Trevor Francis lit up English football as a teenager and went on to become the first £1million footballer with European Cup-winning Nottingham Forest. The ex-England international has now died at the age of 69.
Diving headlong to meet John Robertson’s cross beyond the far post, Trevor Francis crash-landed in the shot-putting circle at Munich’s Olympic stadium.
His brave, tumbling header turned out to be Nottingham Forest’s winner in the European Cup final against Malmo 44 years ago. Francis, Britain’s first £1million footballer, became the big shot in an orb normally reserved for giants who toss 16lbs cannonballs â and the big shot who planted Brian Clough’s standard at the summit just 110 days after Old Big ‘Ead unveiled his historic transfer market coup, wafting a squash racquet like a carpet beater.
In an otherwise dreary spectacle, Francis’s goal was like discovering a Rembrandt at a car boot sale, but he expected Clough to be full of the joys after conquering Europe. “I thought he would be incredibly happy after winning the European Cup for the first time, but he wasn’t particularly happy at all,” mused Francis five years ago.
“He saw it as an opportunity to show the world just how good his team was, but we didn’t play great and didn’t perform to our potential, so it was a rather subdued Brian Clough in the dressing room afterwards.”