Last Updated on September 22, 2026 by Mike
Matt Wells comes from a family with unusually deep connections to professional football. Born Matthew Elliott Wells on September 22, 1988, in Enfield, London, the English coach grew up around Tottenham Hotspur and eventually progressed from the club’s academy as a player to its coaching staff before becoming head coach of the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer.
Football history runs through Wells’s family. His maternal or paternal grandfather—public sources do not specify which side—is legendary Wales and Tottenham Hotspur winger Cliff Jones. Wells is also a cousin of former professional footballer Scott Neilson. In his own household, Wells has publicly confirmed that he is married and has a young daughter. However, he has kept his wife’s name, his daughter’s name, his parents’ identities and details about any siblings away from the public spotlight.
Who Is Matt Wells’s Wife?
Matt Wells is married, although the name of his wife has not been publicly established by reliable football or news sources.
Wells provided one of the clearest glimpses into his marriage during a 2026 interview with Colorado magazine 5280. While discussing the ambition behind leaving Tottenham Hotspur and becoming Colorado Rapids head coach, he spoke directly about his wife and the sacrifices involved in moving his family from England to the United States.
Wells explained that he had initially spent approximately six weeks in America away from his wife and daughter before persuading his wife to relocate countries and join him in Colorado.
His comments showed that accepting the Rapids position was not simply a professional decision. It required a major change for his immediate family as well.
Matt Wells and His Wife Moved Their Family to Colorado
Wells had established a significant career in English football before Colorado approached him. He was working for Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League and had been retained as an assistant under Thomas Frank after previously serving on Ange Postecoglou’s staff.
Leaving London therefore meant walking away from a familiar club, country and football environment.
In the 5280 interview, Wells made clear that he appreciated what his wife had agreed to do. He spoke about being very close to her and acknowledged that she had agreed to move to another country because of his ambition to make the Colorado project successful.
Despite confirming his marriage publicly, Wells has not made his wife’s identity a prominent part of his media profile. Her name, occupation and personal history should therefore remain private unless the family chooses to reveal them publicly.
Does Matt Wells Have Children?
Yes. Matt Wells has a young daughter.
Wells personally confirmed being a father in his 2026 interview with 5280, mentioning his daughter alongside his wife while explaining why succeeding with the Colorado Rapids matters so much to him.
His daughter’s name and exact age have not been reliably disclosed publicly.
Matt Wells’s Daughter
Wells has deliberately kept his daughter away from the public attention surrounding his coaching career.
What can be confirmed is that she was still young when the family moved from England to Colorado following his appointment at the end of 2025.
The relocation represented a significant family adjustment. Wells initially traveled to the United States without his wife and daughter as he began preparing for his first MLS season before the family subsequently moved to join him.
Beyond that, reliable sources do not provide her name, school or other private details, and those should not be inferred from social-media accounts.
Who Are Matt Wells’s Parents?
As of now, Matt Wells’s parents have not been reliably identified by name in authoritative public football sources.
This is somewhat unusual because his famous grandfather is extremely well documented. Tottenham, the Premier League and other football organizations regularly identify Wells as the grandson of Cliff Jones, but they do not publicly specify which of Matt’s parents is Jones’s child.
Consequently, it would be inaccurate to guess his mother or father’s identity from genealogy websites or social-media accounts.
Matt Wells’s Father
Matt Wells’s father has remained outside mainstream coverage of his football career.
No strong source reviewed for this profile reliably publishes his father’s name, occupation or sporting background.
The Wells surname indicates that Matt’s connection to the Jones football dynasty does not come through a shared surname, but that alone does not establish whether Cliff Jones is his maternal or paternal grandfather.
Without direct confirmation, the safest conclusion is simply that Wells’s father is a private individual whose personal background has not been widely documented.
Matt Wells’s Mother
Matt Wells’s mother has likewise remained private.
Tottenham repeatedly describes Wells as Cliff Jones’s grandson, but official club coverage does not identify his mother or explicitly say whether she is one of Cliff and Joan Jones’s children.
For that reason, no specific name should be attached to Matt’s mother unless a reliable family or primary source confirms it.
Does Matt Wells Have Siblings?
As of now, no brothers or sisters have been reliably documented for Matt Wells in authoritative public sources.
Detailed accounts of his playing and coaching development focus on his Tottenham background, his grandfather Cliff Jones and his own wife and daughter rather than siblings.
This does not mean Wells is necessarily an only child. It means that there is insufficient public evidence to identify any brothers or sisters confidently.
Matt Wells’s Grandfather: Tottenham Legend Cliff Jones
The most famous member of Matt Wells’s family is unquestionably his grandfather, Cliff Jones.
Born in Swansea, Wales, in 1935, Jones developed into one of the outstanding British wingers of his generation.
He began his professional career with Swansea Town before joining Tottenham Hotspur in 1958. At Spurs, Jones became a major figure in one of the greatest periods in the club’s history.
He was part of the Tottenham team that won the First Division and FA Cup Double in 1960-61, becoming the first English club in the 20th century to achieve that feat.
Jones also helped Tottenham retain the FA Cup in 1962 and win the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1963, making Spurs the first British club to win a major European trophy.
Tottenham credits him with 159 goals for the club, placing him among its historic leading scorers.
Cliff Jones Played for Wales at the 1958 World Cup
Jones was also an important international player for Wales.
He earned 59 senior caps and scored 16 goals for his country.
Most significantly, he represented Wales at the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, where the team reached the quarterfinals before losing narrowly to Brazil.
That tournament remains one of the defining achievements of Welsh football history.
Jones’s place within the Wells family means Matt grew up with a direct connection to both Tottenham history and international football at the highest level.
Cliff Jones Is Proud of Matt Wells’s Coaching Career
The relationship between Matt Wells and his grandfather has been publicly documented by Tottenham Hotspur.
When Wells returned to Spurs as part of Ryan Mason’s first-team coaching staff in April 2023, Cliff publicly expressed his pride in his grandson.
Tottenham dedicated an article to Jones’s reaction, highlighting the unusual connection between one of the club’s greatest former players and a member of its modern coaching staff.
For Wells, Tottenham was therefore much more than simply an employer. It was a club deeply connected to his family’s history.
That connection stretched from Cliff’s achievements during the 1960s to Matt entering Tottenham’s academy at around nine years old and eventually becoming a first-team coach decades later.
Matt Wells’s Grandmother: Joan Jones
Cliff Jones married Joan Jones in 1955.
The couple went on to have four children and a large family that includes multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Matt Wells is one of Cliff’s grandsons, making Joan part of the grandmother generation in the family through which Matt grew up surrounded by Tottenham and Welsh football history.
Joan and Cliff built their family in England after Cliff’s move from Swansea to Tottenham, and the footballer’s post-playing career included decades working as a physical education teacher in north London.
Matt Wells’s Cousin: Scott Neilson
Matt Wells is not the only grandson of Cliff Jones to enter professional football.
His cousin Scott Neilson also became a professional footballer.
Born in London in 1987, Neilson developed as a midfielder and winger and played for several English clubs during his career.
His professional spells included clubs such as Crawley Town, Bradford City, Luton Town and Grimsby Town, among others.
Both Neilson and Wells are publicly identified as grandsons of Cliff Jones, adding another generation to a family that has been connected with football for more than a century.
The Jones Family Is a Football Dynasty
Matt Wells’s connection to football extends even further back than his grandfather.
Cliff Jones himself came from one of Welsh football’s notable sporting families.
Cliff’s father—and therefore Matt Wells’s great-grandfather—was Ivor Jones, a professional footballer who represented Wales internationally.
Ivor played for Swansea Town and West Bromwich Albion and won 10 senior caps for Wales during the 1920s.
Swansea City records that Ivor was involved in the club’s earliest Football League history and later saw two of his sons follow him into the Swansea first team.
Matt Wells’s Great-Uncle Bryn Jones
One of those sons was Bryn Jones, Cliff’s older brother and therefore part of Matt Wells’s extended family.
Bryn played more than 100 matches for Swansea during the 1950s.
Swansea has specifically highlighted the Jones family in features about relatives who represented the club, noting that Ivor was followed by sons Bryn and Cliff.
Other members of the wider Jones family also played professionally, creating a football tradition extending across several generations.
Matt’s decision to build his own career in the game therefore continues a family connection that existed long before his grandfather became a Tottenham legend.
How Cliff Jones Influenced Matt Wells
Although Wells has built his reputation through his own coaching work, having Cliff Jones as his grandfather naturally placed football close to him from childhood.
Wells joined Tottenham’s academy when he was approximately nine years old.
He developed as a midfielder and remained within the academy structure for many years, hoping eventually to reach the first team.
However, injuries severely disrupted that ambition.
Wells eventually accepted that becoming a senior professional player at Tottenham was unlikely and retired from playing at only 20.
Rather than leaving football, he immediately redirected his ambitions toward coaching.
Matt Wells Started Coaching at Only 20
Wells earned his UEFA B coaching licence at approximately the same age that his playing career ended.
He began learning from experienced player-development figures including John McDermott and Alex Inglethorpe.
Over time, he progressed through Tottenham’s coaching structure and worked with several academy age groups.
His experience eventually included assistant roles with the U21 and U23 teams before he became Tottenham’s U18 head coach.
That pathway meant Wells was building his own identity as a coach rather than relying solely on the reputation of his famous grandfather.
Matt Wells Worked With Scott Parker
Another major influence on Wells’s professional development was former England midfielder Scott Parker.
Wells worked alongside Parker in Tottenham’s academy before leaving Spurs in 2019 to join him at Fulham.
The partnership continued when Parker moved to Bournemouth, where Wells again became part of his first-team coaching staff.
Wells later followed Parker to Club Brugge in Belgium.
Those roles gave him experience across different leagues, clubs and competitive environments before his eventual Tottenham return.
Matt Wells Returned to Tottenham
In April 2023, Tottenham brought Wells back to the club as part of interim head coach Ryan Mason’s staff.
The appointment produced the public message of pride from his grandfather Cliff.
Wells subsequently remained when Ange Postecoglou became head coach and became a significant member of the Australian’s staff.
He later served as senior assistant coach and was part of the Tottenham coaching group when the club won the 2024-25 UEFA Europa League.
When Thomas Frank replaced Postecoglou, Wells was retained as a first-team assistant, demonstrating the value placed on his coaching work by successive managers.
Why Matt Wells Left Tottenham for Colorado Rapids
Colorado Rapids appointed Wells as head coach on December 23, 2025.
It represented his first permanent senior head-coaching role and required one of the biggest decisions of both his professional and family life.
Wells was leaving the club where he had grown up, a Premier League coaching position and the country where his wife and young daughter lived.
He initially traveled to Colorado alone while beginning preparations for his first season.
Wells later told 5280 that persuading his wife to move countries with him reflected how strongly he believed in the opportunity.
He did not want to leave his family and England merely to produce an average project. His ambition was to build something significant with the Rapids.
Matt Wells’s Family Settles in Colorado
By the time Wells discussed his family publicly in 2026, his wife had agreed to move to Colorado with their daughter.
The relocation represented a dramatic change from the family’s life in England, where Wells had spent most of his career.
His own comments suggest that his wife and daughter are central to the way he evaluates career decisions.
Moving them internationally increased the personal importance of succeeding as a head coach.
At the same time, Wells has continued protecting their privacy. His wife and daughter have not been turned into public figures simply because he now occupies one of the most visible coaching jobs in Major League Soccer.
Frequently Asked Questions About Matt Wells’s Family
Who is Matt Wells’s wife?
Matt Wells is married, but his wife’s name has not been reliably disclosed publicly. He confirmed in a 2026 interview that his wife moved from England to Colorado with him after he became Colorado Rapids head coach.
Does Matt Wells have children?
Yes. Matt Wells has a young daughter. Her name and exact age have remained private.
How many children does Matt Wells have?
One child, a daughter, has been publicly confirmed by Wells himself. No additional children have been reliably documented.
Who are Matt Wells’s parents?
The names of Matt Wells’s parents have not been reliably disclosed in authoritative public football reporting.
Is Cliff Jones Matt Wells’s grandfather?
Yes. Former Wales international and Tottenham Hotspur legend Cliff Jones is Matt Wells’s grandfather. Tottenham Hotspur has repeatedly and directly confirmed the relationship.
Who is Matt Wells’s grandmother?
Cliff Jones’s wife is Joan Jones. Cliff and Joan married in 1955 and raised four children, with Matt later becoming one of Cliff’s grandchildren.
Does Matt Wells have siblings?
As of now, no brothers or sisters have been reliably identified in authoritative public sources.
Is Scott Neilson related to Matt Wells?
Yes. Former professional footballer Scott Neilson is Matt Wells’s cousin. Both are grandsons of Cliff Jones.
Was Matt Wells’s family involved in football?
Yes. Wells belongs to a major Welsh football family. His grandfather Cliff Jones starred for Wales and Tottenham, while his great-grandfather Ivor Jones represented Wales and Swansea. His cousin Scott Neilson also became a professional footballer.
Who is Matt Wells’s great-grandfather?
Through Cliff Jones, Matt Wells’s great-grandfather was Welsh international footballer Ivor Jones, who played for Swansea Town and West Bromwich Albion.
Where was Matt Wells born?
Matt Wells was born in Enfield, Greater London, England, on September 22, 1988.
What is Matt Wells’s full name?
His full name is Matthew Elliott Wells.
What club does Matt Wells coach?
As of now, Wells is the head coach of the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer. He was appointed in December 2025 after leaving Tottenham Hotspur.
Ronald Mike is a football writer covering the English Premier League, providing match analysis, tactical insight, and coverage of key rivalries and title races across the season.
