Birmingham City legend Trevor Francis dies aged 69
Former Birmingham and England forward Trevor Francis, who became Britain's first £1million footballer when he joined Nottingham Forest in 1979, has died at the age of 69, a family spokesman has announced.
The forward, who joined Birmingham City as a schoolboy before making his debut at the age of 16, died following a heart attack at his apartment in Spain on Monday morning.
In a statement, his family described him as a 'legendary footballer' and an 'extremely nice person'.
The statement read: "Trevor Francis has died at the age of 69. He had a heart attack at his apartment in Spain this morning. On behalf of the family, 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, who went on to play 52 times for his country between 1977 and 1986, shot on to the scene at Blues scoring 15 times in his debut season.
In total, he went on to score 133 times in 329 games for Birmingham, prompting Nottingham Forest and Brian Clough to pay £1m for him in a British record transfer in 1979.
He helped Forest to back-to-back European Cups, a feat never since achieved by an English side, and he netted the winner in the first final win over Malmo.
After Forest, he moved to Manchester City before having spells with Sampdoria, Atalanta and then Rangers.
He then moved in to coaching as player/manager at QPR. Sheffield Wednesday followed and after signing as a player he took over from Ron Atkinson, achieving a third placed finish in the top division in 1992.
He reached both domestic cup finals before finally hanging up his boots in 1994.
Francis made a return to St Andrew's in 1996 as manager, spending five years in charge and leading them to the 2001 League Cup Final.
The former striker would then spend two years as manager of Crystal Palace, in what was his final managerial job.
Paying tribute to Francis, his former club Forest said:
Players also paid their respects.
Gary Lineker posted on Twitter: "Deeply saddened to hear that Trevor Francis has died. A wonderful footballer and lovely man. Was a pleasure to work alongside him both on the pitch and on the telly. RIP Trevor."
And former Sheffield Wednesday and England teammate Viv Anderson wrote on Instagram: "Just heard the unbelievable news regarding Trevor Francis, he was such a wonderful person and fabulous teammate he will be sadly missed, my condolences go to his family and friends RIP."
