Francis Jeffers

Everton

Jeffers began his career at Everton, making his first-team debut as a half-time substitute for Dave Watson on 26 December 1997 at Old Trafford at the age of 16 years. Jeffers won the FA Youth Cup of 1997–98 against Blackburn Rovers with Everton. He scored 6 goals in 28 matches for Everton in the 1999–2000 season. Jeffers started the 2000–01 season brightly, but his season was cut short with multiple ankle and shoulder injuries. When he did feature, he performed well, and his goal to game ratio was the best at the club that season. This earned Jeffers a new contract offer from the club. However, after months of negotiations, Jeffers informed the club he was rejecting the new contract.

Arsenal

His performances had caught the eye of Arsène Wenger, and Jeffers signed for Arsenal on 14 June 2001 for an initial £8 million fee, with another £2 million dependent on appearances. However, Jeffers did not live up to the "fox in the box" tag, and his time at Arsenal was dogged by injury. He was forced out of the team by the form of fellow strikers like Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord. Arsenal won the FA Cup in 2002 and 2003 but Jeffers was left out of both match day squads, the latter due to injury. He contributed to their 2003 triumph by scoring three goals en route to the final; two against Farnborough and one against Chelsea. He also started the semi-final against Sheffield United. Arsenal also won the 2001–02 Premier League title, but Jeffers only made…

Jeffers was the joint top scorer for England under-21s with 13 goals from 16 appearances, a record he shared with Alan Shearer, until Eddie Nketiah broke the record in October 2020. He was previously capped by the schools, under-15 and under-16 teams. Jeffers has one cap for the England national team, scoring a consolation goal in a defeat by Australia in a friendly on 12 February 2003.

Unable to find a new club after his playing contract with Accrington Stanley had expired, Jeffers began working for Everton's academy on a voluntary basis in 2014. He formally joined the academy's coaching team in October 2016. Jeffers became a coach for Everton's under-23 side in 2018, working alongside former teammate David Unsworth. He was also part of Duncan Ferguson's back room staff during his spell as caretaker manager of Everton in 2019. On 11 May 2021, Jeffers left his role at Everton to join Paul Cook's coaching staff at Ipswich Town, taking on a role as first-team coach. Jeffers departed Ipswich in December 2021 following the sacking of Cook as manager. Jeffers was appointed as first-team coach at National League side Oldham Athletic on 23 September 2022 following the appointment of his former Everton colleague David Unsworth as the club's manager. The club announced that it also intended to introduce a B-team and that Jeffers would oversee that operation as it was implemented. He departed the club on 6 July 2023 in order to take up a role in Saudi Arabia. In July 2025, he became assistant manager of Macclesfield FC.

Jeffers was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, and attended De La Salle School in Croxteth.