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

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Tributes have been flooding in from across football after Trevor Francis, Britain’s first £1 million player, died at the age of 69.

Peter Shilton, his Nottingham Forest team-mate in Brian Clough’s legendary two European Cup-winning teams, said that he was “absolutely devastated” by the news and described his friend as a “wonderful gentleman” whose death was “a terrible loss”.

A statement, which was released on behalf of the Francis family, said that he died of a heart attack at his apartment in Spain on Monday morning. “On behalf of the family, this has come as a huge shock to everybody,” said the statement. “We are all very upset. He was a legendary footballer but he was also an extremely nice person.”

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

An England forward between 1977 and 1986, Francis also scored twice at the 1982 World Cup finals and went on to have a managerial career spanning some 25 years at Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham City and Crystal Palace, which included three Wembley finals.

Garry Birtles, another key member of Forest’s greatest teams, told The Telegraph that Francis was “so humble” despite making so many headlines for the transfer fee that Forest had paid to Birmingham City.

“It was an honour to know him and play alongside him – he was such a kind, laidback and quietly spoken guy,” he said.

“He was such a help to me throughout my career. When I was struggling at Manchester United, Trevor and his wife Helen were so supportive.

“He was also a trailblazer when he went to Italy at a time when it was a really tough place to play. He’s the first one to pass away from the European Cup winning team at Forest and it’s such a devastating loss.”

Gary Lineker, the BBC Match of the Day presenter and former England team-mate, said that he was “deeply saddened” by the news. “A wonderful footballer and lovely man – was a pleasure to work alongside him both on the pitch and on the telly,” he said.

Viv Anderson, another former team-mate at Nottingham Forest, wrote: “Just heard the unbelievable news regarding Trevor Francis, he was such a wonderful person and fabulous team-mate he will be sadly missed, my condolences go to his family and friends.”

Nottingham Forest published a photographic tribute of Francis holding the European Cup on his head. “A true Forest legend who will never be forgotten,” they said.

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Meet Thomas Tuchel’s Brazilian Girlfriend 13 Years His Junior After Divorcing wife

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Thomas Tuchel’s Brazilian girlfriend is Natalie Max, who became the England manager’s partner after the German coach divorced his former wife in 2022.

Tuchel, who was officially announced as the new head coach of the Three Lions on Wednesday to replace Gareth Southgate, has been dating Max for over two years.

Max is 13 years younger than Tuchel and it is believed that the duo have been in a relationship since May 2022, just a month after his marriage ended in April 2022.

Here’s everything you need to know about Tuchel’s love life since his divorce with former wife Sissi.

Who is Thomas Tuchel’s current girlfriend Natalie Max?
Natalie Guerriero Max is the 37-year-old girlfriend of England head coach Thomas Tuchel.

The Brazilian brunette has worked as a director at consulting agency Natexo since March 2014.

Max, who has two children from a previous relationship as well as a pet dog, lives in London and it is thought that things got ‘serious’ with Tuchel in July 2022 when they went on holiday together to Sardinia.

‘Tuchel and Natalie are smitten with each other,’ a friend told the Daily Mail two years ago. ‘They’ve been spending a lot of quality time together in west London.

‘Tuchel is really lovely and has made Natalie’s friends feel welcome, he’s definitely in this for the long haul.’

Who is Thomas Tuchel’s ex-wife Sissi and do they have any children?

Thomas Tuchel was married to his ex-wife Sisi for 13 years. They divorced in April 2022 after they ‘exhausted all avenues’ and there was no hope of a reconciliation.

The couple had two daughters – Emma and Kim – and the family set up a home in Cobham, Surrey when Tuchel became Chelsea’s head coach in 2021.

It was reported that Sissi, a journalist, gave up her job at German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung to focus on raising the two children.

Sissi was an ‘integral part’ of Tuchel’s inner circle and was seen running across the pitch when the German led Chelsea to glory in the 2021 Champions League final.

Culled from Metro.co.uk

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England Finally Named New Manger After Guardiola Declined

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Italian coaching legend Fabio Capello tore down Thomas Tuchel for ‘incredible mistakes’ in the Champions League semi-final as Bayern Munich

Thomas Tuchel was named England’s new manager on Wednesday, with the German set to start on January 1, 2025.

The 51-year-old, who has been out of work since leaving Bayern Munich at the end of last season, succeeds Englishman Gareth Southgate as permanent coach and becomes the third foreign manager of the Three Lions after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.

A former coach of Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bayern Munich, Tuchel has the trophy-winning pedigree that the FA is seeking to help end a 58-year wait to win a major tournament.

However, the move has drawn criticism over the FA’s unwillingness to trust an Englishman with its top job.

Tuchel will be assisted by English coach Anthony Barry, who worked alongside him at Bayern Munich.

“I am very proud to have been given the honour of leading the England team,” Tuchel said in a FA statement.

“I have long felt a personal connection to the game in this country, and it has given me some incredible moments already. To have the chance to represent England is a huge privilege, and the opportunity to work with this special and talented group of players is very exciting.”

Tuchel won league titles at PSG and Bayern and the German Cup with Dortmund, but his greatest success came during his time in English football at Chelsea.

He led the Blues to Champions League glory just months after taking charge in 2021 and also won the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup with the London club.

Tuchel was sacked in September 2022 in a bold early move by Chelsea’s new ownership group that did not pay off.

He becomes the permanent successor to Southgate, who led the Three Lions to back-to-back finals of the European Championship, plus a World Cup semi-final and quarter-final in his four major tournaments in charge.

England are still yet to win a major men’s tournament since the 1966 World Cup on home soil.

“We are thrilled to have hired Thomas Tuchel, one of the best coaches in the world,” said FA CEO Mark Bullingham.

“Since Gareth resigned, we have worked through the candidate pool, meeting a number of coaches and evaluating them against that criteria.

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Senegal, Egypt Seal 2025 AFCON Ticket, Ghana In Dilemma

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A 96th-minute winner from Sadio Mané earned Senegal a 1-0 win over Malawi and a place at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco next year, but Ghana are in serious danger of missing out after a surprise loss to Sudan on Tuesday.

Senegal had 30 attempts at goal against their hosts but it took until the final seconds for Mané to seal victory with a 25-yard free kick that curled into the bottom corner of the net.

The 2021 winners, who recently parted ways with long-time coach Aliou Cissé, join Burkina Faso as the qualified nations from group L in the 24-team finals with two more matches to play in the November international window.

Ghana slumped to a 2-0 loss against Sudan in neutral Libya as Ahmed Al-Tash and Mohamed Abdel Rahman scored within three minutes of each other in the second half.

Ghana look set to miss a first continental finals since 2004 having managed a paltry two points from their four games, five adrift of the qualification positions with a difficult trip to pool leaders Angola next up.

Angola sealed their place with a 1-0 win over Niger in Casablanca thanks to Zini’s first-minute goal.

Record seven-time winners Egypt cruised to a place in the finals with a 1-0 win over Mauritania. Ibrahim Adel got the only goal of the game five minutes from the end.

Democratic Republic of Congo qualified with a 2-0 victory in Tanzania as Meschack Elia scored a brace, but defending champions Ivory Coast suffered a shock 1-0 loss to Sierra Leone after Amadou Bakayoko’s 85th-minute winner.

The Ivorians remain top of their group and will be favourites to book their place next month.

Coach Avram Grant’s Zambia claimed an important 1-0 win over Chad to take a big step towards qualification thanks to Kennedy Musonda’s goal 20 minutes from the end.

Gabon are also on course after a 2-0 win over Lesotho in neutral Durban, while Morocco completed a statement 4-0 win over Central African Republic as Eliesse Ben Seghir scored twice.

Uganda beat South Sudan 2-1 in Juba and top their pool ahead of South Africa, who were held to a 1-1 draw in Congo despite Elias Mokwana scoring the opener. Both are expected to seal their places next month.

Rwanda beat Benin 2-1 in group D with the other fixture on Tuesday between Libya and Nigeria postponed after the latter refused to play over travel chaos in the build-up.

Nigeria head the pool with seven points from three games, followed by Benin (six points from four games), Rwanda (five from four) and Libya (one from three).

Tunisia were held to a 1-1 draw by Comoros with two points separating the North Africans at the top of the pool and Gambia in third.

Hosts Morocco, Cameroon and Algeria are the other teams already in the finals line-up.

TIMESLIVE

 

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