"Joey ate the frogs legs, made the Swiss roll, now he's munching Gladbach."
The brilliance of the legend that is Joey Jones was immortalised in an equally-magnificent banner, as he became the first ever Welshman to lift the European Cup, when Liverpool beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3-1 in Rome in 1977.
His passing at the age of 70 this week shook the football world to its core, and the sheer emotion attached to the tributes paid to Jones demonstrated how loved he was throughout the game.
With 72 caps for his country, Jones can comfortably be considered a true Welsh great, and his achievements at club level were quite simply stellar.
He was part of the Liverpool side that won back-to-back European Cups in the late 1970s and also lifted a First Division title, a European Super Cup and a UEFA Cup during his glittering three-year stint at Anfield.
Jones also won a Welsh Cup in the first of his three spells with Wrexham and was part of the Chelsea side that won the Second Division title in 1983-84.
His success speaks for itself, but Jones was a much-loved figure away from the pitch due to his warm nature with fans.
It was perhaps fitting that little more than a month before his passing, Jones was reunited with that infamous 24ft banner - the same one Kop legend Jamie Carragher used to pay tribute to the former Wales star on X.
The said flag was created by Phil Downey and his best friend Jimmy Cummings, who have both since passed away.
A standard pub discussion proved the catalyst behind one of the most wonderful pieces of football memorabilia.
Speaking to LFC TV in 2019, Downey said: “I was sitting in work, working in the same place as Jimmy Cummings.
“And he came over to me and said to me one day, 'You used to make banners, didn’t you?'
“I knew this was going somewhere because Jimmy was a large as life guy, superb, everybody loved him. And I thought, ‘What’s going to happen next?’
“And he said to me, 'We need to make a banner for the Saint-Etienne game'. I said, 'OK, fair enough, what do you want to do?'
“So we went to the pub, we sat there and in those days, Joey Jones was an icon already. “And it suddenly came to us, let’s do one for Joey Jones.
READ MORE: Football Pays Tribute To Wales, Wrexham And Liverpool Legend, Joey Jones
Because he was like… we called him the fan on the pitch. And he was, he was one of us. He was just an ordinary guy.
“We decided, because he was a tough-tackler, it just fitted in with Joey’s frogs legs. That was the very first banner, it was only 6ft x 3ft.
“And then we played the Swiss, then, the second game. And I decided we should follow on from there and make another one.
“We decided to go over to Zurich and make a banner for there. So we came up with the idea, ‘Without a doubt, Zurich, Zur-out’. And we won 3-1.
“And then we were in the final. Obviously, Jimmy said, 'Let’s make the biggest banner we can. It’s got to be spectacular for the final!'
“We sat in the pub yet again, couldn’t think of any ideas at all. And I went home that night and my mother said to me, 'Why don’t you join them all together?'
“It was like a eureka moment! And then it just fell into line. ‘Joey ate the frogs legs, made the Swiss Roll, now he’s munching Gladbach’.
“The response was unbelievable. It was like we felt like we were the players, superstars, just with a banner.
“It’s just iconic, isn’t it? Incredible, I can’t believe it to be honest. Greatest achievement in life.”
Little did Jones know that the flag held aloft at the Stadio Olimpico almost half a century ago would go on to be so iconic, and in turn so symbolic of his career.
But the fact he was adored by the faithful of such a successful and historic club as Liverpool helps to paint a significantly clearer picture of just how talented a man and a player Joey Jones was.
Rest in peace, Joey. Cwsg mewn hedd.
READ MORE: Lovely explanation of THAT famous @LFC fans’ banner about @Cymru legend Joey Jones.
