I spent my time at Arsenal partying and slacking off – I let Wenger down and I regret it
In football, you never know when your big opportunity is going to come, and for Francis Jeffers, it seems like he just didn’t quite know how to react when he got the chance to join Arsenal.
The former England striker, who has a neat record of one cap and one goal for his country, looked an outstanding prospect when he first broke through at Everton, but it’s fair to say he probably made the move up to a big club like Arsenal too soon.
Jeffers has admitted he has some regrets about it now, telling the Independent a few years ago that he let Arsene Wenger down by partying and generally not putting enough effort in.
According to Jeffers, he behaved this way because he felt he wasn’t going to be getting any playing time anyway, but he looks back at it now and feels he should have done better, while he appreciates Wenger for being honest with him about his flaws.
“I was out partying, living life, tossing it off in training because I always thought I wouldn’t play Saturday anyway,” Jeffers said. “Now, I look back with a lot of regrets.
“That is where I should have been putting it in more. Wenger gave me a fair crack of the whip. I haven’t got a bad word to say about him. He tells you how it is, one of the only managers I played for who did.
“He said there were things going on in my head that shouldn’t have been and that it was an important time in my career. I am not saying I threw it all away, because I had a decent career.
“I fulfilled a lot of ambitions but I always say it, I know how much ability I had. I’m not soft. I know how good a player I was. One England cap wasn’t enough.”
Francis Jeffers later admitted he left Everton too soon
Jeffers was perhaps always going to struggle going into an Arsenal squad that contained world class attacking players like Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Sylvain Wiltord, Kanu and others.
Speaking about the move later on, as quoted by Goal, Jeffers now seems well aware that he left Goodison Park too soon.
“I’ve got to be really honest, looking back on my career I left the club too soon,” he said.
“[Arsenal] wasn’t the right move for me but it was a difficult time because of the way our Football Club was then, it wasn’t like it is now. It was a good move for me and the Club at the time but it was definitely too soon and probably the wrong move.
“I went from being a regular at Everton to going down there and not being able to get into the team.
“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. I’d just watched them play Liverpool in the FA Cup final and absolutely battered them but came out losing the game.
“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.”
Jeffers clearly had the potential to do more in the game than he did, and Arsenal fans will no doubt regret that he wasn’t able to make the most of his ability in his short time at Highbury.
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