Former England, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City forward Trevor Francis dies aged 69
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Updated 24/07/2023 at 16:18 GMT
Former England, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City forward Trevor Francis has died aged 69, his family confirmed on Monday in a statement. Francis played 52 times for England and won two European Cups under Brian Clough while at Nottingham Forest, and had spells in America and Italy during an extensive playing career, before managing several clubs.
Trevor Francis (left) at the press conference where he became the first British player to break the £1 million mark when he was signed by Brian Clough (right) for Nottingham Forest on February 9, 1979
Image credit: Getty Images
Former England forward Trevor Francis has died aged 69 at his home in Marbella on Monday.
A statement released on behalf of his family confirmed: "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."
Francis played 52 times for England and made his club debut for Birmingham City in 1970 aged 16, and he went on to score 15 times in his debut season.
Playing 329 times for almost a decade for his boyhood club, he scored 133 times in all.
He then became the first player to break the £1 million transfer mark when he was signed by Brian Clough for Nottingham Forest in 1979, and won consecutive European Cups with the club.
While at Nottingham Forest and Birmingham, he had brief but successful loan spells at Detroit Express in the short-lived NASL in the United States.
In 1981 he spent six years in Italy, playing for Sampdoria and then Atalanta.
In 1987 he joined Scottish side Rangers, and moved to Queens Park Rangers the following season to become player manager, and moved to Sheffield Wednesday as a player before replacing Ron Atkinson as manager.
He retired from playing in 1994, and in 1996 he was appointed manager of Birmingham City, reaching the League Cup final, with his final managerial job in charge of Crystal Palace, leaving the position in 2003.
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