Trevor Francis, Britain's first 1 million footballer, dies

Trevor Francis, Britain's first £1 million footballer, has died at the age of 69 from a heart attack, a family spokesperson announced on Monday.

The forward joined Nottingham Forest from Birmingham in the record move in 1979, scoring the winning goal in the European Cup final just months later.

He won 52 caps for England, scoring 12 goals and later, as a manager, guided Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham to major domestic finals.

"He died in Spain this morning from a heart attack," said a spokesperson for the family.

Blues is deeply saddened and shocked to learn of the passing of Club legend Trevor Francis, at the age of 69 on Monday 24 July 2023.Trevor will forever be revered as a giant of the Club, the player everyone wanted to see. He represented Blues on 330 occasions, scoring 133… pic.twitter.com/o960MYJhQZ

Francis made his debut for Birmingham in 1970 at the age of 16.

Forest shattered the British transfer record when they paid 1.15 million for him in 1979, although manager Brian Clough famously claimed the fee was 999,999 to take pressure off the player.

He headed the winner in the 1-0 victory over Malmo to win the European Cup just a few months later.

Francis missed the European Cup win over Hamburg a year later through injury and joined Manchester City in 1981.

Spells at Sampdoria, where he won the Coppa Italia, Atalanta, Rangers and QPR, where he was player-manager, followed.

He moved to Sheffield Wednesday in 1990 before he replaced Ron Atkinson as manager, taking them to the finals of the FA Cup and League Cup in 1993, losing both times to Arsenal.

He subsequently managed at Birmingham and Crystal Palace.

Francis spent half a year in Spain and the rest near Birmingham. He suffered a heart attack 11 years ago and had kept