Francis Jeffers was born on the 25th of January 1981 and was educated at Our Lady and St Swithin's Primary School and De Le Salle School in Croxteth, as was Wayne Rooney, with both coming through the youth ranks at Everton. He began his career at Everton, where he had been a supporter and season ticket holder, and made his first-team debut as a half-time substitute for Dave Watson on the 26th of December 1997 at Old Trafford at the age of 16 years. Whilst it would prove to be his only appearance in an Everton shirt during the 1997/98 season, there was a buzz growing around the player across Merseyside, something only matched some years later by the emergence of his friend Wayne Rooney. His stock was on the rise. His form got him into the youth folds of the England set-up, whose coaches, quite rightly, were getting excited by his emerging talents. At under-21 level, he would continue to show his pedigree with 13 goals in 16 games; a feat that saw him equal the record set by Premier League all-time leading goalscorer, Alan Shearer. 1999 was a great year for him as he won his first call up to the England national team for their game against Hungary. At the end of the 1998-99 season, he ended up scoring seven goals for Everton. Surprisingly, he handed in a transfer request at the beginning of the 1999-00 season, which he later withdrew after manager Walter Smith told him to "get out of my office before I kill you", and partnered Kevin Campbell successfully before he suffered the first of many injuries. He began the 2000-01 season in superb fashion, scoring six goals in nine games, only for yet another injury to keep him out of action until 2001. Managers were noticing how he naturally found himself at home around the goalmouth and lauded him as a possible future England star, after all, he was a young, hungry striker who, had he not been injured, could have had 20 plus goals to his name that season. At the end of the season, however, Arsene Wenger came in for the striker after he had scored 20 goals in 60 appearances, and he sealed a dream move to Arsenal. Soon after signing Arsène Wenger labelled him as the 'fox in the box', saying "I’ve signed Francis because he is a good player and has the qualities I need in my team. He is only 20 and he's a great example of a player with quality because he's already had experience of playing in the Premiership. Francis is that fox in the box we have been talking about and although he is a goal scorer, I want to develop him as a team player so he is not obsessed by just scoring goals." However the move saw him go from a relatively regular face in the starting line-up at Everton to a regular spectator on the bench at Arsenal, down in the pecking order behind Henry, Bergkamp, Wiltord and Kanu. With his injuries not letting up, in his first season at Arsenal he made just six league appearances which were not even enough to claim a Premier League winners medal. His best season at the club would come the following year in 2002/03 when he made 28 appearances across all competitions and caught the eye of England manager Sven-Goran Eriksen. At half time in the 2003 international friendly at Upton Park between England and Australia, the entire starting XI of the Three Lions team was substituted by Eriksen, with 11 fresh players taking to the field for the second half. Among them, in the 4-4-2 formation, were two debutant strikers, Arsenal forward Francis Jeffers and the other, five years his junior, a 17-year-old prospect by the name of Wayne Rooney.
On the 1st of September 2003, he rejoined Everton on loan but after a fall out with manager David Moyes he returned to Arsenal before signing for Charlton Athletic on the 10th of August 2004 on a two-year contract for a £2.6 million fee. Still only 23, his early promise would once again give way to further disappointment as he scored just 5 goals in 24 appearances and next found refuge north of he border with Glasgow Rangers who he joined on loan on the 31st of August 2005 for six months but returned in December after his performances failed to live up to expectations. This led to Charlton releasing him at the end of the 2005-06 season and he signed for Blackburn Rovers in June 2006 on a two-year contract but once again found himself down the pecking order and he was soon shipped out on loan to Championship side Ipswich. His form was good enough for Ipswich to attempt to make the deal permanent in the summer of 2007 but, after three failed bids and the inability to agree personal terms with Jeffers himself, the deal was quickly removed from the table. Another move saw him sign a three-year contract with Sheffield Wednesday ahead of the 2007/08 campaign but again injury and poor form would blight his time at Hillsborough. Sadly his time in England was drawing to a close and having failed trials at both Blackpool and Everton, the chance to go to Australia presented itself in what was the final nail in his career coffin at the very top.
In 2017 he spoke about his regrets, "I didn’t fulfil my potential. That is a fact. I don’t have to hide that. I should not have ended up with just one England cap, but for one reason or another … it is all different things. Myself, a bit of luck, wrong move at the wrong time, injuries. I feel my head was turned. I was only young. It was difficult because I felt Arsenal were the best team in the league at the time. It was a tough decision for me because I'm an Evertonian, I’d been a season ticket holder all my life. It was a big decision but one that never worked out for me. If I was coming through now there is no way I would be leaving this football club. Why would you? Especially being an Evertonian, a young scouse lad dreaming of playing for them." If ever a career personified 'what could have been', then it is that of Francis Jeffers.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2024/07/footballs-nearly-men-josh-mceachran.html
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