Trevor Francis, Britain’s first £1 million player, has passed away at the age of 69. In 1979, Nottingham Forest signed the player from Birmingham to break the record for the most expensive British footballer of all-time. But in today’s transfer market, it would be a nominal fee with sums in excess of £100 million commonly quoted for some of the top players in the world.
There are so many cases of players not being able to live up to their price tags, or even resenting the fact that they have to carry the pressure of a high transfer fee. But that wasn’t the case for Francis, as revealed by the man himself.
Trevor Francis – The first £1 million British player, passes away
“I played professional football for 23 years until I was 39,” Trevor Francis said in an interview with The Guardian in 2019.
“I won European Cups with Nottingham Forest, I played 52 times over nine years for England, but whenever I go to a sporting occasion I’m always introduced as the first £1 million footballer, as if that’s the only thing I achieved in my career.
“But do I feel proud of being the first £1 million player? Absolutely.”
The player won two European Cups with Nottingham Forest in successive years, following his big-money move. He scored the only goal in their 1979 European Cup final in Munich as Forest defeated Malmo to win the trophy. The following year, he scored in the quarter finals and semifinals against Dynamo Berlin and Ajax respectively, but missed out on the final through injury.
He went on to play briefly for Manchester City, Atalanta, Sampdoria, Ranger, QPR and Sheffield Wednesday before hanging up his boots.
