Former England forward and Britain’s first £1m ($1.28 million) player, Trevor Francis has passed on at the of 69 after suffering a heart attack. His family confirmed his death on Monday, July 24, adding that he died of a heart attack at his apartment in Spain.
Trevor Francis celebrates winning the European title with Nottingham Forest. Source: Bob Thomas Trevor’s family said in a statement; “Trevor Francis has died at the age of 69. He had a heart attack at his apartment in Spain this morning. “On behalf of the family, this has come as a huge shock to everybody. We are all very upset. He was a legendary footballer but he was also an extremely nice person.” Nobody in the history of football has been defined by their price tag in the way Trevor Francis was. Born in Plymouth, Francis joined Birmingham as a schoolboy and was the Blues’ then-youngest debutant in 1970 aged 16, a record only beaten by current England and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham in August 2019. He went on to score 119 goals in 280 league appearances before his history-making switch to Nottingham Forest.
Francis (middle) scored in the 1979 European Cup final with a diving header to win the game. Source: Getty Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest shattered the British transfer record when they paid £1.15 million for him in 1979, although Clough famously claimed the fee was £999,999 to take pressure off the player. After Forest’s two European Cup wins, he joined Manchester City before having spells with Italian clubs Sampdoria and Atalanta. A season in Scotland with Rangers followed before he joined QPR, where he also became player-manager. He later performed a similar role at Sheffield Wednesday and helped lead them to both the FA Cup and League Cup finals in 1993, losing both to Arsenal. Francis retired as a player in 1994, shortly before his 40th birthday, having made 632 appearances and scored 235 goals. He then returned to Birmingham as manager between 1996 and 2001 and guided the Blues to the 2001 League Cup final where they lost to Liverpool on penalties. After leaving St Andrew’s, his final managerial post was at Crystal Palace where he spent two years. He also worked as a media pundit with Sky Sports and BT Sport.