FOREST HISTORY · Historic event
Trevor Francis signs as first £1m player
On this day in 1979 Forest sign Trevor Francis as Britain’s first £1m footballer.
Trevor Francis became the first £1m footballer in Britain when Forest signed him from Birmingham City.
The transfer was a major national story. Brian Clough famously tried to play down the fee, but the scale of the deal made it impossible to ignore. Forest were already champions of England and competing in Europe, and the signing showed the club operating at the very top of the game.
Francis arrived with expectation as well as talent. He had been one of the most exciting forwards in English football, and the move placed him inside a side already built around discipline, organisation and big-match control.
The signing became part of Forest folklore a few months later. Francis scored the winning goal in the 1979 European Cup final against Malmö, heading in John Robertson’s cross at the far post. He also collected a second European Cup winners’ medal in 1980, although injury affected his Forest career and he did not play in the final against Hamburg.
Sources
Transfermarkt; UEFA Champions Journal; MoneyWeek
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