English Football’s first million-pound-man, Trevor Francis, has sadly passed away aged 69 after a heart attack suffered at his home in Marbella, Spain, on Monday morning.

The former Nottingham Forest forward who scored the goal that won the European Cup against Malmo in 1979 will be fondly remembered as not just a football first, but as one of the true gents in the game, born in Plymouth on 19th April 1954, he signed schoolboy forms with Birmingham City as a youngster where he made his debut aged sixteen and played 329 games scoring 133 goals before moving to Brian Clough’s English title winners in February 1979.

Francis signed for a then record British fee of £1.15m and later that season featured in the European Cup final against the Swedish champions Malmo at the Olympiastadion Munich scoring a memorable header to provide the city of Nottingham a moment to ever-remember, to never forget, to always embrace, Francis and his team-mates would soon be celebrating in the old Market Square with thousands of Forest fans upon lifting the European Cup.

Francis would also feature heavily in the clubs successful defence of the trophy, he had played 21 times scoring seven goals in his first season which also saw Forest finish as runners up in the Division One title race to Liverpool and lift the League Cup, during the 1979/80 season he scored 17 goals in 44 games but missed the final against Hamburg with injury, Brian Clough not letting Francis travel for the final, a decision which later was said to have scarred Francis who was disappointed not to be in Madrid with his team-mates to watch them win.

After injury, Francis returned to score eleven goals in 26 games for Forest before being sold two games into the 1981/82 season moving to Manchester City for £1.2m, he later played for Sampdoria, Atalanta, Glasgow Rangers and Queens Park Rangers where he took on his first player/manager role before leaving for Sheffield Wednesday where he took the reigns in charge, following the departure of Ron Atkinson in 1991.

Francis would also manage Birmingham City and Crystal Palace and played 52 times for England scoring 12 goals in total, he will however be fondly remembered by Nottinghamians for his time at Forest, for being the first million pound footballer in England and of course, for scoring ‘that’ winning goal.

RIP Trev.

*Main image @NFFC Trevor Francis a Nottingham Forest legend.