Trevor Francis has died at the age of 69 (Fabio De Paola/PA)
Trevor Francis, British football’s first £1million player, has died at the age of 69.
The ex-Birmingham striker, who scored Nottingham Forest’s winner in their 1979 European Cup final triumph, earned 52 England caps and later guided Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham to major finals as a manager.
Plymouth-born Francis burst onto the scene as a teenager with Birmingham, making his first-team debut at 16 in 1970.
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“He died in Spain this morning from a heart attack,” said a spokesman.
Forest shattered the British transfer record when they paid £1.15million for him in 1979, although manager Brian Clough famously claimed the fee was £999,999 to take pressure off the player.
He started his career at Birmingham, playing 328 times and scoring 133 goals.
In 1971, at just 16-years-old, he became the youngest ever player to score four times in Football League history in Blues’ 4-0 win over Bolton.
Trevor Francis won the European Cup in 1979 (PA)
He earned his record move to Forest in 1979 and headed the winner in the 1-0 victory over Malmo to win the European Cup just a few months later.
Francis missed the European Cup win over Hamburg a year later through injury and joined Manchester City in 1981.
Spells at Sampdoria, where he won the Coppa Italia, Atalanta, Rangers and QPR – where he was player-manager – followed.
He moved to Sheffield Wednesday in 1990 before he replaced Ron Atkinson as manager.
Under Francis, the Owls finished third in the old First Division in his
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