Jeffrey Whitley (born 28 January 1979) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who now works for the

Professional Footballers Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

as a player wellbeing executive. As a player he was a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for Manchester City and Sunderland. He also played in the Football League for

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

, Cardiff City and Stoke City, as well as for non-league sides Woodley Sports, Northwich Victoria and

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...

. Born in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

, he was the first black player to represent

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, earning 20 caps.

Club career

Whitley was a product of the Manchester City youth scheme which he joined as a ten-year-old and began his club career as a trainee in 1996, making over 120 league and cup appearances for the first-team. He had a two-month loan spell at

in the 1998–99 season. and in March 2002, having fallen out of favour at Manchester City, joined

on loan for the remainder of the 2001–02 season. He had a three-month loan spell at Notts County in the 2002–03 season, returning to Manchester City in January 2003 but was released by the club in March 2003 as he did not feature in manager Kevin Keegan's plans. After a trial and impressing in pre-season, he signed a contract with Sunderland in August 2003. He made over 70 league and cup appearances for Sunderland, helping the club to the Football League Championship play-offs at the end of the 2003–04 season and to the Football League Championship title in 2005. In July 2005, he joined Cardiff City on a free transfer and made 38 league and cup appearances for the club in the 2005–06 season, scoring once against Watford in the league. Whitley joined Stoke City on loan in August 2006 but made only four appearances in an unsuccessful loan spell. Cardiff made him available for transfer but he did not take up offers to talk with

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

and

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

and joined

in February 2007 on loan for the remainder of the 2006–07 season. He scored the winning goal against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

in a 1–0 away victory in March 2007. He was released by Cardiff and signed for Wrexham on non-contract terms in January 2008 but was released by Wrexham in May 2008 following the club's relegation to the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

. He joined

Northern Premier League Division One North The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

side Woodley Sports in an effort to gain match fitness, before signing for Northwich Victoria on 7 March 2009.

International career

Despite being Zambian born, due to Whitley living in England since he was a child, he was eligible to, and played for the England under-17 team. As his father was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, he was also eligible to play for

and made his debut for them in 1997, becoming the first black player to play for Northern Ireland.

Personal life

His brother,

Jim Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim ...

was also a professional footballer, with both brothers playing for Manchester City at the same time. Whitley has spent time at the Sporting Chance clinic after becoming addicted to alcohol and drugs. It affected him greatly and said "at times I would just be praying just to die". Whitley previously worked as a car salesman in the Stockport area whilst training to become a qualified Counsellor. He now works for the Professional Footballers' Association.

Career statistics

Club

*Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

and

Football League play-offs The English Football League play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic promotion places in the second, third and fourth tiers of the English football leagu ...

International

Source:

References

External links

*
IFA profile with photo and information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitley, Jeff 1979 births Living people People from Ndola Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's international footballers Northern Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Zambian men's footballers People from Northern Ireland of Zambian descent Zambian people of Northern Ireland descent Men's association football midfielders Manchester City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Stockport Sports F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Zambian emigrants to the United Kingdom Premier League players English Football League players