SADLY BREAKING: TREVOR FRANCIS

I'm hearing on twitter that Trevor Francis may have passed away

UPDATED:

Breaking news:

Trevor Francis: Ex-England player and Britain's first £1m footballer dies aged 69
From the sectionFootball

Former England forward Trevor Francis has died aged 69 after suffering a heart attack in Spain.

In 1979 he became Britain's first £1m footballer on completing a transfer from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest.

He won two European Cups with Forest - in 1979, where he scored the winner against Malmo, and 1980.

Francis also won 52 England caps, scoring 12 goals before embarking on a managerial career.

A statement released on behalf of his family said: "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."

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.

Francis went on to score 119 goals in 280 league appearances before his history-making switch to link up with Brian Clough.

After Forest's two European Cup wins, he joined Manchester City before spells with Italian clubs Sampdoria and Atalanta.

A season in Scotland with Rangers followed before he joined Queens Park Rangers, 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.

He formally retired as a player in 1994, shortly before his 40th birthday ,having made 632 appearances, scoring 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 Andrews, his final managerial post was at Crystal Palace where he spent two years.

He also worked as a media pundit with both Sky Sports and BT Sport.

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Hope not .

Sadly true Paul. 69. RIP TREVOR.

Sadly true Paul. 69. RIP TREVOR.

Yes been confirmed now, most newspapers have published it. RIP Trevor.
My first memory of him coming on as a 16 year old, I was up in brum and was at the match with my brum supporting cousin both of us saying brum will lose, and then Trevor Francis comes on and scores 4 goals against us. Great player and a great person!

A very talented player and the first million pound footballer if my memory serves me correctly? He was sat behind us when we played away at Villa in our first season in the prem - where he was genuinely warmly welcomed by our supporters.

Very sad news.

RIP.

Sadly true Paul. 69. RIP TREVOR.

Yes been confirmed now, most newspapers have published it. RIP Trevor.
My first memory of him coming on as a 16 year old, I was up in brum and was at the match with my brum supporting cousin both of us saying brum will lose, and then Trevor Francis comes on and scores 4 goals against us. Great player and a great person!

I was pretty sure that he made his debut against us at Ninian Park, and Birmingham didn't score 4 against us in that era, never mind one player. They did beat us 5-2 in the FA cup in 1974 so maybe he got four in that match.

A friend of mine played with him in a local team when he was 15ish.

Sadly true Paul. 69. RIP TREVOR.

Yes been confirmed now, most newspapers have published it. RIP Trevor.
My first memory of him coming on as a 16 year old, I was up in brum and was at the match with my brum supporting cousin both of us saying brum will lose, and then Trevor Francis comes on and scores 4 goals against us. Great player and a great person!

I was pretty sure that he made his debut against us at Ninian Park, and Birmingham didn't score 4 against us in that era, never mind one player. They did beat us 5-2 in the FA cup in 1974 so maybe he got four in that match.

It was his second game at Birmingham and he definitely scored 4. I was there, my cousin said that Francis had only played one game before that day at cardiff, and brum lost 2-0! showing my age now

Sadly true Paul. 69. RIP TREVOR.

Yes been confirmed now, most newspapers have published it. RIP Trevor.
My first memory of him coming on as a 16 year old, I was up in brum and was at the match with my brum supporting cousin both of us saying brum will lose, and then Trevor Francis comes on and scores 4 goals against us. Great player and a great person!

I was pretty sure that he made his debut against us at Ninian Park, and Birmingham didn't score 4 against us in that era, never mind one player. They did beat us 5-2 in the FA cup in 1974 so maybe he got four in that match.

It was his second game at Birmingham and he definitely scored 4. I was there, my cousin said that Francis had only played one game before that day at cardiff, and brum lost 2-0! showing my age now

It was away at St Andrews I was there with my dad that day...One we could never forget as our motor broke down some miles from the ground. We got there 20 mins after kick off, had to jump over the turnstiles to get in. We were already 2 down Francis had both goals. The boy wonder back in those days. RIP Trevor

Trevor Francis dead at 69 Annis.

He was the first £1,000,000 footballer in the UK when he joined Nottingham Forest from Birmingham in 1979.

Francis, a quicksilver England international attacker, notched the winner for Forest in the European Cup Final 1-0 win over Malmo later that year, the man from Cornwall also went on to play for Manchester City, for Atlanta in Italy's Seria A.

He became a manager at Sheffield Wednesday and his beloved Birmingham later.

But Francis always held a notable connection with Cardiff City - making his Football League debut against our Bluebirds in a 2-0 defeat at Ninian Park in September 1970.

He was a star in the making and even hit the Cardiff post in the second half - after skinning our left back, the legendary Gary Bell.

I recall Francis making mention of Bell in his autobigraphy - saying Bluebird defender offered words of encouragment through the 45 mins He had from the bench.

Francis scored against Cardiff in the return at St Andrews Stadium in the March - a 2-0 defeat watched by a crowd of 40,000-plus.

Francis' late wife, Helen, a former hairdresser, was from West Wales. The couple met on an overseas holiday - lovestruck Trevor tracking her down and eventually visiting her in Wales, back at a time there was no internet or mobile phones, of course.

Rest in Peace Trevor Francis, one of the finest footballers to ever leave England's Second City.

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Sadly true Paul. 69. RIP TREVOR.

Yes been confirmed now, most newspapers have published it. RIP Trevor.
My first memory of him coming on as a 16 year old, I was up in brum and was at the match with my brum supporting cousin both of us saying brum will lose, and then Trevor Francis comes on and scores 4 goals against us. Great player and a great person!

I was pretty sure that he made his debut against us at Ninian Park, and Birmingham didn't score 4 against us in that era, never mind one player. They did beat us 5-2 in the FA cup in 1974 so maybe he got four in that match.

It was his second game at Birmingham and he definitely scored 4. I was there, my cousin said that Francis had only played one game before that day at cardiff, and brum lost 2-0! showing my age now

Sorry but if you check the head to head site, the only time Birmingham scored 4 or more against us was in Jan 1974 when we lost 5-2 in the FA cup. Long after his debut in 1970

Sadly true Paul. 69. RIP TREVOR.

Yes been confirmed now, most newspapers have published it. RIP Trevor.
My first memory of him coming on as a 16 year old, I was up in brum and was at the match with my brum supporting cousin both of us saying brum will lose, and then Trevor Francis comes on and scores 4 goals against us. Great player and a great person!

Not doubting your memory but history books show Trevor Francis making his debut against us at NP where Brum lost 2-0. He did score 4 against Bolton though.
I was pretty sure that he made his debut against us at Ninian Park, and Birmingham didn't score 4 against us in that era, never mind one player. They did beat us 5-2 in the FA cup in 1974 so maybe he got four in that match.

It was his second game at Birmingham and he definitely scored 4. I was there, my cousin said that Francis had only played one game before that day at cardiff, and brum lost 2-0! showing my age now

Made me laugh that story he told upon signing for Forest.

Clough didn’t speak to him for the first two weeks, and Francis was wondering if he’d made a mistake signing..
then Clough says ‘you’re playing tomorrow son, all you have to do is give the ball to John Robertson, he’s a much better player than you are’.

RIP

Sadly true Paul. 69. RIP TREVOR.

Yes been confirmed now, most newspapers have published it. RIP Trevor.
My first memory of him coming on as a 16 year old, I was up in brum and was at the match with my brum supporting cousin both of us saying brum will lose, and then Trevor Francis comes on and scores 4 goals against us. Great player and a great person!

I was pretty sure that he made his debut against us at Ninian Park, and Birmingham didn't score 4 against us in that era, never mind one player. They did beat us 5-2 in the FA cup in 1974 so maybe he got four in that match.

Correct Trevor Francis didn't score 4 goals against us

Sad lost only 69 and a player who played an important part in Forest Euro glory back in the day ... R I P .

Sadly true Paul. 69. RIP TREVOR.

Yes been confirmed now, most newspapers have published it. RIP Trevor.
My first memory of him coming on as a 16 year old, I was up in brum and was at the match with my brum supporting cousin both of us saying brum will lose, and then Trevor Francis comes on and scores 4 goals against us. Great player and a great person!

I was pretty sure that he made his debut against us at Ninian Park, and Birmingham didn't score 4 against us in that era, never mind one player. They did beat us 5-2 in the FA cup in 1974 so maybe he got four in that match.

Correct Trevor Francis didn't score 4 goals against us

He made his debut against us. He came on as sub i think. I was at the game but it certainly didn't register at the time until he became more famous. Not long after he scored 4 against Bolton and he carried on scoring. Brum went on a run from lower half to just behind the promotion places. We then played them at St.Andrews. We were top of the table and there were 50,000 there. We had Alan Warboys who was also on a great scoring run including 4 against Carlisle in the first half, so the game was billed as a battle between these two. They beat us 2-0 and Trevor Francis did not score 4. We took a hammering off the pitch as well!

RIP Trevor.
I believe I attended Ninian Park in September 1970, when he had his debut for Birmingham aged 16. Mind you, it was many years ago so my memory had faded somewhat.

Sad time for Forest with Chris Bart Williams passing today at just 49 years of age.

I will refrain from using their other name out of respect.