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Derek Jeffries was born in Manchester in 1951 and joined his local club
Manchester City straight from school. He was first and foremost a
central defender but could also operate in midfield and at full-back,
and as a 15 year-old the City coach Malcolm Allison had described him as
"one of the best prospects since Bobby Moore". His full debut for the
club came as an 18 year-old in the second leg of an 8-0 aggregate win
over Belgian side SK Lierse in the European Cup Winners Cup on November
26th 1970, but despite being named as a substitute on three occasions he
had to wait until the following March for his full League debut, a 1-0
defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace. With 2-1 victories over both West
Brom in the League Cup Final and Polish side Gornik Zabrze in the Cup
Winners Cup Final it was a golden period for the Blues, and Jeffries
made a further 4 appearances that season including one in Europe against
Shalke 04 of West Germany.
The following season he had to wait until
early December for his chance in the League, eventually making 18
starts, though he was a regular in the Cup Winners Cup side where he
made 6 appearances including one in a 3-0 aggregate semi-final defeat by
Chelsea. A season that had promised so much, however, ended trophyless
with a disappointing 11th place finish in the League and exits in the FA
Cup to Arsenal and League Cup to Carlisle. It seemed at the time that
Allison believed Jeffries' style was more suited to European-type
football than the hustle and bustle of the domestic game. The 1971/72
season saw Derek make only 9 starts, a combination of injuries and loss
of form keeping him out of the side as City were involved in a four-way
fight for the Championship with Leeds United, Liverpool and Derby
County, the eventual winners. An FA Cup defeat to Middlesbrough in the
3rd round and a League Cup defeat by Bolton Wanderers in the 4th round
meant a second successive season without any silverware.
By the start of
the following season Joe Mercer had left as General Manager of the club
and Allison was now left in sole charge. He decided to give Jeffries an
extended run in the side but after seven games his team were bottom of
the league, a point behind Manchester United, and a 4-3 aggregate defeat
to Valencia in the first round of the UEFA Cup at the end of September
was followed a week later by a 2-0 League Cup loss to fourth division
Bury. Things did improve in the league towards the turn of the year,
with Derek enjoying the best form of his City career, but defeat by
Sunderland in an FA Cup 5th round replay in February amid boardroom
unrest signalled the end for Allison. He was replaced at the end of
March by John Hart, who won four and drew two of his first six games to
steer the club to a mid-table finish.
Jeffries had made 39 appearances
during the season but was to play his final game for the Blues in a 3-2
home defeat against Crystal Palace in the last match of the season. In
total he made 84 career appearances for City (11 as substitute) before
being bought for £100,000 by ex-boss Allison who had taken over at
Palace. After loan spells at Peterborough United and Millwall he joined
Chester in 1977 where he remained for four years before drifting out of
professional football in 1981 at the age of 30. (David Redshaw)
1973–1977 Crystal Palace 107 (1)
1977 Peterborough United (loan) 7 (0)
1977 Millwall (loan) 11 (0)
1977–1981 Chester City 121 (2)
1981–1982 Telford United 21 (0)
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