Born on this day in 1979 in Ndolo, Zambia, was midfielder Jeff Whitley. The family moved to England when Jeff was seven, and he joined the Man City youth set-up three years later, watching his hero Niall Quinn, and becoming a trainee in 1996 - making 24 appearances that season after being given a surprise debut by Alan Ball.
Over the next six seasons, he made 133 appearances for City, occasionally alongside big brother Jim. During the early seasons he played for England U17s, but opted for Norn Iron in 1997 when Brian Hamilton spotted that Jeffs’ dad was from Belfast, picked him for a friendly against Belgium, making him Northern Ireland’s first black player. He played another seven games, scoring once, being joined in the side by his big brother Jim in 1999, before Hamilton was replaced by Sammy McIlroy and Jeff was out of favour.
At club level, the last four seasons at City were interspersed with loans at Wrexham and Notts County, and he was released in the summer of 2003 as he wasn’t part of manager Kevin Keegan’s plans, presumably because he wasn’t glamorous or being paid enough. A trial at Sunderland proved successful, probably because his two relegations and one promotion made him a perfect fit for us. Mick McCarthy gave Jeff his Sunderland debut in pre-season as we won 4-0 at Durham where he played the first half before the entire team was changed for the second. He scored in the next friendly, a 5-0 win at York, and he played in four of the remaining five friendlies before his competitive debut, away at Mansfield in the League Cup in our second game of the campaign. See Jeff Clarke for details – OK, Clarkie’s son Jamie played for Mansfield and Kevin Kyle scored at both ends in the final minute to win it 2-1.
In that first season, Jeff played 42 times, including all of the six games in the FA Cup apart from the semi-final against Millwall at Old Trafford. In hindsight, we could have done with Jeff’s combative style against the niggly Wise and thuggish Muscat, but he didn’t return to the side until mid-April against West Brom. Our form had faltered somewhat, and Jeff’s return to the side helped us stop the rot and finish third, earning a play-off place against Palace. After a 2-3 defeat in the first leg at Selhurst Park, which didn’t include extra time, we beat them 2-1 in the second leg, which did include extra time. In the ensuing penalty shoot-out came the moment which Jeff is unfortunately best remembered for in a Sunderland shirt – apart from the infamous Burberry wash-bag, that is.
With the scores at 4-4 after five attempts each, up stepped Jeff at the North End, and calmly floated the ball into the arms of the virtually static Nico Vaesen in the Palace goal. As we shook our heads in disbelief, Jeff’s Norn Iron colleague Michael Hughes scored to settle the contest. Despite this setback, he’d been one of our most consistent performers that season, and that got him back on the international scene, earning him his final 13 caps while on our books. There were 34 games for Jeff the following season as we hit the top of the table in late March and stayed there to win promotion. Despite his contribution over the previous two seasons, Jeff was released at the end of the season to join Cardiff on a free. His two years in South Wales included loan spells at Stoke and Wrexham, and despite the Bluebirds obviously wanting shot of him, he rejected offers from Rotherham and Millwall and eventually his career fizzled out via Wrexham, Northwich Victoria, and Woodley Sports in 2010.
During this period it had become apparent that there was a lot of off-field stuff going on in Jeff’s life. He admitted being addicted to drink and drugs, and after football worked as a car salesman while training to be a counsellor for the Sporting Chance Clinic, where he’d spent time dealing with his problems in 2007. He says that going into Sporting Chance, which Tony Adams helped establish in response to his own problems, saved his life, such was the dark place he descended into.
He’s been the PFA’s Player Welfare Executive, and done fantastic work addressing the problems encountered by footballers facing rejection and injury, using his personal experience to help others in the game facing similar temptations, depression, or anxiety. Considering what he was doing to his body at the time, it’s nothing short of a miracle that he managed to play 77 games in two seasons with us, but perhaps the fifteen yellows and two reds were an indication of problems -that and the Burberry wash-bag, of course –that were to increase during his time at Cardiff when drugs were added to the drink.
Seriously, though, Jeff Whitley is a fantastic example of what someone who recognises their own problems can give back to others experiencing, or in danger of experiencing, a similar situation. Click here to see more about Jeff's work.
