The Hawthorns, eight days before Christmas, 2016. Manchester United have just won to a soundtrack of Five Cantonas and their in-form defender stops in the mixed zone.
He had led United out for their warm-up and was the first to consult Jose Mourinho after Zlatan Ibrahimovic's second goal. "It looks like you're one of the manager's leaders out there?" The response is so monosyllabic it is not even worth transcribing.
It did not make the embargoed copy and the audio is entombed in a dictaphone gathering dust somewhere. Also read: Ten Hag is now two signings away from an ideal XI Five months later, it is apparent why Phil Jones was so curt.
After United's lethargic performance in a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal in May 2017, this correspondent wrote Jones "appeared as awkward as Diane Abbott during an interview".