell, Kenwyne Jones and Darren Bent at our disposal up top. With the latter two usually playing together and they formed a deadly partnership. They tore the league apart and we managed to seal a 13th place finish in the table, whilst Darren Bent had 24 league goals, thanks to the help of his striker partner Jones.
Unfortunately for us the Bent and Jones partnership didn’t last very long, he went to Stoke for £8 million and he even took a pay cut to join the Potters. His career never really hit the heights that it did with us, and he went from being touted as the ‘next Didier Drogba’ to your average Premier League striker.
He was with Stoke for a while and then he went to Cardiff in the Championship, where he had loans with Bournemouth and Al Jazira during his time there. Then in the 2016-2017 season he joined MLS side Atlanta United before ending his career in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago with Central Football Club.
A man never afraid of the big stage, in fact he relished it and personally I wish we could have kept him for one more year. I think the Bent/Jones dynamic could have gotten even better but thankfully his departure didn’t affect us much, if at all. The season following his departure we finished in 10th place whilst Stoke ended up in 13th.
Since hanging his boots up Kenwyne has made the step into management. He is currently the head coach of the Trinidad and Tobago Women's team who are one of the best Caribbean sides.
In terms of signings he was a good one, he scored goals, set up goals and was a presence in the air which helped out massively. A shame to see him leave but as we know it didn’t hurt us or leave us in a troubling state so that’s fine. Plus we put the money from his sale to good use, which is something you don’t say about this club all that often.
