Former England forward, Trevor Francis is dead.
The late forward died at age 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.
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“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 also worked as a media pundit with both Sky Sports and BT Sport. BBC Sport
