On This Day – 9th February
It was on this day in 1979 that Trevor Francis became the first £1 million footballer when he joined Nottingham Forest from Birmingham City.
So the story goes, Brian Clough (the Nottingham Forest manager who signed Francis) didn’t want the transfer fee to go to his head. Big ‘ead obviously didn’t want another ego in the team and so he signed Francis for £999,999!
This didn’t last long as the deal worked out after taxes and VAT at around £1.1 million!
As seen in the picture above, Clough turned up to the press conference to announce the deal dressed in sports gear and holding a squash racquet. Knowing the way that Clough used to do things as a manager, he probably did it to take the attention away from Francis and bring it back to him!
The £1 million almost doubled the previous British record, which was just over £500,000 set the previous month by West Bromwich Albion for David Mills of Middlesbrough.
Francis scored the winner in the European Cup Final that season to land Clough and Forest the biggest prize in Europe. His goal with live long in the memory of Forest fans as he ghosted in at the far post to nod a header in against Malmo. It was the only goal of the game.
The million pound man’s career would only last a couple of years before he joined Manchester City. He then spent five seasons in Italy before joining Glasgow Rangers in Scotland.
Queens Park Rangers brought him back to England after a fruitless career at Ibrox as he didn’t manage a single goal in his time there.
Francis had a spell as player/manager at Loftus Road before he went and ended his playing career at Sheffield Wednesday.
It was at Wednesday where Francis began a career in management that went on until 2003.
Wednesday would reach the FA Cup and Coca Cola Cup Final under Francis in 1993, losing both times to Arsenal. He would again manage a team to the League Cup Final in 2001 as his Birmingham City side would go on to lose to Liverpool in the Final.
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