Was Alick Jeffrey the Jude Bellingham of the time?

[selby]

  My friend and I were reminiscing of our youth following The Rovers when my friend made the statement he didn't think that our younger supporters realised just  how good " The Boy Wonder" was, which really I agreed with, I don't think that I even did until he started to educate me.
  I suppose some of the younger element on here might have already switched off  and I am sorry if they have, but it got me looking into things and checking up with my mate who remains Alick's biggest fan to this day. and wondering just how good was he?
    "The Boy Wonder" was the expression used by  the tabloids of the day to describe Alick to the world, a lad who had played at Wembley for England Schoolboys in April 1954 v Scotland and in September made his debut for The Rovers.
  From 15yrs old to 17 yrs old he played 80 games in league and cup games all in FA Cup and division one (now The Championship) level games and played in all the replays and games v Aston Villa and against Birmingham FA Cup winners that season 4 games in seven days at that level at 17 yrs old in 1956
  In 1956 at 17 he started the season playing 13 games and scored !5 goals which prompted him to be picked for England u21s the game he broke his leg in.
 So some record  Jackie Milburn said "he has everything, the best youngster I have ever seen"
  Nobby Stiles " everyone Knew he was special"
  Stanley Mathews "The boy was a football genius"
  Jimmy Murphy  "If Alick Jeffrey had not got hurt you would have never seen Bobby Charlton play in a number nine shirt for Manchester United"
  Jimmy Greaves " if Alick Jeffrey had not got hurt I would have not got as many England caps as I did"
  That's some testimony, perhaps like Jude Bellingham destined to be one of the worlds best players cruelly taken away by a bad injury, and perhaps Jude Bellingham is the one to compare with for the young ones , or Rooney, and another cruel story of that time Duncan Edwards, But Alick he was doing it at 15/16 yrs old, truly described as "THE BOY WONDER" we will never ever see his like play for Doncaster Rovers again, for no other reason than in the academy world it would be impossible taken to a massive club before leaving school.
  But we had him, he was ours, a great player even after career ending injuries he had the football talent to be the top scorer in the whole league one season, and was a great footballer as well as a goal scorer, the complete player lost to world football, and with other talents Geoff Hall,  the Munich disaster, career ending injuries to such as Brian Clough probably made Brazils 1960's dominance of world football instead of England.
  To any younger reader getting this far, that is how good "The Boy Wonder" was.
 

[DonnyBazR0ver]

Funny you should mention Rooney, as I use him as a more modern day similarity to Alick.

The young Rooney that emerged at Everton as a 17 year old playing in a man's world with all the skill, power and goals that made most on the same pitch look very ordinary.

Obviously Rooney got the chance Alick was denied with his big move to Man Utd, and who knows what could have laid in wait for him.

[drfchound]

  My friend and I were reminiscing of our youth following The Rovers when my friend made the statement he didn't think that our younger supporters realised just  how good " The Boy Wonder" was, which really I agreed with, I don't think that I even did until he started to educate me.
  I suppose some of the younger element on here might have already switched off  and I am sorry if they have, but it got me looking into things and checking up with my mate who remains Alick's biggest fan to this day. and wondering just how good was he?
    "The Boy Wonder" was the expression used by  the tabloids of the day to describe Alick to the world, a lad who had played at Wembley for England Schoolboys in April 1954 v Scotland and in September made his debut for The Rovers.
  From 15yrs old to 17 yrs old he played 80 games in league and cup games all in FA Cup and division one (now The Championship) level games and played in all the replays and games v Aston Villa and against Birmingham FA Cup winners that season 4 games in seven days at that level at 17 yrs old in 1956
  In 1956 at 17 he started the season playing 13 games and scored !5 goals which prompted him to be picked for England u21s the game he broke his leg in.
 So some record  Jackie Milburn said "he has everything, the best youngster I have ever seen"
  Nobby Stiles " everyone Knew he was special"
  Stanley Mathews "The boy was a football genius"
  Jimmy Murphy  "If Alick Jeffrey had not got hurt you would have never seen Bobby Charlton play in a number nine shirt for Manchester United"
  Jimmy Greaves " if Alick Jeffrey had not got hurt I would have not got as many England caps as I did"
  That's some testimony, perhaps like Jude Bellingham destined to be one of the worlds best players cruelly taken away by a bad injury, and perhaps Jude Bellingham is the one to compare with for the young ones , or Rooney, and another cruel story of that time Duncan Edwards, But Alick he was doing it at 15/16 yrs old, truly described as "THE BOY WONDER" we will never ever see his like play for Doncaster Rovers again, for no other reason than in the academy world it would be impossible taken to a massive club before leaving school.
  But we had him, he was ours, a great player even after career ending injuries he had the football talent to be the top scorer in the whole league one season, and was a great footballer as well as a goal scorer, the complete player lost to world football, and with other talents Geoff Hall,  the Munich disaster, career ending injuries to such as Brian Clough probably made Brazils 1960's dominance of world football instead of England.
  To any younger reader getting this far, that is how good "The Boy Wonder" was.
 

Great piece that selby.   Just one thing wrong though, Alick played for Rovers in the old second division, which is now the Championship.
Alick did say that had he not broken his leg and signed for Man United that he might have died in the Munich air crash and that perhaps his life had been extended.

[graingrover]

I watched Alick in those early days in awe !  The best compliment I think we can pay him is to say that Matt Busby had declared his intention to take him to Old Trafford   to join Duncan Edwards et al.

[tommy toes]

I only saw Alick in the sixties, when he was apparently a shadow of his former self. Yet he was still brilliant.
He could tackle, was a brilliant passer and header of the ball, his close control was mind boggling and he was a clinical finisher with a thunderbolt shot.
He had everything.
I would imagine that Bellingham is not in the same class as the young Alick.

[Dutch Uncle]

Wayne Rooney is definitely the better comparison. I was in the Netherlands (probably in the car park of some squash club on a Saturday at football results time) listening to BBC radio, and the particularly well respected pundit Jimmy Armfield was asked on air if had he seen anyone similar in style as good and as young as the then teenage Wayne Rooney, and he immediately mentioned Alick and his story. I was screaming 'Alick' at the radio in the fraction of a second before he spoke, and I will never forget that moment, that Dutch car park that will forever be a part of Donny 

[Goole Rover]

Like you Tommy I only saw The King at his second coming but a what a player. My first Rovers game was the League Cup second round tie at Belle Vue with over 16,000 in the ground. Alick scored but before that he hit the post I tell my sons that the posts were still shaking when they were taken down after we moved to The Keepmoat. Selby mentioned that Alick played for England U21’s I thought it was the U23’s. What a player but don’t forget his strike partner Laurie Sheffield another great Rover and like Alick he always made time to talk football.

[selby]

  That analysis by Armfield was while he was the expert analyser in Rooney's first England game, and when I think he had scored.
  The commentator said to Armfield have you ever seen a 17year old as good, Armfield replied without delay, yes I played with him, his name was Alick Jeffrey, and the reply I have never heard of him, hence Armfield then telling Alick's story as you heard in Holland Dutch.
   I was driving home listening to the game on the radio myself and could have dropped through the floor listening to it with pride how a great England captain remembered  Alick in such a way.
   I suppose I should not have been surprised though as my old friend Morgan Hunt used to say, I have seen most of them but never better than Alick.

[Bentley Bullet]

I too only saw Alick in his second spell at Rovers. Always the gentleman on the football pitch, but apparently, word had it that he was rough and ready off it.

As Goole Rovers said, his strike partner Laurie Sheffield deserves a mention, for being the other half of the best Rovers strike partnership I've ever seen.

[EasyforDennis]

If we had assists records in those days, one name would have consistently appeared. The great Albert "Yogi" Broadbent.

[Goole Rover]

Scribbled in my autograph book instead of signing his name when he was stood at the bus stop across from Belle Vue with Alick. I suppose I should forgive him as it was dark but Alick's was perfect.

[drfchound]

If you saw my signature you might think it was just a load of scribble matey.
It has looked the same for over fifty years.
Maybe Yogi’s was always like a load of scribble.
I was once mistaken for Graham Sharpe at a Barnsley v Everton game lots of years ago and scribbled my name when the young lads asked for my autograph.
No one noticed.

[Donnywolf]

Remember when KAJ came back in a reserve game v Crewe ..... Massive crowd

Alick popped out of Players door and I'm sure nobody knew who they were looking at. I didn't collect Autographs and I couldn't get a selfie but we each knew it was a great moment in time

He came over and said , how's yer dad , BB do they call him ?

Then he was gone and I watched the rest of his career in wonder. Such a great player , overhead kick at Rosso end v Bradford  PA or City

A real pleasure to see him if only for a few Seasons and God knows how good he must have been in the earlier years

[selby]

  Going back to Alick and those replays against Aston Villa, the one at Hillsborough was probably the first Cup game I went to.
   The Rovers had to play a league game on the Saturday then the replay on Monday or Tuesday I don't know which, drawing again they then played on the Thursday in the replay they won, and Birmingham City on the Saturday in the fifth round and played extra time so four top class games against two top division sides at 17 yrs old in the games against the Villa he scored three goals.
  My abiding memory at Hillsborough was when the teams came out separately, the Rovers were greeted by a great roar, the Villa by not many, and thinking gosh they have come to see us, all the neutrals were behind us probably not today.

[Goole Rover]

Remember when KAJ came back in a reserve game v Crewe ..... Massive crowd

Alick popped out of Players door and I'm sure nobody knew who they were looking at. I didn't collect Autographs and I couldn't get a selfie but we each knew it was a great moment in time

He came over and said , how's yer dad , BB do they call him ?

Then he was gone and I watched the rest of his career in wonder. Such a great player , overhead kick at Rosso end v Bradford  PA or City
It was City JPT. Spenner ran on the pitch and slapped Alick on the back Spenner didn’t wash his hand for a fortnight. Didn’t the match finish 5-2.
.

A real pleasure to see him if only for a few Seasons and God knows how good he must have been in the earlier years