On 8 March 2003 the result was Arsenal 2 Chelsea 2 in the FA Cup 6th round. Jeffers and Henry scored.
Ten years later on 8 March 2013 Francis Jeffers signed for Accrington Stanley, his 12th and final club as a okater, He played for them seven times and scored two goals. He had a trial with Chester the following year but did not play for them.
Born in Liverpool, on 25 January 1981, Francis Jeffers began his footballing at Everton, coming on as a sub on 26 December 1997 in the game Man U v Everton. He was 16.
He scored 20 goals in 60 games and built a partnership with ex-Arsenal man Kevin Campbell. But after an argument over money (he was offered the biggest contract in the history of Everton but then turned it down) he was turned upon by Everton fans.
And so he came to Arsenal for somewhere between £8m and £10m depending on the source you read, on 14 June 2001. (Interestingly in the light of the rest of his life, Jeffers’ own recollection of this event is different. He said in an interview recently, “Arsenal were chasing me and Everton needed money coming in.” No mention of a failure to agree terms with Everton, or indeed in other situations, as you can see below.)
Now as we all know Arsene Wenger made some brilliant signings – both in terms of unknown players who come good, good players who get much better (Henry, Pires) and young players who flourished (Walcott and Ramsey).
So it is hard to think how Mr Wenger and indeed everyone else got Jeffers so wrong – indeed why he was not only offered Everton’s top package ever to stay, but Arsenal broke their own record to buy him.
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Perhaps it was all the “fox in the box” tale that journalists were preaching in relation to who Arsenal now needed. But for me, from the off one had the feeling that here was either a man who believed his own agent’s publicity, or else a little boy lost.
Of course, there were the injuries – bad enough to suffer, but worse when your club gets to the Cup Final (2002, 2003). He scored en route to the latter – but they were two against Farnborough, although there was also one against Chelsea.
As for the league win of 2001/2 he played six games that season.
His last game for us was the 2003 FA Community Shield. It was typical of life for Jeffers. He came on as a sub and got sent off again. On 1 September 2003 he was back at Everton – on loan.
And by then goal-scoring had gone. He played 22 and scored twice. And just as he had fallen out with the Everton management before, he fell out again and was sold to Charlton for £2.6m on 10 August 2004. He scored five in 24 and went on loan to Rangers but was returned early because he wasn’t cutting it in the Scottish league.
His contract ran down at Charlton and he went to Blackburn. He scored one goal for them before going on to Ipswich on loan. Here his form picked up a bit, and Ipswich tried to buy him but amazingly Blackburn (who had got him on a free) refused, and even when the ice thawed a little Jeffers rejected Ipswich’s terms.
On 9 August 2007 Jeffers signed for Sheffield Wednesday, played in a 1-4 defeat to Ipswich who must have been glad they had got him, and got injured.
His form got better but playing against Stoke City on 20 October 2007, he came up against the utterly evil Ryan Shawcross and was stretchered off with ankle ligament damage.
The injuries, the occasional goals and very occasional bits of brilliance continued until on 25 August 2009 Jeffers was sent off for headbutting Tommy Fraser in a 2–0 League Cup defeat to Port Vale. He was placed on the transfer list. No one wanted him so he was released as Wednesday went to the third division.
By this time we were in the era of unsuccessful trials. He would turn up at a club, have a trial, and not get a contract. Blackpool, and even Everton gave him a chance.
So next it was Newcastle United Jets in Australia where he signed on 29 October 2010 on a 10-match contract. And guess what, although Newcastle wanted Jeffers to stay, they couldn’t agree terms.
So to Motherwell where he stayed until 1 June 2011 when he was released and he went back to … Newcastle United Jets on 20 October 2011. He scored four goals in 25 games and he was let go.
On 12 October 2012, Jeffers signed for the Maltese Premier League club Floriana. He left after two games claiming he had not been paid. On 8 March 2013, Jeffers signed for Accrington Stanley.
In November 2013, Jeffers had a trial at Bury, and then a trial with Brunei DPMM. He didn’t sign.
Later, police were called after allegations of aggressive behaviour which have since been reported as “brandishing a broomstick” at his father-in-law who sustained injuries. He was charged with threatening behaviour, he was bound over to keep the peace for 12 months.
However, in one interview he said, “I’ve played with some good managers. Walter Smith, David Moyes, Mark Hughes but, to this day, Arsene Wenger is by far the best manager I’ve played for.
“Arsene and Walter had totally different styles. Walter was a bit more of a shouter and talker. Arsene was very hands-on. He liked to see every training session but he was pretty quiet. He very rarely raised his voice. He did not need too much shouting. He set his team up the right way and we never lost that many games. He had a lot more world-class players. His job was made easier.”
He worked as a youth coach with Everton then on 11 May 2021, left his role at Everton to join the coaching staff at Ipswich Town, taking on a role as first-team coach. Jeffers left Ipswich in December 2021 following the sacking of Cook as manager
The playing clubs (goals scored in brackets)…
- 1997–2001 Everton 49 (18)
2001–2004 Arsenal 22 (4)
2003–2004 Everton (loan) 18 (0)
2004–2006 Charlton Athletic 20 (3)
2005 Rangers (loan) 8 (0)
2006–2007 Blackburn Rovers 10 (0)
2007 Ipswich Town (loan) 9 (4)
2007–2010 Sheffield Wednesday 54 (5)
2010–2011 Newcastle Jets 9 (1)
2011 Motherwell 10 (1)
2011–2012 Newcastle Jets 17 (1)
2012 Floriana 2 (1)
2013 Accrington Stanley 7 (2)
100 Years in the First Division: the absolute complete story of Arsenal’s promotion in 1919.
Details of other series can be found on our home page and on the column on the right side of this page. In particular, you might like to note…
Henry Norris at the Arsenal: There is a full index to the series here.
Arsenal in the 1930s: The most comprehensive series on the decade ever
Arsenal in the 1970s: Every match and every intrigue reviewed in detail.
