First British Footballer To Cost £1 Million Dies at 69

The first British player to cost $1 million on the transfer market, former England forward Trevor Francis, is no longer with us.

Following a heart attack in Spain, the former England international, who was 69 years old, was officially pronounced dead on July 24.

When he transferred from Birmingham City to Nottingham Forest in 1979 for a transfer fee of £1 million, Trevor Francis carved out a place for himself in the annals of history. There had never before been a British footballer purchased for such a then-record transfer fee.

With Nottingham Forest during his playing years (1979 and 1980), Francis won two European Cups.

From there, he joined Manchester City before playing in Italy for Sampdoria and then Atalanta. He became a player-manager at Queens Park Rangers after playing a season at Scottish club Rangers.

In 1994, Trevor Francis retired from professional football when he was 39 years old. Before he bowed out of the game, the Englishman played a total of 632 times for all the teams he played for and scored 235 career goals.

In the international scene, Francis played 52 times for the Three Lions of England in which he scored 12 goals.

After he retired from football, he went into full-time coaching. He coached his former club, Birmingham and last coached Crystal Palace for two seasons.

A statement from his family reads: “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.”