Trevor Francis: First British Footballer To Cost £1 Million Dies

Former England forward Trevor Francis who was the first British player to cost £1 million in the transfer market is dead.

The ex-England international was confirmed dead today, July 24, aged 69 after suffering a heart attack in Spain.

Trevor Francis carved a place for himself in the record books when he moved from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest in 1979 for a transfer fee worth £1 million. Before then, there was no British player that had ever been bought for such a then-record transfer fee.

During his active days, Francis won two European Cups with Nottingham Forest (1979 and 1980).

From there, he joined Manchester City before playing in Italy for Sampdoria and then Atalanta. He became a player-manager at Queens Park Rangers after playing a season at Scottish club Rangers.

In 1994, Trevor Francis retired from professional football when he was 39 years old. Before he bowed out of the game, the Englishman played a total of 632 times for all the teams he played for and scored 235 career goals.

In the international scene, Francis played 52 times for the Three Lions of England in which he scored 12 goals.

After he retired from football, he went into full-time coaching. He coached his former club, Birmingham and last coached Crystal Palace for two seasons.

A statement from his family reads: “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.”