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Trevor Francis: The story of Britain’s first £1m football transfer

Former Nottingham Forest footballer Trevor Francis has died aged 69, leaving behind a legacy of being Britain’s first £1million player.

Francis died on Tuesday in his home in Marbella in Spain from a suspected heart attack, and players past and present have since paid tribute to his legacy.

The striker won 52 caps for England, played in the 1982 World Cup, had spells in Italy and also managed clubs at the highest level.

However, he is best known for something that did not happen on the pitch.

Francis told the Guardian in 2019: “I won European Cups with Nottingham Forest, I played 52 times over nine years for England, but whenever I go to a sporting occasion I’m always introduced as the first £1m footballer, as if that’s the only thing I achieved in my career. But do I feel proud of being the first £1m player? Absolutely.”

Francis had already achieved legendary status with Birmingham City throughout the 1970s by scoring 133 goals for the club in 328 appearances.

But the West Midlands side was never likely to push for titles and Francis knew he needed to step up if he was going to win trophies.

He said during the period: “I want to be part of a successful team and unless I see signs that we are going somewhere I won’t stay.”

Nottingham Forest and Coventry entered a bidding war for his services. Coventry matched the offer but Francis went with Forest who were, at the time, in a better position to challenge Liverpool for the league title.

Legendary Nottingham manager Brian Clough turned up for his press conference wearing a full tracksuit and carrying his squash racket – claiming he was late for a game. The gaffer also said that Francis’s price tag was actually £999,999 – and not the full million – to stop the figure going to the striker’s head.

It turned out Clough was bluffing about the £999,999 and that £1.15million had actually been paid. “Brian was very clever with the media,” Francis said. “He used to make headlines, and wasn’t bothered whether they were true or not.”

However, it was still a huge surpassing of the previous record – which, a month earlier, had seen David Mills swap Middlesbrough for West Brom for £516,000.

Little did we know but the floodgates had opened on the market and the transfer record was broken twice more in 1979 before the first £1.5million transfer was made in 1981. The current transfer record is the £106million Chelsea paid for Enzo Fernandez in January.

Francis’s first match was for the team’s C string side as they played out “in front of 20 people” against Notts County’s reserves in a game purposed for training.

But it didn’t stop Francis from feeling nervous.

“The following week I played for the first team and it suddenly dawned on me, at Portman Road, when the supporters sang ‘What a waste of money’ throughout the game,” he said in 2009.

“I found myself trying to justify the £1million.

“You have to be yourself and play your own game. There was a pressure lifted when I got my first goal against Bolton.”

The goals did come, however, and at important times too – with Francis throwing himself at the ball to score a header against Malmo that won Forest the 1979 European Cup.

To this day a giant picture of Francis stooping to head the ball against Malmo remains on display inside Nottingham Forest’s stadium.

Forest lost another legend on Monday with Chris Bart Williams passing away aged 49.

Related Topics:Featured Nottingham Forest Trevor Francis

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King Ademola Lookman Brings Out His Love

Like his father opened up, Ademola Lookman is essentially a private person, who prefers to do his stuff without all the media blitz.

But on one of his biggest days, when he was crowned Africa’s best player, he could not but make the first public appearance with the woman in his life – Jayda Love.

‘Adebobo’ would even steal a moment on his big night to kiss his American beau.

The 27-year-old Super Eagles star is still single.

Rumours of this romance first surfaced in the summer when the couple appeared to have spent the holidays together.

This was after ‘Mola’ scored his unforgettable hat-trick for Atalanta to win the UEFA Europa League in super style.

Jayda, an Information Technology specialist is based in Dallas, Texas, graduated from the University of Oklahoma in 2021 with a degree in public relations.

She follows Ademola Lookman and his foundation on social media.

She is also known to have visited him at his Italian base.

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FIFA Rankings: Nigeria’s Super Eagles End 2024 Ahead Of Ghana, South Africa, Cameroon

Nigeria’s Super Eagles have ended 2024 ranked as Africa’s fifth-best team in FIFA’s latest global standings, released Thursday morning, Soccernet.ng reports.

Despite a challenging end to the year that saw the team drop eight places to 44th globally, the Super Eagles still managed to hold their own against eternal continental rivals like South Africa, Cameroon, and Ghana.

This year’s ranking represents a mixed bag for Nigeria. While the team retained its fifth spot in Africa, their decline in global rankings was driven by underwhelming performances in key fixtures.

Most notably, the Super Eagles struggled during the final rounds of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, securing just a solitary point in lackluster outings against the Benin Republic and Rwanda.

Nigeria were forced to a scored draw by the Cheetahs in Abidjan only for Samuel Chukwueze’s excellent strike to end up as consolation in a 2-1 home defeat to the Wasps.

Looking at year-to-year standings, at this time in 2023, Nigeria’s Super Eagles were ranked 42nd in the world but sixth on the continent.

Elsewhere, South Africa’s Bafana Bafana showed marked improvement, climbing th

Cameroon and Ghana, however, endured disappointing campaigns. Ghana’s Black Stars finished the year ranked 77th, a stark reminder of the ongoing struggles within the Black Stars setup.

At the continental summit, Morocco retained their status as the continent’s best, finishing as Africa’s top-ranked team in 14th place globally.

Senegal (17th), Egypt (33rd), and Algeria (37th) rounded out the top four, with Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali, Tunisia, and South Africa completing the top 10.

Globally, Argentina retained their position as FIFA’s top-ranked team, followed by France, Spain, England, and Brazil.

With 1,181 international matches played across the calendar year, the rankings reflected consistent dominance from the world’s elite teams.

As Nigeria enter 2025, all eyes will be on the Super Eagles to reignite their competitive spark, with the World Cup qualifiers returning in the first quarter of the year.

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Mbappé: Would Have Been ‘Fun’ To Play With Cristiano Ronaldo

Kylian Mbappé has said he wishes he could have played with Real Madrid legend Cristiano Ronaldo, the club’s all-time leading scorer.

The France international has been a teammate of other football icons but would have relished playing alongside Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and Portugal captain.

“I’ve played with great players: Lionel Messi, Neymar, [Antoine] Griezmann, [Paul] Pogba, [Karim] Benzema…” Mbappé told BeINsports.

“It would have been fun to play with Cristiano Ronaldo — it’s going to be very difficult now — but I was lucky enough to play against him, a legend of the sport.”

Ronaldo, 39, left the Spanish giants in 2018 now plays for Saudi Pro-League side Al Nassr.

Mbappé helped Madrid win the Intercontinental Cup on Wednesday, his second title since joining the Spanish giants in the summer after his contract with Paris Saint-Germain expired.

Speaking to young people with disabilities as part of the BeUNITED program, Mbappe, 25, said he would have never left Paris Saint-Germain had it not been to join Madrid.

“I went to the biggest club in the world,” the 2018 World Cup winner said.

“I have always said that it was the only club I would have left PSG for. If I hadn’t been able to go to Madrid, I would have stayed at PSG all my life.”

Although Mbappé has been prolific for Madrid so far, he has faced criticism for his all-round performances with the team having suffered some high-profile defeats earlier in the season.

“Since I was 14, everyone told me I was going to be great,” Mbappé said.

“But when you’re big, sometimes you feel small…At first I was too hungry and it played tricks on me because I was impatient. But I have passion and this competitive side.

“My dream now is to win trophies with my team, not individual awards. What great title is left for me? The Champions League, but I’m in the best club in the world for that.”