Midfielder Dom Jefferies enjoying life at League 2 Gillingham after spells with Newport, non-league Salisbury and the B Team at Brentford
Gillingham midfielder Dom Jefferies has experienced a melting pot of football experiences and feels better for it.
From watching on at Newport, to non-league football at Salisbury and then the B Team life at Brentford, the midfielder’s experienced a lot in a short period of time.
He’s quickly made over 50 appearances for the Gills and is still only 21.
“I didn’t expect to play that many games, it has come around quick and I didn’t expect it to be honest.
“It’s a different jump and scenario compared to under-23 football, it has been tough but I have loved every minute of it.”
He captained Brentford’s B Team and was named their player-of-the-year but he turned down another year there in favour of playing in the Football League, which is when he ended up at Gillingham.
He said: “I have gone from Newport who are in League 2 and then to Salisbury, non-league, the gritty side of it, then I went to the nicey-nicey tiki-taka side of it and then to Gillingham.
“I have had a mixture of all different styles and playing ways, different managers, I took it all into my game and doing the best I can.”
Welshman Jefferies admitted it had been trough dropping into non-league after Newport decided to release him. He had progressed through the club’s academy and scholarship programme.
He said: “It is really tough mentally when you have been going in every day to training, but then everything is almost taken away from you.
“You go from training every day and doing the right things to nothing at all but if you really fight and give everything you can into it, you can get back up there (into professional football).
“Throughout life and football you have to keep bouncing back, try and believe in yourself and do the best you can.
“Steve Claridge was great, he looked after me, put a lot of trust in me. I was only 17 when I went there but he made me believe I could get back there and so did my family, then you have to believe yourself you can get back there.
“Once I started playing regularly for Salisbury, it might sound a bit arrogant, but I knew I was above that level and I wanted more out of it than just being non-league.
“I still used to train every day and act like I was a professional footballer, even though I wasn’t. I would train 9-3 every day, eat the right things, just hoping. You need a bit of luck on your side and someone was at a game and scouted me and I went to Brentford.”
