 Meades (front) playing for AFC Wimbledon in September 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jonathan Charles Meades[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1992-03-02)2 March 1992 (age 33) | ||
| Place of birth | Gloucester, England[2] | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –2010 | Cardiff City | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2010–2012 | Cardiff City | 0 | (0) |
| 2010 | →Moss FK (loan) | 10 | (1) |
| 2012–2013 | AFC Bournemouth | 0 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | →AFC Wimbledon (loan) | 26 | (1) |
| 2013–2015 | Oxford United | 7 | (0) |
| 2015–2018 | AFC Wimbledon | 91 | (7) |
| Total | 134 | (9) | |
| International career | |||
| 2008 | Wales U17 | 1 | (0) |
| 2011–2013 | Wales U21 | 4 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Jonathan Charles Meades (born 2 March 1992) is a retiredWelshfootballer who last played forAFC Wimbledon inLeague One. He represented Wales at bothunder-17 andunder-21 level.
Meades came through the youth system ofCardiff City under the supervision of then Head of AcademyNeal Ardley. On 19 August 2010, it was announced that the 18-year-old defender would go on a three-month loan deal to Norwegian football clubMoss FK who at that time were playing in theAdeccoligaen.[3] The defender made his debut forMoss FK on 22 August 2010 in a 2–0 win at home overAlta IF. Although he was sent off after a second bookable offence in the 84th minute,[4] he was still named as man of the match.[5] Having served his one-match suspension, Meades made a further 9 appearances for the Kællan, scoring once in a 4–2 defeat byTromsdalen UIL on 10 October 2010.[6] Meades was released by Cardiff managerMalky Mackay at the end of the2011–12 season having failed to break into the first team after being plagued by injuries, sufferingpatellar tendonitis in his knee and having to have an operation on his calf.[7]
The left-back featured twice forAFC Bournemouth during pre-season whilst on trial, againstHavant & Waterlooville andReading respectively. His performances were enough to impress then managerPaul Groves and he signed a two-year contract with the Cherries on 9 August 2012.[8] However, Meades failed to break into the first team and on 5 November 2012 new Bournemouth managerEddie Howe loaned him toLeague Two sideAFC Wimbledon. On 20 May 2013, it was announced that Meades had left Bournemouth after his contract was terminated by mutual consent.[9]
Meades' initial two-month deal at AFC Wimbledon saw him joining then teammateSteven Gregory and former Cherries captainWarren Cummings[10] and reunited him withNeal Ardley, who had left his post as Head of theCardiff City Academy to become manager of AFC Wimbledon on 10 October 2012.[11] Meades made his seniorFootball League debut for AFC Wimbledon on 6 November in a 2–0 loss toExeter City.[12] With Meades having established himself as a regular in the starting XI, it was announced on 8 January 2013 that Ardley had extended Meades' loan spell with AFC Wimbledon by a further month.[13] On 31 January 2013, it was announced that AFC Wimbledon had once again extended Meades' loan from Bournemouth until the end of the2012–13 season.[14] On 20 April 2013, Meades scored his first Football League goal in a 2–2 draw with2012–13 Football League Two ChampionsGillingham.[15] Meades capped the end of a successful loan spell on 27 April 2013, the final day of the 2012–13 Football League Two season, by helping AFC Wimbledon to avoidrelegation from the Football League after a 2–1 victory overFleetwood Town.[16] The 21-year-old was subsequently awarded the Natalie Callow Memorial Trophy for AFC Wimbledon's Young Player of the Year, as voted for by the fans.[17]
On 22 May 2013 Meades joinedFootball League Two sideOxford United on a two-year deal, having rejected the offer of signing a contract with AFC Wimbledon.[18] He suffered an ankle-ligament injury in a pre-season friendly againstCoventry City[19] and he did not appear in the Oxford first team during his first season. He made only seven league appearances (10 in all competitions) for Oxford in2014–15 and returned on a free transfer to AFC Wimbledon in June 2015.[20]
In his second spell atAFC Wimbledon, Meades made 100 appearances,[21] 91 of them in the League, before retiring due to injury after the2017–18 season, at the age of 26.[22]
Meades was first called up to represent Wales at under-17 level on 17 March 2008, in a 1–1 draw againstSlovenia under-17s in the2008 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship Elite Round.[23]
Meades made his first appearance forWales under-21s on 6 September 2011 in a 3–1 defeat byMontenegro under-21s in the qualifying stages of the2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, in which he came on as a 74th-minute substitute forElliott Hewitt.[24] Meades featured once again for Wales under-21s in the UEFA Under-21 qualifying stages on 10 September 2012 as a 76th-minute substitute forAdam Henley in a 5–0 defeat byCzech Republic under-21s.[25] On 6 February 2013, Meades again represented Wales under-21s in a friendly fixture againstIceland under-21s, ending as a 3–0 victory.[26] Meades' fourth cap for the under-21s came on 22 March 2013 in a 1–0 victory overMoldova under-21s in the qualifying stages of the2015 UEFA European under-21 Football Championship.[27]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| AFC Wimbledon (loan) | 2012–13[28] | League Two | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 1 |
| Oxford United | 2014–15[29] | League Two | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| AFC Wimbledon | 2015–16[30] | League Two | 41 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 44 | 3 |
| 2016–17[31] | League One | 24 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 | 2 | |
| 2017–18[32] | League One | 26 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[a] | 0 | 30 | 2 | |
| Wimbledon total | 91 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 100 | 7 | ||
| Career total | 124 | 8 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 136 | 8 | ||
AFC Wimbledon