Trevor Francis, Britain’s first £1m footballer, dies aged 69

The former England forward Trevor Francis, the first player to be transferred in Britain for £1m and the scorer of a European Cup-winning goal for Nottingham Forest, has died at the age of 69.

(Francis had a distinguished career that started with his Birmingham City debut at 16 and included spells with Forest, Manchester City, Sampdoria, Atalanta and Rangers before he went into management, initially as a player-manager.)

Francis started his career at Birmingham City before becoming Britain's first £1m player when he joined Nottingham Forest in 1979.

He went on to score the winning goal in the 1979 European Cup final as Forest beat Malmo and was part of the squad when the club won the competition again the following year.

Francis left Forest for Manchester City in 1981 before having spells in Italy with Sampdoria and Atalanta.

He went on to play for Rangers, Queens Park Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday before retiring in 1994.

Francis won 52 caps for England scoring 12 goals between 1977 and 1986 and featured at 1982 World Cup in Spain.

After retirement, he took on full-time manager roles with Wednesday, Birmingham and Crystal Palace. He led Wednesday to an FA Cup and League Cup final and Birmingham to a League Cup final.

Trevor Francis' legendary football career:

1970–1979 Birmingham City 118 goals in 280 appearances

1978 → Detroit Express (loan) 22 goals in 19 appearances

1979–1981 Nottingham Forest 28 goals in 70 appearances

1979 → Detroit Express (loan) 14 goals in 14 appearances

1981–1982 Manchester City 12 goals in 26 appearances

1982–1986 Sampdoria 17 goals in 67 appearances

1986–1987 Atalanta 1 goals in 21 appearances

1987–1988 Rangers 0 goal in 18 appearances

1988–1990 Queens Park Rangers 12 goals in 32 appearances

1988 → Wollongong City (loan) 2 goals in 3 appearances

1990–1994 Sheffield Wednesday 5 goals in 76 appearances

Total 231 goals in 626 appearances