KEIR RADNEDGE COMMENTARY —- The career of Trevor Francis, who has died of a heart attack at the age of 69, was one carved in headlines.

As a teenager he was lauded by Birmingham City fans as ‘Superboy’, he grew to be British football’s first £1m footballer then scored a Champions Cup-winning goal on his European debut for Nottingham Forest.

Francis went on to enjoy a stellar career as a player in both England and Italy, scored 12 goals in 52 games for England and then had several successful spells in management before relaxing a role as a television pundit.

A Forest statement said the club had been “deeply saddened” and that Francis had been “a true Forest legend who will never be forgotten”. Birmingham City said Francis would “forever be revered as a giant of the club”.

Francis was born in Plymouth, joined Birmingham as a schoolboy and was the Blues’ then-youngest debutant in 1970 aged 16 – a record beaten only by current England and Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham in August 2019.

He totalled 119 goals in 280 league appearances before his historic £1m switch to Forest in early 1979. Manager Brian Clough famously welcomed Francis to the club by sending him away immediately to make the tea. But months later he was Forest’s match-winner against Malmo in Munich in the club’s first Champions Cup win.

Francis missed the next final through injury as Forest retained the European crown against Hamburg in Madrid in 1980 before he moved on to Manchester City then Italy’s Sampdoria and Atalanta. A season in Scotland with Rangers followed before he joined QPR, where he also became player-manager.

He later performed a similar role at Sheffield Wednesday and helped lead them to both the FA Cup and League Cup finals in 1993, losing both to Arsenal.

Francis retired as a player in 1994, shortly before his 40th birthday, having made 632 appearances and scored 235 goals. He then returned to Birmingham as manager between 1996 and 2001 and guided the Blues to the 2001 League Cup final where they lost to Liverpool on penalties.

After leaving St Andrew’s, his final managerial post was at Crystal Palace where he spent two years.

Francis might have achieved more with England. His debut was delayed after a serious knee injury in a game at Sheffield United attended by England manager Don Revie who was about to pick him for the first time.

Francis eventually made his debut in a 2-0 defeat by Netherlands in February 1977 but he missed out on Euro 1980 because of an Achilles injury. At the 1982 World Cup in Spain Francis scored in group games against Czechoslovakia and Kuwait but he was absent from the finals four years later in Mexico despite playing against Scotland in a Rous Cup match shortly before the finals.

A family statement announced the death of Francis said: “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.”

Francis is survived by two sons. His wife Helen died in 2017.

Trevor John Francis: born April 19, 1954, died July 24, 2023.

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