David Jeffrey (born 28 October 1962) is a Northern Irish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. He managed Linfield between 1997 and 2014 and Ballymena United from 2016 to 2023. Jeffrey began his professional playing career with Linfield, following a spell in the

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

youth team, and also played for Ards and Larne.

Personal life

Born in

Newtownards Newtownards (; ) is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtow ...

, Jeffrey attended Dundonald High School and Sullivan Upper School. He lives in Glengormley, and has a career in social work alongside his management career. He has two sons, Gareth and Thomas, and is a member of both the

Orange Order The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...

and a flute band. He cites his parents as the biggest inspiration in his life. Jeffrey is a Christian. In an interview with the ''

Belfast Telegraph The ''Belfast Telegraph'' is a daily newspaper published in Belfast, Northern Ireland, by Independent News & Media, which also publishes the Irish Independent, the Sunday Independent and various other newspapers and magazines in Ireland. Its e ...

'' in 2020, he described himself as having "an unapologetic and unashamed very strong faith in God".

Playing career

Jeffrey began his football career as a schoolboy with

, but never played in the first team. He joined Linfield in the summer of 1982. He played for Linfield for ten years and was club captain for much of that time. Jeffrey scored the crucial away goal against Shamrock Rovers in the 1984–85 European Cup. He left

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

for his hometown club, Ards, in the summer of 1992, reuniting him with former boss Roy Coyle, and in February 1995 joined Larne as player-coach.

Managerial career

Linfield

In April 1996, Jeffrey returned to Linfield as assistant manager to Trevor Anderson. Jeffrey was appointed as Linfield manager on 4 January 1997 after Anderson resigned. In the 2005–06 season, Jeffrey guided Linfield to a clean sweep of domestic trophies, missing out only on the cross-border All-Ireland Cup. On 6 June 2006, Jeffrey signed a new four-year contract, the longest contract in Linfield history. His previous deal had one season left to run. In June 2008, Jeffrey won his 23rd manager of the month award, breaking the record for monthly awards. By January 2014, he had extended this record to 32 awards. Alongside Roy Coyle, Jeffrey is Linfield's most successful manager in history, having won 31 trophies during his 17-year tenure. Roy Coyle also won 31 trophies with the Blues during his managerial career from 1975 to 1990. On 15 February 2014, Jeffrey announced that he was to step down as manager of Linfield at the end of the 2013–14 season. He was replaced by former Northern Ireland international,

Warren Feeney Warren James Feeney (born 17 January 1981) is a Northern Irish football manager and former professional Association football, footballer who manages club Weymouth F.C., Weymouth. As a player he was a Forward (association football), forward who ...

Ballymena United

On 7 March 2016, it was announced that Jeffrey had been appointed the new manager of Ballymena United, following the sacking of Glenn Ferguson. Jeffrey guided Ballymena to winning the Northern Irish League cup in 2016–17 season and took them to the quarter-finals of the Irish Cup and a 4th place finish in the league. Jeffrey was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to association football and community relations in Northern Ireland.

Managerial statistics

} , align=left, ''27 April 2014'' , 944 , , 579 , , 197 , , 168 , , 1,958 , , 845 , , +1,013 , , , - , align="left", Ballymena United , align="left", , align=left, 7 March 2016Sport, date=TBD , align=left, 10 May 2023 , 346 , , 163 , , 48 , , 136 , , 559 , , 502 , , +57 , , , - !align="center" colspan="4", Total ! 1,290 !! 742 !! 245 !! 304 !! 2,517 !! 1,347 !! +1,070 !!

Managerial honours

Linfield * Irish Premier League/IFA Premiership (9): 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12 *

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

(7): 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12 * Irish League Cup (6): 1997–98, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2007–08 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster F ...

(6): 1997–98, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2013–14 * Setanta Cup:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

* Irish FA Charity Shield: 2000 * Irish League Floodlit Cup: 1997–98 Ballymena United * Northern Ireland Football League Cup: 2016–17

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffrey, David 1962 births Living people Association footballers from County Down Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Men's association football defenders NIFL Premiership players Manchester United F.C. players Linfield F.C. players Ards F.C. players Larne F.C. players Association football managers from Northern Ireland Linfield F.C. managers Ballymena United F.C. managers People educated at Sullivan Upper School Members of the Order of the British Empire Christians from Northern Ireland NIFL Premiership managers Irish League representative players Northern Ireland men's youth international footballers Men's association football player-managers Larne F.C. managers