Daily Express Wednesday, April 8, 2020 59Main picture: BOB THOMASunpredictable response. “You’ll have
to do better than that, Francis!”
yelled the supporter to some
amusement from the few around him- until an indignant Clough raced
around the pitch, wagged that
famous finger at him, and said: “His
name’s Trevor.”
Francis’ proper debut was at
Portman Road and he recalls Ipswich
supporters reminding him of the size
of his fee and how he got a major
ticking off from Clough.
He said: “They were a very
good Ipswich team at the time
and I think it was Martin
O’Neill who put a cross in and
it was just beyond me so I
punched it in.
“I didn’t get away with it.
The referee saw it and gave a
free-kick. When I got in the
dressing room I got the biggest
rollocking I’ve ever had in all my
years as a professional footballer.
“I was told in no uncertain
terms that kind of thing was
something that Brian Clough
would not accept as a manager.
“He was furious. He said, ‘We’re
Nottingham Forest Football Club.
We play correctly here. We don’t do
that and don’t ever do it again’ – and
I didn’t.”
He added: “Apart from that,
the one thing I remember was that
from minute one to the last minute,
the fans seemed to be chanting
‘What a waste of money’. It was
constant.”
But the England man did not have
to wait too long before the bar was
raised even higher – Steve Daley
going from Wolves to Manchester
City for £1.4m.
Francis admitted: “I’ve never been
happier with a transfer than that
one! It took a lot of pressure off me.
“I did feel that extra pressure but I
settled into it and ended
up scoring the most
important goal in
the history of the
club so I’d like to
think I justified the
manager’s faith in
me.”
the first £1m footballer. I see it as a
question on TV quiz shows here and
there. That’s how big it was.
“Gareth Bale went from
Tottenham to Real Madrid for a huge
amount of money but, if you asked
the general public, a lot of them
would struggle to know exactly how
much.”
He added: “But mine was that
significant. That’s what I’m known as- the first £1m player. I get dads
coming up to me with
their children telling
them about it. You can
see these kids of seven or
eight thinking ‘Well,
that’s nothing’. These
days it isn’t. It’s not much
more than a free
transfer.”
Francis, now 65, is
under no illusions that
there was added pressure simply
because of the man he was trying to
impress – Forest boss Clough.
Francis’ winning goal in the 1979
European Cup final against Malmo
was more than enough to do that but
he admits it was a bit of a bumpy
start under Old Big ’Ead.
His first game was in the third team
against Notts County before about
20 people and, when one of them
dared ridicule the new superstar over
a missed shot, it was met with an
1893 Aston Villa pay £100 to land Willie Groves from West Brom1905 Alf Common moves from Sunderland to Middlesbrough for £1,0001928 Arsenal buy David Jack from Bolton Wanderers for £10,8901957 John Charles moves from Leeds to Juventus for £65,0001962 Denis Law joins Manchester United from Torino for £115,0001970 Martin Peters signs for Tottenham from West Ham for £200,0001977 Kevin Keegan goes from Liverpool to Hamburg for £500,0001979 Trevor Francis is the first £1m player, from Birmingham to Forest1996 Alan Shearer goes from Blackburn to Newcastle for £15m2013 Gareth Bale leaves Tottenham for Real Madrid for £86mMILESTONE TRANSFERS INVOLVING BRITISH PLAYERS
By Dave ArmitageI see it as a
question on
TV quiz shows
sometimes
FOOTBALL: TRANSFER MILESTONE
TREVOR FRANCIS says the first
British player to cost £100million
will not have the pressure of his
price tag from 41 years ago.
Francis famously became the
first player to cost £1m when his
move from Birmingham to
Nottingham Forest shattered
every record in the book.
David Mills had joined WBA
from Middlesbrough for
£516,000 to set a new British
transfer record just a week earlier.
Brian Clough’s stunning swoop for
Francis smashed that new
benchmark in a way that
seemed to feel like
fantasy. This was more
Mills...and Boom!
Hot favourite to be the
first British player to
break the £100m mark is
England international
Jadon Sancho, who will
cost that to any club
wanting to take him from Borussia
Dortmund.
Whoever it is, Francis says they
will be spared the same pressure he
faced in February 1979. He recalled:
“Do I feel proud of being the first
£1m player? Absolutely.
“I played professional football for
23 years until I was 39, I won
European Cups with Nottingham
Forest, I played 52 times for England.
“But whenever I go to a sporting
occasion I’m always introduced asON THE
MOVE
Sancho will
cost more
than £100m
to prise him
away from
Dortmund
this summerON THE MONEY: Francis heads
home the winner against MalmoMOVER: Boro bought Alf
Common for £1,000 in 1905MONEY
MAN: Bale
moved to
Real Madrid
for £86mwarning. Speaking at an FA Council
meeting, he said: “Many communities
could lose the clubs at their heart with
little chance of resurrection. The pandemic
will be followed by economic consequences
and all business sectors will suffer.
“We face the danger of losing clubs and
leagues as finances collapse.
“In the face of this unprecedented
adversity, all the stakeholders within the
game from players, fans, clubs, owners and
administrators need to step up and share
the pain to keep the game alive.”as provided entertainment or otherwise
dependent on elite talent.
“Individual clubs will need to make
these decisions based on their own
forecasts, as each club will have its own
unique position. Not only is our industry
facing losses now, but to be realistic, we
must also base our plans on full recovery
being some distance away.
“Ultimately, the very heavy losses that
we face will have to be dealt with or else
clubs and other enterprises who depend on
football for income will go out of business.
We do not say this lightly, or to justify
clubs’ decisions. It is a very real threat.”
FA chairman Clarke also had a starklosses going forward if the seriousness of
the pandemic deepens and extends.”
In light of the potential for such a
financial crisis, Masters has backed the
right of clubs to use the Government’s
furlough system to pay staff wages.
Spurs, Newcastle, Norwich and
Bournemouth have dipped into the
taxpayer-funded scheme. Liverpool
backtracked after widespread anger.
But Masters added: “The furlough
scheme announced by the Government is
meant for the whole economy, including
many enterprises which might be regardedPREMIER LEAGUE chief executive Richard
Masters has warned English football’s top
flight faces losing £1billion due to
coronavirus pandemic.
And FA chairman Greg Clarke has
claimed the game faces meltdown.
Masters says the huge sum will be the
cost of the Premier League being unable to
complete the current season. And he
warned the price will be even higher if the
impact of the pandemic lasts longer.
In a letter to Julian Knight, the chair of
the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
committee, Masters wrote: “We face a
£1billion loss, at least, if we fail to
complete season 2019-20, and further
By Darren LewisSHARE THE PAIN: Clarke called for
unity in face of the virus.