FRANNY JEFFERS could not help but be impressed.

Rangers had just thumped his new side for six, welcoming him back to the Scottish Premier League with a sobering reminder of their power.

Hardly, it would seem, a time for admiring the work of others.

But Jeffers, having signed for Motherwell the previous night, was finding it hard to forget the performance of a man who inflicted much of that damage.

Nikica Jelavic scored a hat-trick that February afternoon.

Jeffers, the life long Evertonian, could barely have imagined that 12 months later Jelavic would bring his clinical streak to Goodison Park.

Jeffers saw a striker worth three times the amount the Blues paid.

He knows David Moyes got himself a serious bargain.

”My debut for Motherwell came against Rangers, in my second spell up in Scotland,” Jeffers recalls.

“I’d signed the night before the game. I’d gone up there on the Friday morning to complete the move.

“I started the game on the bench and could only watch as Jelavic scored three goals in a 6-0 win for Rangers.

“What stuck out for me was his movement. Earlier on in my career, my game was based on movement and so I tend to watch other strikers’ movement.

“Jelavic has as good a movement as anyone I’ve ever seen in any striker. Even then you could tell that he would not be up in Scotland for long.

“He’d had a few injuries and was just getting back in the side when I signed for Motherwell but it wasn’t just the goals which impressed, it was his all round play.

“His finishing has never been in question.

“I have no doubt in my mind that if Rangers had not been in trouble then they would have kept hold of him for another six months at least after which point they could be asking for £15-20m.”

Jeffers was another who belonged in the opposition’s penalty area.

It was where he felt comfortable and that growing knack to find a finish prompted Arsenal to stump up £8m for his transfer in 2001.

Injuries and underachievement, as he freely admits, meant his career failed to ignite from that juncture.

A loan return to Everton followed in 2003-04 but there was to be no lasting reunion.

Spells throughout the Football League, north of the border and more recently a flirtation with the A-League in Australia, tell of how Jeffers’ career craved a real home.

After 22 goals in 51 starts for his boyhood team, Goodison is where Jeffers no doubts feels at home but he admits his days at the highest level are beyond his 31-year-old body.

But this is not a story of regret and as Jeffers ponders his next move, he looks at the options in front of him with excitement rather than a feeling of what might have been.

“I’m 31 years old but I’m not stupid enough to think that I’m going to go and play back at the top, not that I’m not hungry enough to do so,” he said.

“But my game has changed, I’m not just someone who plays on the shoulder. I’m not as quick as I was but I’d like to think I’m a better footballer.

“I’ve got to be proud and positive about my career.

“How can a young Scouse lad not be positive about making his debut for Everton when he was 16?

“Six months before I was scoring goals at the Gwladys Street End I was in there with my mates, watching the game and eating a pie.

“Not many lads from Croxteth have gone on to play for England and when I went to Arsenal I was playing with the best players in the world.

“People always tell me that I never quite achieved what I should have done and they are probably right.

“I’m not blind enough to say I’ve been unlucky in any way but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

“I scored loads of goals for England under-21s and scored on my full England debut.

“There are things I would have done differently in my career but now is not a time for looking back. I just want to look forward to the future.”

A return to Australia remains a possibility for Jeffers who enjoyed two spells with Newcastle Jets in 2010 and 2011.

“I initially went out there as a 10-game guest, before I joined Motherwell. I really enjoyed my time out there,” Jeffers said.

“I’ve been playing professional football since I was 16 and just felt I needed a change, needed something different.

“I’d seen a few players, like Robbie Fowler, go out there and was given the opportunity to do the same.

“I’m open minded about my future but could see myself living and settling out there. The opportunities are there for me to go back.

“Already I’ve had three clubs showing interest in me but I’ll also see what options I’ve got in England.

“I have twice taken my little girl out of school to move us to Australia and these are important times for her. But she’s pretty tough and pretty adjustable. She just gets her head down.

“We had an apartment on the beach and it was 30 degrees every day.”

As Jeffers says, family ties may keep him in the country but playing football in England will allow him to take to his old seat in the Gwladys Street once or twice a season.

“I’ve played for some massive, massive football clubs but there is no bigger club than Everton for me,” he added.

“That’s me speaking from the heart and I would be saying the same thing even if I wasn’t from Liverpool.

“It’s the fans and the way the people at Everton take to you and embrace you. I always read Snods’ column in the Echo and he’s bang on about Everton. When you’ve played for Everton you tend to forget about the rest.”